The Real Benefits, Beneficiaries and Value of E-Government

© CIPFA, 2005 it seems, are more often than not offered sideways moves to senior jobs in other parts of the public sector. Their personal reputation is largely left intact—the failure is perceived to be the result of circumstances rather than personal competence. In contrast, failure is often personalized when women are at the centre of controversy. Maybe as a result of this, there are few offers of alternative employment—for example, none of the six women chief executives mentioned above found other jobs in Scotland’s public services. The risks and problems faced by women in top jobs seem to be well acknowledged by many women working management roles. In 2000, the Scottish Leadership Foundation started a somewhat low-key, self-organizing women’s leadership network. Four years later, with marketing mainly through word of mouth, there are over 800 Scottish members and events are typically over-subscribed. These network members indicate that there is a reduction in the number of women applying for senior positions. Many of those who might have applied are choosing not to do so because of their perceptions of the tough treatment meted out to women in these roles. So is the glass cliff a useful metaphor for encapsulating the experience of women leaders in the public sector? It is hard to avoid the standard researcher response that this is an interesting question, but that the evidence to date is inconclusive and so we need more research on the topic. We are not sure whether there is a tendency in the public sector for women to be placed in more precarious leadership positions than men. Our observation is that while the cliff may be equally high and precarious for men and women, proportionately more women appear to be falling over the edge. It seems that those women who choose to walk along the cliff do so without the benefit of the safety net which seems to catch many of their male colleagues. No wonder, then, that many women are questioning whether they want to join this particular circus. ■