Helping Companies Retain and Advance Women
““The challenge for women competing in politics or business is less misogyny than unconscious sexism: Americans don’t hate women, but they do frequently stereotype them as warm and friendly, creating a mismatch with the stereotype we hold of leaders as tough and strong,” Kirstof said.
In other words, voters may not be aware of the true reasons they feel that a woman is not the right person for an elected office.”
»
Dan Carpenter of IndyStar.com writes a very engaging article about diversity in the 2008 election. An excerpt:
“The frustration is understandable. She’s eminently qualified to be president. No primary election candidate has ever before done this well without winning. Furthermore, none has been asked to walk a tightrope between too-soft and too-manly. None, certainly, has managed to mobilize a feminist-liberal force while touting her appeal to blue-collar whites and her willingness to bomb ‘em like the boys.”
»
Steven Bonacorsi writes on Lean Six Sigma’s blog that women don’t “talk themselves up” as much as men do and are therefore overlooked. The observation of this tendency has been in my work for years, and Steven’s posting gives it the attention it deserves. He writes, “All employees must “toot their own horn” if they want a promotion or payrise, but women are particularly timid about doing so, according to an expert in sales psychology.
US-based behavioral scientist Shannon L. Goodson says the fear of self promotion is holding back competent and deserving workers from being recognized for their contributions and prohibiting them from earning what they’re worth.
»
A large study of over 11,000 women indicates they help maintain the glass ceiling that restricts their own advancement. The Women’s Dish blog briefly discusses this. My expertise confirms these findings. As I wrote in their comments section, “Training can help…assertiveness, gender communication (to learn how to communicate more effectively with men and high-level women with a masculine style), and self-promotion. Mentoring can make a positive impact as well. Generally speaking, men use the 80/20 rule - 80% of their time at work is spent working, and 20% is used to self-promote. Women, we can DO this!”
»
Carolyne Zinko, for SFGate from the San Francisco Chronicle, writes about the plethora of websites springing up for women. Working professionally or stay-at-home, either way. Websites that appeal to all facets of being female. Are they good? That’s up to each individual woman, it seems.
»
HRZone.co.uk writes about the changing face of HR and how the job is much more “masculine” than perceived. In previous generations, HR was all about personnel - now it incorporates negotiation, conflict resolution, data management, etc. - decidedly masculine skills whether performed by a woman or a man.
»
The HR site changeboard writes:
“There is a recognition that this group are clearer about what they want and they are more likely to go for it and take action to ensure they get it. For example they are more concerned about work/life balance – it’s important to them and employers have to respect that. There is no way employees can cut them out – they are their new pool of potential employees.”
»
SeattlePI.com reports from the Economist that female executives don’t seem to be being promoted into top ranks as much as before. Catalyst reports “The report claims that while many companies have made it easier for women to ascend the corporate ladder, efforts to propel them to the very top rungs have “stalled” in the past couple of years. Women occupy only one in seven board positions in Fortune 500 companies, according to Catalyst.”
»
PersonnelToday.com writes in the Work Clinic that many female entrepreneurs, like most women, want to employ people they trust. That includes their spouse!
“Since 2000 the number of women running their own businesses has grown by almost 20% to around 1 million. A large proportion of these female entrepreneurs left traditional roles in order to have more freedom and flexibility, and to develop a better work-life balance. And for some of them, employing someone familiar and trustworthy - their husband - was an obvious next step.”
»
Lorrie Lykins writes about this very controversial topic for TrendWatcher, The Institute for Corporate Productivity. Lykins writes: “Several nations are saying “enough is enough” when it comes to what they view as a persistent glass ceiling in today’s boardrooms. The average percentage of board directorships held by women is just 9.7% in Europe and 15% in the U.S. (Catalyst, 2008). In recent years some European governments have decided that the wait for gender parity on boards has gone on too long, and they’re using legislation to compel publically traded companies to appoint more women to their boards (Wachter, 2008).
This trend is sparking a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of such laws and, more practically, about whether more countries will follow suit in coming years. Norway is blazing the trail. It passed legislation in 2003 mandating that public companies address gender imbalance on their boards with the requirement that women hold 40% of the board seats by 2008. Companies that failed to comply faced sanctions ranging from fines to closure. At the time, 6% of directors in Norway were women (Wachter, 2008).
The legislation gave companies five years to comply with the quotas and, despite rigorous and vocal opposition at the outset, business has generally complied. Five years later, Norway now boasts unprecedented board representation for women - 44.2% in 2008 (Catalyst, 2008).
But the road has not been smooth.”
»