The September issue of the Harvard Business Review features the biases (emotional, bossy, too nice) that still hold female leaders back. While the article gives some interesting insights, in my opinion the debate is over and these perceptions are tiresome.
Women are on the rise and are positioned to take over corporations. It’s no longer a matter of if – it’s a matter of when. Check out these statistics:
Women currently make up 47% of the work force, yet hold 51.4% managerial and professional jobs.
40% of women already out-earn their husbands.
Women are outpacing men in education:
57% of college grads and
63% of masters’ degrees.
It was once the perception that no one would ever run a sub-4-minute mile until Roger Bannister broke that barrier in 1954. In just 46 days the next runner did it. Within 10 years more than 700 runners broke that record. Today a sub-4-minute mile is merely a standard for middle distance runners. Once a perception is proved wrong or broken, there’s no going back.
The glass ceiling for women (like the sub-4-minute mile) is breaking even more rapidly with women serving as CEOs in 4% of Fortune 1000 companies. The race is just beginning and it’s becoming exponentially easier for women to break in and upward.
I don’t know about you but I’m ready for all the Neanderthal perceptions and debates to come to an end. Even though the debate continues elsewhere, I say it’s over and I’ll just keep rising. How about you?
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S.Comment and tell me your feelings about perceived and real biases.
Good comments, Vickie. The problem that isn’t mentioned in most articles is the one that we as nurses have seen in our own profession for years. Putting it lightly “we eat our young.” We try to hold back the youngest in the profession in order keep our own high status in the game. Learning that helping another woman up the ladder doesn’t necessarily drop your own standing down the rungs of the ladder would be a great start to becoming a team of women helping other women to reach the top.
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Good comments, Vickie. The problem that isn’t mentioned in most articles is the one that we as nurses have seen in our own profession for years. Putting it lightly “we eat our young.” We try to hold back the youngest in the profession in order keep our own high status in the game. Learning that helping another woman up the ladder doesn’t necessarily drop your own standing down the rungs of the ladder would be a great start to becoming a team of women helping other women to reach the top.
What about a female President of the US??? Are we ready??