Women Bring Personal Issues To Work?
Want to hear a joke about Women’s Empowerment? …………… Women’s Empowerment!
Not very funny? OK I’m hearing hollow laughter too …How about this one…
How do you know you are in the corporate world? ………….. When you are excited by a 2% pay rise!
Still not laughing?
Then I guess that you also won’t find funny what the UK Government has said about the experiences of gender inequality that women are up against daily in the work-place either then? Bullying, harassment, being passed over. I could go on..
If you are a working woman reading this, you either let this annual ‘shock’ report go over your ahead, so as not to feel any more frustrated or you found yourself making growly noises to yourself, or maybe you were with one of your women friends and you shared a sardonic “yeah, there’s a surprise!” Hey maybe, you’re even one of the lucky ones saying “What’s she talking about, I could tell you loads of examples of women doing ok!” And maybe you could, but anecdotes of individual successes do not change generalities.
OK, well if you can’t find anything to smile about when thinking about womens issues in the jobs market, then you should read on… women are cornering one section of the jobs market.
Maybe we could start with looking at women in executive posts, because that’s as good as it gets in terms of what women can aspire to, right? We would expect these fortunate women to have great pay and good work conditions compared to the average office girl, care-worker, teacher, cleaner or holiday and leisure worker, wouldn’t we? – I don’t mean to stereo-type, but the sad truth is that ladies are still concentrated in this handful of employment sectors… in a traditional womens role .
Corporate career women are smart, ‘go-getters’, well-educated, highly trained, assertive and confident in pursuing their ambitions…. so we would expect them to be doing great, wouldn’t we? Not necessarily…the sad truth is that top professional women are still suffering inequality compared to their male colleagues in terms of their salary and bonuses, this is before we even look at their non-pay work conditions.
The latest official United Kingdom report shows that the hourly earnings of the top 10% of career women in the United Kingdom grew by 3.1% compared with men who earned 3.8% more! Yet she is probably working harder and smarter than her male colleagues, as well as regularly under pressure to be a sex-goddess at the office party and that’s before she even gets home!
Perhaps we can take comfort that our sisters will be breaking the mold for the next generation to make it to where they are..! Well, we would hope so. Trouble is, too many successful career women are still so on the defensive amongst male colleagues or in a masculine culture, that they either do not want to draw too much attention to themselves by rocking the boat or are justifying their lack of pro-active support for other women less fortunate by arguments that run along the lines of: “This is a meritocracy; we can all make it if we make the effort.” Or “If I can do it, so can everyone else.”
Sadly, this position can be at best naive and at worst damaging for other women in the workplace who have more obstacles to navigate. For many women, ‘below’ the corporate queen bees in employment status and pay-scales, the glass ceiling is much lower. The barriers to women gaining top jobs are still, it seems as much a problem every year, when similar ‘shocking’ reports are rolled out as if it is a new story. (For the rest of the year, it seems, ‘feminism’ is not sexy?)
When I ended up in a heavily male dominated industry, the differences in terms of status and earnings were blatantly obvious and to add insult to injury, the (female) Director of personnel – traditionally a womens role – in the corporate newsletter proudly trotted out that irritating blandishment of equality of opportunity.
Pretending there is equality, for all the good intentions behind these kind of proclamations, when there obviously isn’t, will just keep gender inequality as the norm. At the end of the day any sector riddled with sexism is not going to change just because of one senior female employee’s one-off commentary in a backwater magazine, whose female audience comprise largely of admin officers who are more often than not, have given up any hope of career development. No doubt, she naively believed that a positive spin might encourage younger female staff to aim higher. Good luck with that!
Unfortunately, I read this at a time when I was subjected daily to observations about my anatomy, had to sit idly by as the guys in the office bonded over cricket, rugby or the latest squash game they played together and made me the butt of their jokes in order to keep up some kind of dialogue with an unknown entity… It may sound like an extreme stereo-type, but my last industry was and remains a back-water awash in testosterone. I am pretty strong-minded person who can give as good as I get, but after a while, even I felt like I was being whittled away daily.
So many of you working women are giving your best years in the belief that your employer will always eventually do right by you and show you the commitment you so loyally serve them with. In truth, the day of disappointment comes all too regularly for many women workers and with it come flooding back all of those little resentments and let-downs experienced over the years. The daily frustrations that women make mental efforts to put to the back of their mind, in order to deal with their particular unfair stresses of the day and in order to keep a sense of humour are beyond belief. Women have to choose their explicit daily battles carefully, as part of the process’ of ‘winning the war’ against the male egos she has to negotiate to get what she wants. Sound familiar…..?
Nice Girls Don't Argue!
One more reality check. Let me ask you, if sophisticated career women such as yourself can be regularly passed over in so-called enlightened times and are left to slowly become worn thin by daily injustices, where will that leave you later on down your career path. How will you feel upon retirement, when your pension is no-where equal to that of your husband?
Maybe, if you have any professional power, you could resolve to wield the sword of justice, for the cause of other women in your industry. But Beware! Trust is a delicate corporate commodity. Once broken forever by raising these sticky issues of gender inequality in the work-place, many women are forced to move sideways to another job, rather than face the remaining daily tensions or ritual compromises, or worse -humiliations -are suffered whilst so called womens issues get resolved.
