Women who hold leadership positions in Romania are still perceived as being paid less than their male counterparts, according to the latest edition of the Deloitte survey “Careers with equal opportunities: women in leadership roles.” 

This happens even though Romania scores the second lowest gender pay gap (3.3%) among EU countries, after Luxembourg, according to Eurostat, the survey authors explain. 

More than three quarters of the respondents reported this situation happened very often or sometimes in the local business environment.

The study also underlines that women continue to be promoted less frequently than men, as 63% of the respondents acknowledge this to be applicable sometimes or very often. This may be linked to the fact that maternity leave is perceived as a disadvantage over the course of women’s careers, according to 74% of respondents, who say this happens often or very often. 

Although women and men achieve similar financial business results related to sales and profit, according to 78% of respondents, men are still perceived to obtain better results in their career advancement (66%). On the other hand, women are recognized for their performances in effective human resources management (69% of respondents), personal development, and acquiring new skills (56%).

The survey also identifies a series of differences between the characteristics of women and men leaders. Women’s strong points seem to be consistency (92% of the respondents), multitasking (90%), honesty (82%), communication (79%) and empathy, and ability to manage large teams (78%), while areas such as comfort in decision-making (79%) and leadership skills (71%) seem to be perceived as specific to men.

One of the most important changes highlighted by the 2021 edition of the survey compared to the one conducted in 2012 is that almost half of the Romanian leaders (46%) prefer a woman to be the CFO of their organization, compared to only 26% in 2012. Even if women are recognized for their capabilities as CFOs, they will need to work harder than men in order to accede to the next level of leadership, as 40% of the respondents say that it is easier for men to be promoted from CFO to CEO, while only 7% estimate this is the case for women. 

The survey was conducted among both women and men holding leadership positions in Romania. It is part of Deloitte Romania’s program SheXO Club, a business community dedicated to women in the C-suite which focuses on developing the next generation of women leaders. The survey looks at the perceptions in terms of equal opportunities for women and men in the business environment and analyzes what the last decade brought in terms of inclusion and diversity.

“Change is definitely happening in terms of equal opportunities for women in leadership positions, and the progress that has been made during the last decade encourages us to believe that even more boundaries will be crossed and prejudice will be replaced by openness. In Romania, businesswomen continue to thrive in the workplace, and their actions have definitely echoed, as the country recorded one of the largest share of women in managerial positions in 2020 among the EU states (37%), above the EU average,” said Alexandra Smedoiu, Partner, Deloitte Romania, and coordinator of the SheXO Club Program.

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simona@romania-insider.com