The New York Times today ran a piece about how large Indian financial institutions have increasingly adjusted employment policies to make room at the leadership table for women. You can read the story here.
This reminds me of a report CBS did last fall when they interviewed the Vice Chair of our Board, Jacki Zehner, about research she recently collaborated on showing the difference between women's leadership and men's leadership. There is a difference and part of creating space for women in leadership positions is acknowledging the unique perspectives and talents women bring to the table. You can read more about Jacki's work and the CBS report on her blog, Purse Pundit, which you should definitely bookmark.
Anyways, the New York Times story, when read together with the report about Jacki, adds a nice context to the blog posting below about all the talk in Davos this week.
Regarding the photo choice, I cannot help but think about Melanie Griffith's role in "Working Girl" back in the '80s. Putting aside the seriousness for a moment, I think she rocked it. She also did a good job representing real women in "Cherry 2000," another '80s KlassiK.
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This reminds me of debates in the 90s about "gender mainstreaming" and quota campaigns as a route to gender-balanced decision-making -- its strategic value for advancing gender equity, equal opportunity, and so on, its important to poverty elimination... versus critiques of it as taking feminist concerns and transforming them into managerial solutions, a practice head-counting rather than addressing structural inequalities. Nor do I think representation guarantees cultural change in institutional contexts. I question the link between descriptive and substantive representation.
ReplyDeleteMore women at tables of influence, yes, but what will "success" look like? Will it be only those who will reinforce rather than challenge the status quo? Will they be a force in tackling the low-paid work so frequently found among women? I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a lot more work to do, and along more fronts, in addition to these kinds of policies.
Good post -- with all of the gains made by women in the American workforce, it's easy to lose sight of how much progress still needs to be made elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteMen and women are equal nowadays. They may be different when it comes to physical characteristics, their strengths and weaknesses, their emotions, but they are now equal when it comes to their capability to work and earn money.
ReplyDeleteMy wife used to be a plain housewife during the first five years of our marriage. Having two kids that time is really hard and with me only working in the family, it's really hard for me to provide for my family. Then one time, my wife suggested if she can also work to help me with our finances. I didn't agree at first but I realized that it was really ok when we seek counseling from some estate lawyers. Ottawa is where my wife's currently working and I'm really proud for her being dedicated and loving wife and mother to me and our kids.