Contributed by Ireland based Janet Anderson (name changed)
It is very sad to see European men not as open minded as they claim. Even in this day and age, many of them still think that women don’t need to be acknowledged or paid the same as men in the same position. Continue Reading
Contributed by Ireland based Janet Anderson (name changed)
I have worked in three European countries other than my own and been offered jobs at lower than required minimum payment. The local companies think of foreigners as stupid and not knowing the law. On the contrary, I found my two American employers in the same countries; I must say these are the companies that have actually followed the laws of equal opportunities and equality in the best way possible. Continue Reading
Kurt Schnaubelt, EVP/CFO at Avado Brands, Inc., USA recently asked an interesting question on LinkedIn: Is it still taboo for a woman to go alone to a man’s hotel room to work when travelling for business?
Elaborating the question further he said: “A male friend of mine invited a female subordinate to his hotel room during a work conference. Purely innocent situation, she went to his room, they worked and finished some needed discussions and a project. When done, they had a cocktail (still in his room) together. The female subordinate’s husband called her on her cell phone. She answered and innocently told her husband the facts as above. The husband was very upset citing that professional judgment required opposite-sex associates to meet in a public place, never in a hotel room alone and certainly not with alcohol involved.
Was the husband justified? Is the husband wrong to be critical (is he just old-fashioned)?”
Here are some answers he received – add your comments to these. You may also read all the other answers here: Continue to read the answers
Ireland based Janet Anderson (name changed) will be writing for WhenWomenWork occasionally, under an anonymous name, sharing her experiences as a working professional.
Having worked in four European countries, including my country of birth, I can say European companies are all discriminatory in varying degrees going up to extreme high. Employers don’t seem to want you unless you speak the language of the country to perfection, have the ‘correct’ sounding name and even the ‘correct’ skin colour. Qualifications does not always matter so much. It seems to have less to do with racism and more with a fear of the new: new ways of thinking, a different culture than their own etc. I would actually call these countries arrogant.
In contrast, American companies in Europe are much more fair and law abiding - more on this in another post.
It is not easy getting a job either in Europe; but I must say if you are lucky and do get a job, you are actually almost guaranteed payment of salaries, equal rights and help from unions etc.
Paris based Yvonne Michele Anderson, an independent film producer, internet entrepreneur and non-profit and media consultant shares her story of how she overcame barriers to her career advancement by striking out on her own.
I worked in a law firm that is considered the best in it’s field. It was a firm in which women were largely under-represented and, at the time that I was there, there were only two women partners out of 27 partners.
Most of the junior and mid-level associates were women, but they could not envision realistic prospects for advancement, and there was a lot of frustration among them. Women, particularly women in the corporate law section, were constantly given work below their skill levels and qualifications, while less experienced men were placed on more substantial files with little effort.
The worse thing is that the two women in positions of power were not supportive of the younger women coming up through the ranks. In fact, they felt threatened by them. Continue Reading…
Is it true, as some would believe, that women get away with things at work in a way men cannot? Or do you believe they face challenges men don’t and deserve some privileges, if any? I put this question to men around the globe – some of the responses are given here. Will leave it to come to your own conclusions. Add your views to comments below or write to ajay@ajayjain.com.
“One of the main problem areas of the last 10 years has been the way political correctness has attempted to undermine the differences between men and women. Men and women are fundamentally different. The way they see things is different, the way they work is different - how they manage challenge is different.
It isn’t a matter of right or wrong - it’s just a matter of difference.
I am saying this because, from experience, if a manager is to manage both sexes equally well (or equally badly?) then that manager has to understand the differences in behaviour and perception. This is where many problems arise in corporate life.
