The Campaign for New Entrepreneurs – run in unison with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), and supported by Dragons’ Den panelist Deborah Meaden – suggests that a mere 11% of small-to-medium sized businesses are 100% female owned, while only 3% are majority owned by women.
That’s not all. A recent survey conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission claims that it will take 200 years for women to wield as much power as men in the political world.
Moreover, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) reported last year that female managers are being paid an average 22% less than their male counterparts, while an Institute of Directors survey a year earlier found that female directors of UK firms work longer but earn an average salary that’s 19% less.
On the positive side, back in 2000 no less than 36% of FTSE 100 Boards of Directors had no female representation – a figure that has now dropped to 24%. A further study by the CMI of 42,000 managers found that, at the age of 37, the average female manager is five years younger than her male equivalent.
With these statistics in mind, we decided to investigate what life is like as a woman operating in the apparently male-dominated world of security, and determine whether or not the worrying statistics quoted by the FSB as part of the Campaign are reflected in the opportunities afforded to females.
We talked to many leading women, and then selected two at different stages of their careers – Letitia Emeana (a security consultant with a major financial institution) and Donna Boote, the head of airport security for the British Airports Authority (BAA) at Heathrow.
For her part, Letitia ‘fell’ into her current role in 2005 when an internal job application for a security manager within a large financial house came her way. Now qualified with the Physical Security Professional certification from ASIS International – she’s only the third woman in the UK to attain this accolade, and the youngest to date – Letitia has some firm views on female employment in the security sector.
“Security is such a fascinating environment. I love the diversity corporate security management brings. However, finding a toe-hold in the sector and having the freedom of movement to explore other areas within it has proven difficult in the past. That’s still the case. I ask myself: ‘Is this because I’m young and female?’, or are other factors at play.”
Credibility, age, gender
Already, there’s an inkling here of why our sector doesn’t attract – or retain – as many women as others. Letitia continues: “Throughout my time with my current employer, I’ve struggled to be seen as credible due to my age, gender and experience. I knew right from the start that I possessed the abilities and the confidence to be a professional security manager. Clearly, I wanted to convince the right people – and myself, of course – that I was capable, and decided to strive for a benchmark that no-one else in my company had achieved.”
The ASIS PSP qualification proves Letitia’s subject matter knowledge beyond doubt, not to mention her professionalism and credibility. “However, despite bolstering my credibility,” continues Letitia, “the attainment of PSP had little impact within the company itself.”
Surely that’s a statement of grave concern when it comes from someone who has all the skills, education and potential to be a future leader within the security profession?
The Experience Challenge
Donna Boote previously served in the Royal Military Police (RMP) for 13 years, working all over the world on assignments such as counter-narcotics operations, criminal investigations and recruitment training. Donna also took time out to have a couple of children, too!
Now in charge of security at Heathrow Airport – an environment described as “Britain’s biggest single terrorist target” – Donna says of her career in the commercial security industry: “The biggest obstacle I faced on leaving the RMP lay in overcoming the ‘We Really Need Someone With Experience’ Challenge. I was confident the skills I’d honed – including discipline, the capacity for analytical thought, the ability to communicate at all levels and sheer resilience – were completely transferable into the security world.”
However, Donna found it difficult to persuade prospective employers that this was indeed the case. “A part of me always wondered whether or not this was down to the fact that I’m a woman, although this never appeared to be the case. Not overtly, anyway.”
Having achieved success in two traditionally male dominated environments, Donna is very well placed to pass comment on the opportunities for women. She concludes: “Opportunities for gaining promotion and rising above and ahead of male colleagues in the security profession are there, but like anything else in life you have to strive for that success and really want to ‘get ahead’.”
Donna goes on to say: “People quote the fact that having children would preclude any kind of career, but I would totally disagree. Nicola Horlicks [the City ‘Superwoman’, multi-millionaire and mother of five] and many other females would disagree, too!”
Unavoidable career gap
As far as Boote is concerned, children do create an unavoidable career gap, but women will then return to work even more driven, better organised and perhaps with a degree of self-awareness that wasn’t in evidence beforehand.
“My feeling is that women can actually have an advantage in this industry. They are different from the rest of the crowd – and not just for the obvious reasons! Our way of thinking, of solving problems and the manner in which we engage with colleagues can be fundamentally dissimilar from the male approach. That being the case, competent women can become ‘stand out’ employees sooner than their male colleagues.”
It would seem that if you’re a woman working in the security industry you can achieve as much as any member of the opposite sex, but you might question whether or not all job avenues will actually be open.