And those of you who have taken some time out for rearing children or caring for relatives? Will you ever really catch up to your male colleagues again? Will you be viewed as not as professionally committed as your male counterparts or worse still, a liability to be sacked on some tenuous grounds? You will of course, never know that these are the thoughts of your bosses until after the worst has happened. But when profits and deadlines are an issue, enlightened corporate behaviour may be compromised for short-term considerations and economic expediency; in short, ‘profit before people’. Why else do the Commission for Equality and Human Rights do a roaring trade with women sidelined and ousted by bosses?
OK well maybe I have ‘burdened you’ enough with the female facts on work-place gender inequality . Let’s skip to where womens empowerment is actually becoming a reality. What do other smart, motivated women do to really get more true ‘freedom’ at work?
I left that male dominated job that was slowly suffocating me; I did what many other women in that position do; I took a significant salary cut. I was thrown into finding new work during a deepening recession, after years of being de-skilled by this and other employers previously. Whilst I considered myself skilled and knowledgeable, I felt I had little to formally show for it. I despaired at my prospects for ever finding fulfilling work where I could be happy and earn what I was entitled to…
The recession however, is throwing up new opportunities for those losing their jobs. I considered the unthinkably “risky” option, self-employment. I had read the stories of women entrepreneurs in magazines and could not relate to their stories, although I envied their courage, their drive and their freedom. You could say my hand was forced. The fact is, I was joining the ranks increasing numbers of women in business , motivated by the freedom and flexibility being a woman entrepreneur offers.
I thought long and hard about how I always ended up feeling frustrated in any job; remembered seemingly endless compromises and how I was tired of hearing that well worn phrase about just ‘getting on with it’. I hated biting my tongue and censoring myself daily, just to pander to the egos of colleagues who frequently seemed incapable of embracing new ideas or practices. When I think back now to how soul-destroying the past ten or more years have been, my breathing still gets constricted! What a contrast with how I feel about my work now – even on a tough day I still relish my freedom!
Now, I am not especially brave; but if the culture was not going to change and it was making me miserable, then I had to change! Was it Einstein who said that the definition of insanity, is to keep on doing the same thing and expecting different results? Give me peace of mind any day over any more keeping the status quo.
Nowadays, I am learning more new skills than I have learnt in years and I find this immensely rewarding and challenging. My brain is working again. So what if the pay cheque is not guaranteed monthly yet and there are bills to pay? In time, given a growing business, I know that I would rather have this sacrifice of short term pain for long term gain, when I know at some point, I will never have to worry about this stuff again. I just have to stick at working on myself and my business. The rest will come.
So, what about you? You are an intelligent woman, who is obviously frustrated to have read this far, but you are also open to new challenges or you definitely would not have got this far reading this article. Do you feel like you get a fair deal in your job? Are you earning what you deserve? How do you feel about those who you work alongside? Is balancing your personal life working out well? What would it feel like, to feel more in control of your working environment? More importantly, where do you see yourself five years or more from now?
If you hesitated with any of these questions, then let me suggest you take one more step outside of your comfort zone for a few minutes and consider a working day where the only pressure you feel is that which you put upon yourself to achieve your results.
If five more minutes with me could dramatically change your life and give you the chance for financial and professional freedom, as well as more time freedom to enjoy your friends and family, would that appeal to you?
Imagine …No rush to beat the traffic and missing breakfast. No more rattyness with the kids or your partner in your panic to get ready in the morning, or crabbiness with exhaustion after work. No more pristine suits and perfect shoes to maintain to impress the boss. Breakfast at your pace. Lunch when you are hungry. Family just outside your office door if that’s how you want it. Your dream holiday… The home of your dreams… What floats your boat? These are the realities of women entrepreneurs nowadays and the opportunities are increasing, not decreasing in spite of recession.
Ask yourself this: What if you were paid for the true value of your contribution? What about if other professionals like you, who have trodden the path before you to executive salaries, could be relied upon to train you with the skills and knowledge necessary for you to achieve your goals because they have a vested interest in you achieving your best results?
Limitations to your success need only ever be those of your own imagination and personal motivation – both of which you can control. If you believe in challenging yourself and trying new things, you believe in being passionate about your work, or serving others, then find out what alternatives you have. Over 44,000 people per day in the United Kingdom alone are looking at home-based businesses . Increasingly, the majority of these are women.
I said another few minutes… And now, I urge you to seize the moment. This is your well-being, your peace of mind, your life, your wealth……..Step forward instead of sideways …. Think seriously about doing something different. If you are ready, and want to check out a powerful option… The kind of future you have been aspiring to is right here for the asking and you might be just the kind of business partner I am looking for to build my team. I would love to hear about your experiences. Leave me your observations in the comment box below.
How else can you tell you’re in the corporate world? …………… It’s dark when you drive to and from work.
You still not laughing? That’s the trouble with corporate types, they lack a sense of humour!
Not only that there’s a chance that Google and the FTC might scrutinise your activities pretty closely! (Also using numbers is not clever; it creates confusion).
Now out-sourcing is fine, if you want someone to set up a good looking personally branded website. But (and this is a big “but”) if you’re after a Google Adwords-friendly landing page to beat Google slaps and provide the smooth transition from Google Ad to ‘Pay Now’ button, I don’t know if this is the answer. You’ll have to clarify some issues with the contractor you choose.
It is, rather, a landing page that looks like a blog site. Or, to be more accurate, a series of landing pages that, together, look like a blog site. You can sometimes go from one page to the next on a marketing master’s site and unwittingly you are being confronted by one “landing page” after another. Ingenious. Each page can make you want to join to see what’s on the other side. 
