I couldn't help but laugh at the latest Accenture survey (http://news.top-consultant.com/UK/news_story.aspx?ID=5591).Headlined with "Half of female executives feel unchallenged", it then goes on to say that "46 percent of women and 49 percent of men said they are not being challenged significantly in their current roles".So... the primary finding implies that women feel unchallenged. Yet, references to women are spurious - in fact men are slightly more likely to feel unchallenged. In addition, the detailed results suggest that more than half (54%) of women feel challenged in their current roles. So, the focus of people feeling unchallenged is inappropriate. Strictly speaking, a 50/50 split between challenged/unchallenged suggests that either there is no significance in the distribution of perceptions, or the survey was too flawed to measure what it intended to. Therefore, the entire topic does not lend itself to a headline finding.Graduates: if you were ever unclear as to why Accenture does not get hired by clients for strategy projects, this should be an example you can relate to. Even the most closeted of academicians with the least business experience can see the patent idiocy in these findings.It's rather sad. Gender equality in business is an important issue, and merits monitoring and reporting through good quality research. Accenture undermine both their own reputation and that of International Women's Day by putting out this kind of pap. To add insult to injury, they then try a cheap sale by suggesting that where women are successful, it's down to technology.There is one "headlineable" (simple but meaningful) finding in the survey, although it wouldn't tell the story that Accenture want to push: a small majority (59%) of women believe that their careers are successful or very successful.
