…”By 2004, after three decades of the women's movement, when business schools annually graduate thousands of qualified young women, when the managerial pipeline is stuffed with capable, talented female candidates for senior positions, why are there still so few women at the top?
In part, the answer probably still lies in lingering bias in the system. Most women interviewed for this story say that overt discrimination is rare; still, the executive suites of most major corporations remain largely boys' clubs. Catalyst, the women's business group, blames the gap on the fact that women often choose staff jobs, such as marketing and human resources, while senior executives are disproportionately plucked from the ranks of those with line jobs, where a manager can have critical profit-and-loss responsibility. Others fault the workplace itself, saying corporations don't do enough to accommodate women's often more-significant family responsibilities.
All those things are true. But there may be a simpler--and in many ways more disturbing--reason that women remain so underrepresented in the corner office: For the most part, men just compete harder than women. They put in more hours. They're more willing to relocate. They're more comfortable putting work ahead of personal commitments. And they just want the top job more”.
From: Fast Company
Ellen Weinstein
February 2004
“Where are the Women”?
This article has stayed with me for over two years as I am still contemplating –how can we maximize the greatly needed contribution of masculine and femimine attributes in the leadership of our world if women are not holding positions of voice and power? I must admit our societies are not set up to universally support women in stepping forward, as so many major decisions are made in the locker room and anoung male piers.
I then began to wonder what is needed to make women more interested in the “top”?. I wondered if American women would take on greater leadership roles if their children were near them as they worked. A while back I was spoke to Debbe Kennedy (mu partner on this blog) and she told me about research that she was conducting for a Fortune 100 company where she was deterrmining employee interest in corporate sponsored on-site child care. The feedback that she received was one of disinterest from the employees.
So what is the solution? How can women “show up and contribute to the leadership of the world yet not loose themselves in the process? I believe this is the golden key. All ideas and thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Maureen Simon
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