GenderSmart Solutions

Jane Sanders Gender Communication & Issues Expert

Jane Sanders — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:17:53 +0000

Hi! I’m Jane Sanders, expert on gender issues and communication in the workplace. I offer consulting, speaking, facilitation, and coaching services to help companies recruit, retain, and advance more women. I create productive GenderSmart cultures for both men and women!

I’ve researched gender issues for over 15 years and consulted for many top US companies including US Steel, Ameriprise Financial, MassMutual, Prudential Financial, Toyota, Ford, Nestlé Foods, Choice Hotels, Boeing, and more. Please visit my website at http://www.janesanders.com.

Unconscious sexism in business and politics

Jsanders — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:15:11 +0000

Sharon Schmickle of MinnPost.com writes a compelling post:

““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.”

Full posting

Hillary’s loss - subtle gender discrimination?

Jsanders — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:08:54 +0000

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.”

Full post

Women don’t promote themselves enough!

Jsanders — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:45:41 +0000

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.

Full posting

Women Help Maintain the Glass Ceiling

Jsanders — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:44:53 +0000

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!”

Blog posting

Websites for women

Jsanders — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:12:07 +0000

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.

Check it out

HR role - masculine or feminine?

Jsanders — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:04:27 +0000

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.

Read the article

Gen Y demands work-life balance

Jsanders — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:30:45 +0000

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.”

Full posting

Professional Women not moving up to top

Jsanders — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:45:18 +0000

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.”

Full posting

Women entrepreneurs employing husbands

Jsanders — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:57:53 +0000

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.”

Full posting

Recruiting women in Canada - and really everywhere

Jsanders — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:23:17 +0000

The Ontario Mining Association writes in the Canadian Mining Journal that the industry better wake up and start hiring women now. In addition to the staffing issues, read this:

“There is a paucity of women in mining and it is in your best interest to get more women in the industry,” Foot said. “There is a company involved in the Alberta oil sands that only hires women drivers and it has found that the equipment lasts 35% longer and I think in some cases women will treat the trucks and equipment better than their kids.” The latest census data shows that females comprise 46.9% of the Canadian workforce but only 13.1% of the mining workforce.”

Read article

Women judged more harshly for anger

Jsanders — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:03:23 +0000

Maya Dollarhide writes for CNN.com/living:

“In three studies, 463 men and women between 18 and 70 years old watched video of actors pretending to be job seekers or employers. The participants then wrote down which applicants should get the job, the type of responsibility they could handle and how high their salaries should be.

“We found that the women (on the tapes) who were judged as angry lost out in every category,” says Victoria Brescoll, an assistant professor at Yale University’s School of Management. She and Eric Uhlmann, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, conducted the research.”

Read full posting

Mandated gender parity on corporate boards?

Jsanders — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:07:32 +0000

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.”

Read full article

Gender communication - eye contact differences

Jsanders — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:36:32 +0000

Patti Wood, a body language expert, discusses in her blog the differences in eye contact between men and women during communication. There are gender differences indeed!

Patti writes

Professional women - hit harder by recessions

Jsanders — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:22:38 +0000

Erin Abrams writes for PWC’s The Glass Hammer - professional women are not opting out as much as previously thought, and are hit by recessions more deeply. Abrams writes:

“Last week, we posited that women are being hit harder by job loss than men in this recession. This week, we bring you some compelling evidence for that theory. On July 22, 2008, the Majority Staff of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, led by Senator Charles Schumer and Rep. Carolyn Maloney issued a report with their findings. Called “Equality in Job Loss: Women Are Increasingly Vulnerable during Recessions,” this report argues that women began losing jobs in the recession of 2001 and never fully recovered in the labor market, making this downturn all the more painful.”

Full posting