The number one issue facing women in the charity sector is lack of career progression, a survey has found.

Lack of progress in terms of roles and opportunities has been listed as the main challenge they face by more than one in five of 138 Women in Charity Network members surveyed.

Poor pay is listed as the main challenge by one in five, while sector wide constraints, including redundancies was cited by more than one in six.

One in ten of those surveyed warned of a lack of incentives for them to stay in the charity sector.

Meanwhile, one in 12 are concerned about their work life balance.

“Many women tell us that while there are benefits to working for a charity, a lack of progression both in terms of roles and pay can, at worst, push women out of the sector,” said Network co-founders Laura Williamson and Harriet Edwards.

“Team structures can create a bottleneck, meaning some people end up waiting for years for their manager to leave before they stand a chance of getting a promotion.”

They added: “Development opportunities to help prepare staff for the next step in their careers, including training and mentoring, are not always available.

“It’s not just about pay; it’s about power. Women make up most of the charity workforce, yet far fewer reach senior leadership or the boardroom.

“If charities are serious about equality, they need to dismantle the structural barriers that keep women out of decision-making and proactively ensure women are represented at every level.”

Energy Savings Trust chief operating officer Jenny Jarvis is running a free Women in Charity Network event in London on 4 November looking at challenges facing women in the charity sector.

She says that women working in charities face additional barriers such as performance management systems skewed to traditional male traits, a lack of female role models and working cultures that treat women that challenge authority differently.

“The survey findings are illuminating in that they not only identify a range of core leadership barriers, they also support research regarding the barriers that women specifically face in progressing their careers and developing as leaders,” she said.

“We know from a wealth of evidence that there are compounding factors in how organisations are designed, structured, and run which can create additional barriers for female career progression. These challenges seem particularly prevalent in the charity sector.”

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