Also, going against the grain of what others have to say, I can state categorically that women DO get away with more things at work than a man does, especially in the area of corporate politics. Read on, there’s lots more
Contributed by Samhita T Rao, Vice-President with a multinational bank in India
One of the perks of working in organizations like HSBC is it is not always work as usual – I was recently selected as a volunteer to work on an environmental project in the rainforests of Northern Australia. And the experience of being in mostly women dominated team was something to be remembered for life. Here’s the story: [If you have any adventurous stories to share, share those at ajay@ajayjain.com]
I was absolutely ecstatic when I was selected to be a volunteer of an environmental project sponsored by the Earthwatch Institute (my company sponsors volunteers to Earthwatch projects as a part of their CSR initiatives). The Earthwatch Institute engages people world wide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. Read on, there’s more
It is not about stereotypes here, but women with children do faced challenged when off to work; after all, the children do need to be taken care of. Should companies have a role to play here? Yes, say working mothers – and this opinion resonates globally across countries and societies including India, USA and Malaysia. Here are some opinions - would you have any to share?
I would like a day care centre for working mothers within office premises. By the way, this is mandatory for all companies in India according to the labour laws, but no one seems to be adhering to it. - Shweta Kapoor, Sapient, South Korea
DAYCARE!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the one things needs changing in companies. In the US it is ridiculously expensive and not always available. - Soledad Quiroz, Graduate Student at Michigan State University, USA There’s more - Continue Reading
This was not a question I raised, but Juliette Reinders Folmer, a marketing communications consultant from the Netherlands chose to make a point by sharing the following with me. Would you agree? Share your comments.
In my view, women are their own worst enemy when it comes to work. Part of that can be traced to ’social programming’ and culture, but you can break through that.
A (female) ex-colleague of mine once worded it like this: “When men interview for a job and are asked whether they qualify and the job is above their level of experience they will say ‘I can’ while women will say ‘I can learn.’ We need to learn to swallow the ‘learn’ bit.”
So, in short: men are just better at selling themselves. Women all too often underplay their own skills and by doing that place themselves in a worse negotiating position on all levels.
And here’s another take on working with women from Rohini Sharma, another friend working as a teacher in Delhi.
Teachers tend to be mostly women in India, not just in schools but even in other training institutes covering languages, soft skills, voice accent training etc.
Gourmet Talk: Having taught in a language institute myself, I can reflect upon my own experiences of working in an almost all-female work environment. Women get together and you have a potpourri ready. Literally so! Forever wanting to show off their culinary skills women get the most delicious of dishes to work. I got to eat things I had never eaten before. Wait, there’s more. Read on…
Wonder what it is like working in an environment where most of your colleagues are men? I posed this question to some of my friends, and here’s one perspective from a teacher (prefers not to be named) at The British School in New Delhi.
“Working in an almost all-female environment, I would definitely like more male colleagues at work. Foremost reason being that in an all female environment, the women are constantly gossiping, bitching, cribbing – not particularly in that order though! Despite their being constant work pressure, they somehow manage to find the time to indulge in all, or, some of this. With male colleagues, however, one can hope for a more professional and thereby a better work environment.”
What’s you take on it? Write in at ajay@ajayjain.com.
As a woman business networker and entrepreneur in India, Naina Redhu has some interesting insights into networking in India, including those from a woman’s perspective. Click here to read about this on her blog on networking. Her creative design studio, Aside, can be accessed here.
Travelling for work may be tiring, but it certainly does not come in the way of Indian women executives cherry-picking perks like some time to themselves for a bit of self-indulgence, away from bosses at work and kids at home. Here’s what some of them do: Read on…
Conspicuous by their presence at airport lounges are more and more laptop toting women off on a business trip. Usually all by themselves. When it comes to deciding who should travel, the gender divide at companies seems to be nothing more than a blurred line now. What are beyond dispute, however, are the unique set of challenges, especially security concerns, faced by women travelling on business.
Not that any of these are a deterrent, but being safe rather than sorry seems to be the mantra for these women. Continue Reading…
Came across a link to this article in The Economist on Guy Kawasaki’s blog, an insightful and interesting piece no doubt. The first paragraph of the piece reads:
EVEN today in the modern, developed world, surveys show that parents still prefer to have a boy rather than a girl. One longstanding reason why boys have been seen as a greater blessing has been that they are expected to become better economic providers for their parents’ old age. Yet it is time for parents to think again. Girls may now be a better investment.
Click here to read the full piece.
