Having returned from my first week of study, I am reminded of the hazards of student life and have come down with freshers flu - I cannot remember getting this the first (or second time) round. Perhaps this is just a case of third time unlucky.
During our first week we were asked to review an article on why so few women reached partnership in law firms - an issue close to my own heart. I was especially interested in this following an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled ‘Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership‘ (subscription required). The article has some interesting points and certainly some points, that my orgnaisation could learn from.
Both articles raised keys issues around why women didn’t succeed as:
· That lone female voices were not heard;
· Issues of work life balance, as women still take on the majority of domestic chores; and
· Informal networking is often more difficult for women.
Now before, I share what happened in my class, it is worthwhile noting that I work in a partnership which specialises in financial services. In this environment, diversity is appreciated and women and other minorities are able to succeed on a fair and equal basis. In comparison, my fellow students primarily work in engineering, manufacturing or IT.
Following a review of why so few women reach top positions, several of my male students, shared their views that all women needed was a training course. They also ALL raised the issue of positive discrimination for women in the workplace and how unfair this was. It was as if they had not read the article. When I raised the issue of how as partners/husbands/fathers they could support their other halves in terms of their careers, this caused a heated debate as the bias against women in the workplace had nothing to do with them. In the following discussion, one guy actually admitted to giving a 30+ man a job over a 30+ women as job to the ‘risk’ of her having babies. It left me speechless. Following the presentation, several guys came up and apologised to the minority female population explaining they were shocked by comments made and that they should not be taken of representative of the men in the group.
How can women succeed in all industries when dealing with these type of men?
