Posts
Something that I just have not been able to nail down from our class discussion and through the books we have read is, “Why do some women get to the top of the career ladder while others fall off or get stuck halfway up?”
I am always surprised by the statistics that Sharon puts up on the board during class… “Women earn 57% of Bachelor’s degrees” … “The number of female CEOs on the Fortune 500 is less than 5% percent.” This is coupled with the slow progress in the number of female directors, officers and high-paid company earners. I want to better understand why women leaders under development continues to lag in comparison to men in professional careers.
I seem to feel that a key difference may be that women at the very top all have one thing in common: They have found ways to manage “work-life-balance” which seems to give them that extra something needed to succeed.
Many women, myself included, want to rise to the very top of my profession, but I would not do this at the expense of having a family. As we discussed men, are more singularly focused on just excelling in their career, where many women have a variety of passions and interests that they dedicate time and energy to. Having a top of the field career and a family is extremely intense, and often where women are lacking in critical mass.
Something that I continuously try to push myself towards is implementing ‘work-life balance’ for what it is – not perfect or the same day by day, but attainable. To love my family, to love my social life, and to love their work; passionately with one maybe consuming me more at a specific time and then flowing into another taking the lead focus another. There is no either/or, there is no right or wrong way to create your own personal balance. Accepting ‘and filled them with energy to build this balance is an ultimate goal.
It seems that the women that do make it to the top always believe in themselves and believe that what they do makes a difference. Many women do not embrace their value add in the work world enough. From what we have talked about in class and read these women at the top put aside their own fears to make things happen. They actively spoke up for themselves, took chances and seized opportunities. Often fear drives many women to set an unrealistically high bar that would pretty much stop anyone from achieving their goals.
I wish this course would have all the answers to figure out what it takes for more women to raise to the top of the ranks, but that is unrealistic. What this course do provide is the awareness and scope of what was before, what is now, and what needs to be next for the success of women.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree, Emily. It is frustrating to not be able to answer these questions. I can't help but wonder why women fail to make it as far as men. I don't believe that the answer is in the fact that women want to focus on their families - because women who don't have families still do not necessarily "make it" as far up the ladder.
Women and men can maintain a happy balance between the two. Women are usually credited for being able to do both more so than men (not to say that these women are necessarily at the top of their fields) - and I wonder if this ability lies in biological differences or other reasons.
As we've discussed many times, women (in general) are better able to multi-task than men. Yet, I must mention that now a days, we see more and more "stay at home dads" who appear to succeed in raising a family - balancing those challenges with a profession.
Maybe the answer lies in "time" - not having a family certainly provides more time for men or women to concentrate on their careers. If we choose to spend equal time focusing on families AND climbing the ladder, is it possible to fully succeed at both? Is there enough time in the days? Does we "fail" in one area at the expense of the other?
I can't help but think about a scene in an old "Desperate Housewives" where the character chooses to go back to work while having four children. She even has to bring her baby to the interview! Later, her husband chooses to stay at home so that she can full focus on her career. Although it is a Hollywood example and not necessarily accurate to the real world, I wonder if this scenario proves that women can succeed at the expense of their husbands careers...? If women have a husband who forgoes being the "breadwinner," maybe women have a greater opportunity to get to the top of the career ladder...?
Post a Comment