Working Women: Finding Balance and Equality in Creative Organizational Design: Part 2 of 5

Since the 1960’s, tens of millions of women have extracted time from their lives to accommodate jobs and careers. They married later, had fewer children, paid others to help, and persuaded men to do more chores. Many have been stretched to the breaking point. What happened on the road to gender equality? Too much work happened. “The reality is that our society hasn’t really changed the rules of the game - it’s only said: ‘OK girls, we’ll let you try. But we’re not going to change anything in the work culture’” (Swiss, 1996, p. 68).

In the book, Women Breaking Through, Deborah Swiss surveyed 325 working women across the nation on company initiatives to promote women. With the exception of a few, the women told her that their organizations remain stuck in some bad habits, and it doesn’t look as if things are going to change anytime soon. Deeply entrenched organizational attitudes have stopped gender reform in its tracks:
"Despite the media hype, the CEO breakfast meetings, the women’s conferences, and the progressive policies on paper, equal treatment and opportunity on the job remain a distant goal for too many women. Sometime in the last decade, the progress of women at work came to a quick halt, with too many business leaders saying one thing but practicing another" (1996, pp.1, 5). Sometimes inhospitable corporate cultures add to the stress. Many women feel their contributions are not recognized or valued, they are not taken seriously, or they are excluded from informal networks and training opportunities (Solomon, 2000).

Statistically, women make up almost one half of the nations workforce (Velasquez, 1998), yet a study by Catalyst, a women’s advocacy group based in New York, found that women represented only 11.9% of corporate officers in America’s 500 largest companies as of March 1999. Men still hold 93% of line officer jobs. These are considered high profile positions with profit and loss responsibility that can lead to top positions. Many women who achieve executive or management level are placed into staff positions such as human resources or public relations (Armas, 2000). Degrees don’t appear to be a factor. For the first time in history, women have more education than men. According to the March 2006 edition of Fast Company Magazine, females have exceeded males in obtaining bachelor and master degrees and within 10 years, the discrepancy will increase (Zolli). In addition, a 2001 census by the Society for Human Resource Management revealed that women account for 40% of PhDs (Phin, 2002).

With all this talent, why do women still face career barriers? Society has several reasons for why the glass ceiling exists, one being that women are not as comfortable promoting themselves as men. Lynda Obst, producer of Sleepless in Seattle noted, “Women will fight for everyone but themselves. Women need to learn to demand more, negotiate better and tougher, and walk away when the money is not right” (Mapping Out a Strategy, 2000). Many females have been taught that hard work alone is sufficient to put them on a par with men. Women tend to be over-preparers, making sure their work is technically correct, but not assuring that it will be noticed by influential people in the organization (Gale Group, 2000). Comfort zones can also play a role in the existence of the glass ceiling. Men will promote men because they feel comfortable with them, drink with them, play golf with them, talk with no inhibitions around them, and don’t have to explain them to their wives (Mapping Out a Strategy, 2000).

While assertiveness training can teach women to assert themselves in work and social situations, females are mostly blamed for placing family responsibilities ahead of their job (Hodgetts, 2002). Families can limit the time devoted to a fast track career and such activities are not as susceptible to legal challenges (Mapping Out a Strategy, 2000). A 2004 survey by the Center for Work-Life Policy at Columbia University revealed that more than a third of the 2443 American women surveyed had stopped working for some period of time and 60% described their careers as nonlinear (Graham, 2005).

Next week, part 3 will discuss The Changing Environment