DM Coaching and Development

Sexist Jokes at Work Cause Stress for Women ... and Educated Men

As you know, we love interesting research about women and work and recently I found a study which showed sexist jokes told in law enforcement settings cause stress, not only for women but for their male colleagues too. The main researcher at Kansas State university, Don Kurtz theorised "that women's stress levels increased because the jokes were often belittling or sexually inappropriate while the jokes also potentially caused stress for men with a higher education.

These men, whose perceptions on gender might have been challenged by their education, were perhaps less likely to exhibit sexist attitudes but were still affected by the environment in which they worked where such jokes were commonplace." Sounds like it's time to put an end to telling sexist jokes at work, for every-one's sake.  

Few Women on Boards Despite Higher Degrees and Wide Sector Experience

A recent Times Online article reports on women's under-representation on boards. Within the article they quote research from Elisabeth Marx, a partner with Heidrick & Struggles, the executive search company, shows that the women who do make it on to FTSE 100 boards are highly educated: 48 per cent have attended Oxbridge or an Ivy League school; 68 per cent have an advanced degree such as an MBA. It is more common, according to Dr Marx, for women aged under 50 to have attended an elite university and obtained an advanced degree. In an earlier study she found that only 45 per cent of male chief executives had an advanced degree." So clearly lack of education is not to blame? The article continues by quoting Susan Vinnicombe, director of the International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranfield University  “What we have shown time and time again is that it's not human capital that holds women back from boards — it's social capital. It's nothing to do with their degrees. Many more of the women at this level have MBAs and they have far more multiple sector experience. Overwhelmingly they have far more diverse experience than the new male directors.” How long will it take for companies to realise the amount of talent they are missing out on by not helping women reach these most senior positions? 

Risk-Taking Never Ends

 As an executive coach specialising in working with executive women, many women come to me when they are about to take a risk - make a career change, move abroad, leave the industry they have worked in for 20 years. It is one big decision or risk they have contemplating for a long time. However, what they often find is that after they take that one risk - more inevitably follow. Successful people have to take risks on an ongoing basis, each time they reach a new goal (and hence set another) or when they hit a stumbling block and need to change course. In some cases, they have to give up the thing they thought would bring them the greatest happiness - but left them ultimately hollow or unfulfilled. When I found a well-paid job in the field that my PhD had prepared me for, it was a wake-up call when I realised how little I enjoyed it. I had to take the next risk - moving back to Britain without a job or even a sense of career direction. I eventually decided to set up my own business and as any entrepreneur will tell you, it has been one risk after another! But I am hanging in there and knowing that I have taken many risks, most of which have worked out, gives me the confidence to do what successful women all over the world do....take more risks.  What was the biggest risk you have taken?   

Recession-Hit Companies Target Women Consumers

As women are responsible for making a whopping 80% of consumer decisions, many companies hit badly by the recession are waking up to the reality of creating and marketing products for a female audience. In an article in The Economist patronisingly entitled Hello,Girls explains "Aside from their greater purchasing clout, women are valuable customers for three reasons. First, they are loyal, says Marti Barletta, author of “Marketing to Women”, and more likely to continue to buy a brand if they like it. Second, women are more likely than men to spread information about products they like through word of mouth and social-networking sites. Third, most of the lay-offs so far in America have been in male-dominated fields, like manufacturing and construction. This means women may bring home a greater share of household income in the months ahead and have even more buying power." I'm all for companies realising what a treasure trove women are, but only if they realise that to truly have impact , they need more women in senior positions to help determine what products get created in the first place...for women and men.  

Women in the City Earn Less than Half of Male Colleagues

Women working in the City of London are paid up to 60 per cent less than

their male counterparts, new research has revealed. A recent study by the Equality and Human Right Commission (EHRC) found that more senior women are paid an average of 45 per cent less than men per hour while the hourly earnings of junior female staff is 16 per cent lower than those of men. It also found that although the proportion of career women is similar to men in the financial sector, the representation of women at higher levels of management is lower than men.  Trevor Phillips, chair of the commission, said: "The figures we're releasing today are shocking and indicate just how serious the pay gap has become in the financial sector, with women concentrated in lower paid, lower skilled roles and few able to make it to the top. He continued "The truth is that however you look at the numbers, women do not have equal status or equal rewards. Nobody wants this kind of unfairness, including the businesses themselves. We are losing or not taking advantage of talented women from a crucial industry - something we can ill afford in these troubled times." I think it is time to stop "business as usual" - as we can all see, paying male leadership so much more certainly hasn't led to stellar leadership or a fair and just economy. 

