Here’s an interesting infographic from CityTownInfo.com that breaks down the challenges and opportunities for women interested in scientific careers. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, women hold less than 25 percent of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs. This, despite the fact women represent close to half of all workers in the U.S. Courtesy of: Citytowninfo.com
As evidenced by my recent lack of blogging, I’ve been really busy the past two months and unable to “do it all.” However I’ve been asked by several people what I think of the current Atlantic magazine cover story, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” written by former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter. So it seems like a good time to get back to work here. Slaughter was the first woman director of policy planning at the State Department, working for Secretary Hillary Clinton. The demands of life in Washington, and of working for someone else, after having been a tenured professor who controlled her own schedule, made parenting her two teenage sons too difficult and so she left the position to be with her family. What do I think? At first pass, I think, no kidding the life of a working mother is incredibly challenging – for women at the highest levels of success and those working at hourly wage jobs. I think many things contribute to having it all – a good boss, a good partner at home, well-adjusted kids out of diapers and out of trouble. And many things can make success difficult – a less [...]
Do you know why women earn less than men? According to Senator Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, this week’s Ignorant Legislator recipient, money isn’t as important to us as it is to men. Grothman told The Daily Beast‘s Michelle Goldberg, “You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious. To attribute everything to a so-called bias in the workplace is just not true.” And to attribute it to an outdated and sexist idea, Senator, is just not rational. According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic data, approximately 40 percent of working wives out earn their husbands. Grothman told Goldberg the gender wage gap was caused by women’s decisions to “prioritize childrearing over their careers,” and that the hypothetical working wife is “not go go go.” Grothman clearly hasn’t seen the time use data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics either. If he had, he might know, women, on average, do more household chores than men. This is a scenario that occurs regardless of work status. Of course, we wouldn’t expect Grothman to consider that lack of sick [...]
Let’s not waste time debating whether sexism was a factor in Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s failed bid for president. It was. Let’s instead focus on what we will do about it. Because something needs to be done. Not that we wanted to see Bachmann in the White House. God no. But nor do we want to see Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry or any other anti-woman candidate get elected. But why is Bachmann going home and not the other non-Romneys? For several reasons. First, there is a double standard at work. Susan Mulligan at U.S. News points out, “Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party-approving Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, has said some crazy things… All of that provides a solid basis for questioning her as a candidate and wondering whether she’s suited for the Oval Office. But has Bachmann said or done anything more bizarre than some of her opponents, including several who are above her in polling in Iowa?” Not really. Second, women don’t “look presidential.” Remember when Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen wrote, “I can think of no reason why anyone who, for some unaccountable reason, supports Michele Bachmann will not move over to Perry… Perry, who actually looks like a president …” [...]
If I were Santa, I’d be making my list and checking it twice. And here are the gifts I would give: For Our Daughters: The gift of self-esteem and positive role models The mass media perpetuates a message that women and girls’ value comes from beauty and sexuality – and it affects us. Sixty-five percent of women and girls have an eating disorder. Eighty percent of the op-ed pages are dominated by men. The number of women in senior management positions globally has gone from 24 to 20 percent from 2004 to 2009. For Corporate America: More women in leadership positions There is a large, and growing, body of research connecting women at the tops of organizations to a strong bottom line performance. However, women comprise 53 percent of new hires, but only 37 percent of managers, 26 percent of vice-presidents, and just 14 percent of executive committees. For Working Mothers: Flexible work arrangements … and a day of rest The life of a working mother is challenging. Flexible work arrangements give parents the ability to work more flexibly and better manage the challenges of work and family. For Working Families: Passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act According to [...]
The recent series of sex scandals involving male politicians has generated lots of discussion in the media about the need for more women in elected office. Would women be less likely than men to behave badly? It’s hard to say but also irrelevant. What the media failed to point out is that we need more women. Not because they might subject the public to fewer headlines regarding extramarital affairs, but because women are dramatically underrepresented in public office. Looking at the make-up of the 112th Congress, the numbers are staggeringly bad. Although 51 percent of the U.S. population is female, women hold 89, or 16.5 percent of the 535 seats — 17, or 17.0 percent, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 72, or 16.5 percent, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. That puts the US at 69th in the world for gender parity, according to the Inter Parliamentary Union. The problem, however, is not that women aren’t winning elections, it’s that they aren’t running for office. This is why political strategist Mary Hughes created The 2012 Project, a campaign of Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics. It’s a nonpartisan, national campaign to recruit record numbers [...]
Years ago, at my second job post-college, my friend and coworker asked me to share my salary. I said no, but she persisted. We were both about to have salary reviews and she argued we had no way to benchmark our raises if we had no idea what others in the firm were getting paid. It made sense, so we snuck into the stairwell of our office building to swap data in secrecy –we were under the impression we could be fired for sharing our pay. It turns out she was paid $1000 more annually than me. So while in reality our salaries were practically the same, at the time it seemed like a big deal. She gloated. I pouted. And I vowed never to share salary information again – nothing good could come from it. Not true. A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) titled, “Pay Secrecy and Wage Discrimination,” discusses how pay transparency might reduce the gender wage gap. Today, women earn, on average, 23 percent less than men. And 40 percent of pay inequity can be attributed to pay discrimination.* But with approximately half of all workers in the United States contractually forbidden [...]
A new report from McKinsey& Company titled, “Unlocking the full potential of women in the U.S. economy,” delivers little we didn’t already know about why women aren’t advancing to the tops of organizations but it offers great analysis on why we should care. The global management consulting firm surveyed 2,500 men and women and interviewed 30 chief diversity officers and experts about why highly capable and motivated women reject top positions in organizations and either pursue jobs outside corporations or leave corporate America altogether. A key objective of the report, however, was to understand how women contribute to the U.S. economy. The lack of women at the top isn’t a recruitment problem. It’s a retention problem. There is a healthy pipeline of talented and ambitious women. Last year 50 percent of all undergraduate degrees in the U.S. went to women, however only 50 percent of the college educated workforce was made up of women. And companies are good at recruiting women, according to the report. Parental leave, flex schedules, part-time options all make work more appealing for women. But what’s happening is women are dropping off at each rung on the corporate ladder. According to Sylvia Hewlett, from the Center [...]
The number of women in the senior ranks of companies worldwide is decreasing, not increasing as one might expect. According to a report from consulting firm Grant Thornton International, the number of women in senior management positions globally has gone from 24 percent in 2004 to 20 percent in 2009. What gives? Well, change is slow. Very slow, sometimes. In fact, here in the U.S., in ten years, the percentage of female corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies grew only 2 percent, to 14 percent total. The percentage of female board directors grew just four percent, to 16 percent. And the percentage of women who are among the top earners, increased from 12 percent to 14 percent. (Source: Catalyst) A new report from the Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO) at the Simmons School of Management, “Closing the Women’s Leadership Gap:Who Can Help?,” looks at the factors contributing to the gap and at what can be done to shrink it. The CGO surveyed more than 300 women at the 2010 Simmons Leadership Conference and found that more than 90 percent of the respondents report experiencing “second generation,” or subtle discrimination at work. According to the press release, announcing the report’s availability, [...]
Trent Franks Plans to Expand Abortion Ban Nationwide
Memo from the media: you're not thin enough
made me chuckle
