Child responsibilities and lack of partner support were the two main factors that, according to respondents of a study carried out by the National Statistics Office (NSO), are obstacles to women in obtaining decision-making or managerial posts.

According to the study, 84 per cent of men and 82 per cent of women said that child responsibilities were the main obstacle to women working in a high-ranking position.

Another 84 per cent of men and 82 per cent of women said that lack of partner support was another obstacle.

The study was commissioned by the National Council of Women (NCW) and presented by NSO assistant director general Reno Camilleri during a conference held yesterday.

The NCW, in collaboration with the NSO, commissioned the study titled “Obstacles for the Participation of Women in Decision-Making” – a UNESCO project awarded to the NCW.

The survey was carried out over the phone with a total of 1,004 respondents participating. Of these, 68 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women were employed. Another three per cent of men and five per cent of women had a part-time job and over half of both male and female employees worked in the private sector.

The study showed that gender was perceived to be, by both male and female respondents, the factor that caused least obstacles to women obtaining a decision-making position.

Gender ranked last out of a list of obstacles with almost 35 per cent of men and 30 per cent of women saying that it was an obstacle to women obtaining managerial posts.

Thirty per cent of the respondents said that being a woman would put her at a disadvantage in obtaining a managerial post. At least 68 per cent of men and 73 per cent of women said that long hours caused problems to women in decision-making roles because a woman has to juggle between work and the family.

According to the study, 34 per cent of men said they had a high level of decision-making power as opposed to 28 per cent of women.

The study also showed that men were more interested in getting promoted as opposed to women. Fifty-seven per cent of married men said they were interested in getting a promotion, compared to 49 per cent of married women.

However, it seems that marital status is an important factor as more single women (63 per cent) said they were more interested than single men (61 per cent) in getting a promotion.

The majority of respondents said that an increase in salary was the main reason why they wanted a promotion – with 69 per cent choosing this answer.

In fact, 76 per cent of male respondents said that they wanted a promotion because of the salary, while another 23 per cent said that a promotion would give them job satisfaction.

However, just over half of the female respondents – 54 per cent – said that a better salary was the main reason for wanting a promotion, while the remaining 46 per cent said that it would give them job satisfaction.

A slight gender difference emerged when the respondents were asked what chance of promotion they had.

Thirty-five per cent of men as opposed to 32 per cent of women said that they would get a promotion in their current job.

Even though there was a slight difference, people working in the public sector said that they had a better chance of getting a promotion.

Within the public sector, 40 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women said that they had a chance of being promoted as opposed to 33 per cent of men and 32 per cent of women working in the private sector.

Employees who were single said that they had a higher chance of getting a promotion with 44 per cent of male respondents and 41 per cent of female respondents as opposed to 32 per cent of male and 27 per cent of female respondents who were married.

However, ironically enough, the majority of men (41 per cent) and women (42 per cent) said that they did not know when the promotion would come.