Don't Be Afraid of Making Enemies at Work

As you progress your career, you are likely to make an enemy or two. In my experience, in fact, I have never met a woman who got to the top without offending colleagues along the way, at some point or another. It is purely the nature of growth. As you ascend the management ladder, your decisions and projects all become more high profile and hence more visible to those who like to shoot arrows. Often this has nothing to do with the woman herself, but is just new policy that she is enacting, a tough decision she has to make, even jealousy - but it is easy to take people's animosity personally. Remember, most "enemies" will be purely thinking about how a certain decision affects them - and not the myriad aspects she had to consider to take it. If you let a desire to be liked by everyone and a fear of rejection rule your decisions, you will be inhibited from taking the very actions that true leaders often need to take. You can never please all the people all the time and trying to do so will have you branded as weak and ineffective - and is a recipe for failure.  What tough decisions have you had to take?

New Book for Women Entrepreneurs - "Birthing the Elephant"

As I finish the final stages of publishing my upcoming book on successful women in male-dominated fields, I came across a new book "Birthing the Elephant: the Woman's Go for It Guide to Overcoming the Big Challenges in Launching a Business" by Karin Abarbanel. 

It focuses on women who have been successful entrepreneurs, and how men and women differ when they dream of and actually set up their fledgling start-ups. It will make a good read for many of my female executive coaching clients, many of whom eventually set up their own businesses as well as those curious what it takes to be successful in a new small business. 

In Recession, Women Are Returning to Work or Increasing Hours

I found an article in Forbes Why Women Who Opted Out Are Opting Back In about the increase of women who are returning to work as the economy is crumbling, either as a response to a partner being out of work, or indeed to make the most of the work opportunities they have...while they still have them. Indeed some of the women interviewed say they are returning as proof to their daughters that the responsibility for providing for a family should not rest wholly with a father. It makes sense, as many of the industries that are hit hardest by this recession are male-dominated such as construction, manufacturing and finance. In fact, as the article discusses, in the US unemployment rates are higher for men than women, proving that it does take working women as well as men to keep an economy afloat. 

Made a Mistake at Work? How to Salvage Your Reputation

As much as we were told they are good manners, when you make a mistake at work, bosses are not interested in a string of "I'm sorry's". We will all make a gaffe at some point - overlook something, go over budget on a project, not deliver a report on time, not communicate with the right person, send the wrong information to a client. It's a fact of working and having a career - you won't be able to escape making the odd mistake or two. However, the best thing you can do afterwards is show what you learned from it. Although apologies may sound good to our ears,  what you really want to be able to tell your employer are the following five things:

1. What happened in a short and concise description without blame.
2. What you learned from the experience - again briefly.
3. What you and the rest of the team are doing to solve the problem.
4. When that solution will be delivered.
5. What you will do differently next time to make sure it doesn't happen again. 

Choice Not Biology Explains Lack of Women in Science

  Forbes magazine recently published the findings of a meta-analysis as to why so few women work in the sciences and maths. The article Why Women Turn Their Backs on Science and you can read more here, but the overall findings suggest it is not biology but choice which is major factor. As Elizabeth Eaves writes " The reassuring part of the results is that lack of innate ability does not explain women's decisions to opt out of these careers. Which we perhaps might have been able to guess from the different numbers across cultures: One tally showed that 27% of French physics Ph.D.s were awarded to women versus 13% of U.S. physics Ph.D.s, with presumably no biological differences between French women and their American sisters. The "innate differences" theory likewise doesn't account for why there are more women in some math-intensive professions than others, say in computer science versus electrical engineering." I'm glad to see more evidence that women are not innately unable to work in these fields, as far too many people still blame biology.