The Real Challenges for Women's Career Advancement

It's interesting that articles and research studies continue to be churned out year after year which continue to situate the "blame" on women for not getting ahead as much as men in the workplace. Rarely is there any analysis of the way that traditional corporate environments continue to limit, and even punish, women because of their gender. 

Canada will soon be dealing with the immense problems associated with low birth rates in every area. Women specifically have borne the costs of being the ones who take time off work to have children and give them the best start to life by staying home to take care of them. Yet, studies continue to provide evidence that women's careers take a hit because of this and that they often don't catch up in terms of career advancement and salaries. So even in 2011, women are being essentially punished due to biological factors they have no control over. 

I've been thinking about the fact that women going into business for themselves is a growing demographic and I've been pondering why that is. This is a personal issue to me as well, because I'm an enterpreneur and business woman who left "secure" public sector employment to start my own business. I felt trapped and stifled and found out early on that the majority of public sector jobs lead nowhere fast.

One of the conclusions I have come to is that corporate life and organizations are failing women. In spite of years of analysis, encouragement to "change corporate culture" and advocacy to assist more women in moving higher up the ranks and increasing numbers of women on Boards, the numbers reflect the majority of organizations have done little to improve culture and advance more women in their careers. 

Instead of blaming women, like the article below, which does have some valid points, there needs to be much more analysis of how organizations are failing women and that, as a result, more and more women are taking their knowledge, skills and abilities and setting up businesses that will give them the respect and balance they are seeking in their lives. 

The latest reports from Catalyst, (no relation to my business) linked below, explode the myths that women employing the same career strategies will enjoy the same success and advancement as male counterparts. Key findings included that men moved higher up the ranks and that their compensation increased over women and the gaps in salary were significant, although the individuals studied used the same career advancement tactics and there were no differences as to continuous time spent in the workplace (no time taken off for personal, or family needs, such as having children). 

So boldy, I'm going to conclude that it isn't just "organizations" that are failing women, it is the men in those organizations, that are at every level of authority, that are failing women. They are failing their wives, their daughters, their granddaughters. If after decades of women fighting for equality and parity in the workplace women have made so little progress, the only conclusion one can make is that the majority of men who advance to senior positions have little interest in equality and opportunity for women and that they will use their power and authority to continue to oppress and limit women's opportunities for career advancement and equal pay. 

The ramifications of this structural inequality and oppression is going to come home to roost as more and more women of the 21st century leave behind these limiting, stifling and unrewarding organizations. They are taking their wisdom, skills and abilities with them to organizations that do offer them more recognition, opportinities and advancement. They're also starting their own businesses, where women can shine and feel recognized and valued for their expertise and work and more often, lead the kind of healthier, more balanced lives that modern women want and deserve.

Four Ways Women Stunt Their Careers Unintentionally

Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath & Mary Davis Holt, October 19, 2011. Harvard Business Review. 

Having combed through more than a thousand 360-degree performance assessments conducted in recent years, we've found, by a wide margin, that the primary criticism men have about their female colleagues is that the women they work with seem to exhibit low self-confidence.

Looking back through scores of interviews we've conducted in the course of training and coaching engagements, and returning to the 360 reports, these are the four specific low-confidence behaviors cited by managers (male and female alike): 

• Being overly modest  
  Not asking
  Blending in
  Remaining silent   

Read the whole article here. 

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Women in Senior Management: Where Are They?

The Conference Board of Canada, August 2011
Report by Louise Chenier, Elise Wohlbold 

 

Women in Senior Management—Strategies for Creating an Environment Where Women Thrive

 

Exploding Myths About Why Women's Careers Lag Men's

Nancy M. Carter and Christine Silva, October 2011  

Catalyst: Changing Workplaces. Changing Lives.  

 

Catalyst's latest report on high-potential women and men with MBAs reveals that "doing all the right things" to get ahead works well for men, but does not provide as great an advantage for women.

The fourth report,The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead?, tackles persistent myths about the gender gap. Career advancement strategies used by women and men were compared to determine if using the same strategies ultimately leads to the same career outcomes. Findings revealed that:

• Men benefited more from adopting proactive strategies.
• When women did all the things they have been told will help them get ahead—using the same tactics as men—they still advanced less than their male counterparts and had slower pay growth.