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
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.
