When Women Work

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.

Also, in the past I used to do some work for a company that had approximately 60 percent women staff members, including many of the senior managers. The decision making process in that company revolved so much around corporate politics and with little or no evidence upon which to make decisions, that the company was virtually paralysed and began going downhill rapidly.

Modern managers need to understand the gender differences and play to the strengths of both sexes in order to obtain equality of opportunity - and the best result for the organisation.” – James Stuart, Strategist, Negotiator and Futurist: minimising future risk at Alt3.co.uk, UK

“From my own experience I don’t see women getting away with things at work that men cannot. The reverse is probably more representative of reality. I also believe they face challenges that men don’t but the answer is not to give them “privileges” but to make sure that they can come to work on a level playing field. This is not about being kind or altruistic it is just about doing good business.

Examples from Marks & Spencer’s and Levi’s over the past few years have shown that if you don’t have women at senior management levels in your company you will not get the level of cognitive diversity you need to compete and survive in the midst of the “destructive creation” that is going on all over the world.

I see you mention “stereotypes” on your blog and that is the big problem when women work in a male-heavy environment. It is a lot easier for men to see their female colleagues as stereotypes than to see them as individuals.

A good book that describes some of these stereotypes is Margaret Heffernan’s “The Naked Truth” . Heffernan describes the vicious circle that can be created as men catalogue female colleagues as “geishas”, “bitches”, and “guys”.

Women at work have to decide how to try to fit into a male environment and the worst thing is to try to play along with these stereotypes. Many of them, in the end, opt for the other stereotype, with which many men are even more comfortable, that of the “invisible woman” where women do a lot (or even all) of the work and get none of the credit.

There are many examples of invisible women. One example that has become clear over the past few years is that Watson & Crick would not have been able to come up with the double helix model of DNA if they had not been able to use the work of Rosalind Franklin, whose X-Ray photograph of a single DNA fibre in 1952 was key to the breakthrough. In their paper in 1953 Watson & Crick did not recognise or attribute her contribution. Neither did Watson or Crick mention Franklin when they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. (click here to read more)

The Scandinavian countries are doing a better job of confronting these stereotypes than the more Latin countries such as France and Spain. In Norway, for example, large company boards were required to be composed of at least 40 percent of each gender by the end of 2006, but I am not sure about how well it has been implemented so far.” – John Gaynard, Senior Partner at Syre Consulting, Paris, France

A woman’s view: “LOL! I wish that was true (sometimes at least). No, females do not get away in any capacity any more than their male counterparts. It’s the same (long) working hours and same performance appraisal for both. I think both men and women have their respective challenges but it does not entitle them to any privileges. If we are truly looking for equality then it has to be the same work culture for both.” – Ruchi Goel, GM Planning & Commercialization at PepsiCo, India

“I do not think that women as a group are offered special privileges more than men except on a case by case basis. There are women that people will bend over backwards to do things for. There are also men that people will bend over backwards to do things for. It is a matter of attraction and there are some people that just have a way of making us like them, and they tend to be offered more than others.” – Kurt Welte, Quality Assurance Manager at MGA US LLC, USA

“I really do not believe women enjoy special privileges. If there are “benefits” to being a women in business it is as a result of some corporate efforts to at least perceptually “balance the numbers” and bring in more women at the management levels. For women graduating from an engineering program or a business program today you will probably have far more offers than your male counterparts and actually be offered higher starting salaries.” – Ray Miller, Superintendent of Utilities at University of Cincinnati, USA

Another woman’s view: “Mothers are allowed to pick up their children from school or daycare at 3-3:30 pm sometimes and still get a full day’s pay. So that’s a special privilege. I don’t have kids but have seen it go on many times. Otherwise, I still believe women suffer from less pay; thus, they don’t receive any special treatment in this area. When it was the Equality rules in the 80’s and 90’s, medical secretaries were compared to the position of a man performing kitchen help in the hospital kitchen, and therefore we didn’t get any more pay.” – Karen Shane, Owner at Business Writing & Resumes, Canada

“No, not at all. In my experience, women meet the same expectations and receive the same rewards as the men with whom they work. Your question hasn’t even arisen in my workplaces. I *would* say that some managers are challenging though. They have an easier time grasping when a woman asks for time off to tend to a child than when a man asks for the same. I am talking about a small minority of short-sighted managers (again, in my experience), but these few have left me with the impression that they expect Moms to take care of kids…not Dads.” – Tom Fields, Editorial Director at BankInfoSecurity.com, USA

“My wife is (well) above average clever and talented. She has a way with people, which makes her stand out as a leader rather than a boss (and she has some bossy tendencies as well which pay off). I don’t think that she gets away with things anymore then any male with equal charm and good looks. She does get pay less however for comparable jobs as all women do (at least in The Netherlands). Women in a man’s world obviously don’t automatically get the credit they deserve. But a lot has been written on this subject, so why the question?” - HW Van Engers, Director at SBBV Interimmanagement, Netherlands