Women’s Issues: Fact or Fiction?
I met with a potential client yesterday. She was interested in doing some work with a group of women in her organization. During our meeting, she asked a couple of questions that I often think about as well.
"Why do so many women feel that they do not need any extra help getting ahead? If they feel that way, why are we pushing them?"
Tough questions to answer. Here are my thoughts. My first answer is numbers speak. Look in your organization. What is the percentage of women leaders? For many, many organizations it is a small minority. Women have been in the workforce in large numbers since the 1970's. If the work culture supported our needs and our leadership styles easily, we would be somewhere closer to 50% of corporate leadership. We are not. We could use some help. My second answer is if we help each other we can make a difference. I had the privilege of working with a small group of high potential women in 2007. They are all exceptionally bright and capable. The difference our work made is summed up by one woman's comments:
"If I had had this help earlier in my career. I would have taken more control of my career, asked for more great projects, demanded work arrangements that worked for me, and chosen better mentors."
This woman was promoted into a leadership position last year. Would she have been promoted anyway? Probably. Did we get her there earlier? Maybe. Have we helped with the numbers in this organization? Unquestionably. If we can help earlier with younger women, the numbers will change. As the numbers change, more women will be promoted. We should do this because organizations will be better for it and because organizations are members of a community. Communities are about helping each other.
