When Women Work

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

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…