Gender equality expert says women appointed as leaders during corporate crises is veiled discrimination

What happens when a major airline faces multiple scandals, supermarket giants are called to front inquiries over their conduct, or a political party records one of its worst electoral performances?

A woman is appointed to lead for the first time.

In sporting parlance it’s called ‘a hospital pass’.

The leadership appointments at Qantas, Woolworths, Coles and the Liberal Party are high-profile examples of a phenomenon known as the “glass cliff”, but world-renowned gender equality expert Michelle Ryan says it’s discreetly happening in many workplaces.

Professor Ryan coined the term following years of research to describe situations where a woman is given a leadership position in times of crisis, when precarity and risk within the role is high.

“It’s not an obvious thing, necessarily, it’s not written into organisational handbooks to put women in leadership in times of crisis ... there’s a subtlety to it,” she told the Women Unlimited Leadership Summit on Wednesday.

“Part of the importance of dealing with subtle forms of gender discrimination is being aware of them, pointing them out and being able to describe them.”

Prof Ryan argues there needs to be a shift towards thinking about the nature of a leadership position, rather than focusing on the number of women in leadership.

She cited the example of Opposition Leader Sussan Ley who became the first woman to lead the federal Liberal Party following a huge electoral defeat under Peter Dutton.

“It is not up to Sussan Ley to deal with the glass cliff, this is not a question for her to deal with and she’s a perfectly qualified woman to take on the leadership of the Liberal Party,” Prof Ryan said.

“The question really is for the Liberal Party: why did they appoint her, and why now when they’ve had perfectly qualified women in the past?”

For many women, particularly in politics and business, opportunities to lead don’t come around often.

So even facing a glass cliff, women will often grab the leadership role when it’s presented to them.

“Men and women have different opportunities (and) they know that they have different career trajectories,” Prof Ryan said.

“So men can often say, ‘I can step back now’ while women may think, ‘okay, this might be the only chance that I ever get’.”