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Why only one percent of PAs are men

Why is it that only one percent* of PAs (personal assistants) and EAs (executive assistants) are currently male? Article by Rosemary Parr, founder and managing director of Global PA Association & Training Academy.

It is important to view the PA/EA profession in its modern-day role. Gone are the days when secretaries were tasked with just making tea and taking meeting minutes. With the high-tech office environment of today, PAs and EAs may not only be, for example, the curator of one or more busy executives’ calendars, email gatekeeper, confidante, personal shopper, emotional crutch, timekeeper, organisational whizz, office partner, trusted adviser and dresser, they need to know their boss’s business inside and out. All of this must be done, of course, at today’s breakneck speed and in tech ‘real time’.

Many EAs and PAs entering the profession are now degree-educated yet only 38 percent feel treated as valuable members of staff in their organisations. The last academic research which provided these statistics* was carried out eight years ago by Global PA Association with Kingston University Business School and Professor Katie Bailey (now at Sussex University). This research was subsequently published in a peer-reviewed academic journal, Gender Work & Organisation four years ago.

In the report, fewer than 33 percent said their job enables them to use their full abilities, and only 20 percent of EAs and PAs agreed they have the opportunity to be promoted as there are no systematic career routes through PA work.

“My feeling, based on listening to our members, is that the situation doesn’t seem to have changed much since our report was done,” says Rosemary Parr, “and it means organisations are not capitalising on the transferable skills and experience of this profession. The role is now more than 60 percent managerial but very little training and development is given in the UK to empower PAs to do their job, and they struggle to get external training approved by their bosses in the UK. This varies enormously from the ethos of other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and Australia, where companies invest realistically in their PAs. I’m calling on UK business to recognise not only the skills of your people in your finance, marketing or HR teams, but also the potentially hidden gems you have in your PAs and EAs.”

Rosemary goes on to speculate that PAs and EAs are perceived as having to be sensitive, nurturing, capable of mediating in difficult situations, assertive not aggressive, and organised, and this could be why men don’t see themselves in the role of what might be considered ‘subservient’, a relic view left over from the past.

“After all,” continues Rosemary, “why would today’s men want a role with a potential lack of career progression, training and development? Maybe it’s convenient to keep the PA/EA roles just for women, given the 21st century ‘glass ceiling’. Or perhaps we should be looking at the fact that PAs/EAs are saving their bosses so much time carrying out their routine tasks for them, there would be a huge hole left which the executives might have to fill in themselves! It’s estimated that PAs and EAs contribute 40 percent to the success of their boss.”

Plugging the training and development gap, and allowing PAs and EAs to network and share experiences, good and bad, Global PA Association is holding a Skills and Careers Conference at The Mayfair Hotel in London on 10th November. Eminent speakers include Caroline Waters OBE (Deputy Chair of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Vice President of Carers UK, associate at Marylebone Executive Search & Founder of CW’s Consulting Box), Angela Mortimer (founder of Angela Mortimer plc, one of Europe’s most successful recruitment agencies for the EA & PA profession), and Amanda Rosewarne (founder of the CPD Standards Office).

*Stats source: “Secretarial Work, Skills and Careers 2009” Global PA Association and Centre for Research in Employment, Skills and Society, Kingston University – and “Still in the Ghetto? Experiences of Secretarial Work in the 21st Century” by Catherine Truss, Kerstin Alfes, Amanda Shantz and Amanda Rosewarne, Gender Work & Organisation, a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell

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