What Women Want...Inside & Outside of Work

Dear Readers,

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In my last article, I wrote about integrity, our greatest asset. Here, I intended to offer some observations about power and fame and I’ll do this later. For now, I’ll discuss more pressing issues related to women and how they expect to be treated inside and outside of all work settings.

Right now – October of 2016 and less than a month before a presidential election – all of us, men and women alike, should examine our own consciences to understand why the maltreatment of women should be taken seriously and corrected.

As I’ve written in earlier articles and from an economic viewpoint, today, women exert an enormous amount of clout as workers, consumers and policymakers. Quite simply, it is foolish to ignore or insult them by using flimsy excuses for bad behaviors. For several decades, women (and a good number of men, too) have been instrumental in advancing women’s status so that they can enjoy the same rights, privileges and equitable treatment as men have enjoyed for millennia! In previous articles, I’ve described how there is a long way to go with both salaries and professions. Women remain severely underrepresented in political, legal, technology and other “male dominated” professions. In spite of these slow improvements, women are making gains.

Socially and interpersonally, though, it appears that we haven’t made much progress, especially when prominent public figures are “outed” for objectifying women as sex toys. Apart from any progress that is made, these not-so-secret views surely will impede women as they continue to strive for respect – both inside and outside of work. Expressing outrage without correcting a sexist incident isn’t enough. It’s merely…talk.

If you don’t know me personally or haven’t guessed, it’s time to say that I’m a woman. I’ve been blessed by a number of men and women who’ve championed me, personally and professionally, throughout my life. A few years ago, I wrote my first serious journal article about gender equity and since then, I’ve thought about the differences that are so deeply ingrained or “hard-wired” within both men and women. Thanks to a myriad of genetic and environmental forces, is it possible that women may never be equal to men across several dimensions? Who knows?

Some fundamental differences between the sexes can be found in the ways in which we communicate with one another. Deborah Tannen, a linguistics professor who wrote “You Just Don’t Understand: Men & Women in Conversation,” recently was quoted in the news. Her book is a great read and it may prove useful to anyone who wants to learn how and why men and women say what they say to one another.

Let me share an incident that occurred many years ago. I was working in a manufacturing company where two people who were peers – one was a man and one was a woman – were being considered for one promotion. In my entire life, I’ve never seen two people so eerily similar in education, work experience and on-the-job accomplishments so I knew that the promotion would present a difficult decision from the Vice-President of Human Resources, to whom I also reported. Because my office was near the VP’s office and both of our doors were open, I overheard the entire conversation that occurred between him and the female candidate.

Every time he explained why the male candidate was superior, she responded with examples of her own accomplishments. This back and forth banter went on for quite some time and finally, in exasperation, the VP finally said he was giving the promotion to the male because “he’s a family man.” I will never forget her response: “I have a family, too.” Boom. I don’t know what happened to any of these people because I left that company for a better position. I do know, though, that that VP had four daughters. I wonder if any of them ever had to contend with a boneheaded man like their own father.

As I’ve written in the past, history moves slowly. However, the last thing we want to do right now is turn back the clock. Let’s move forward and try to respect and appreciate our differences in better and more meaningful ways.

Here’s a good article that offers a glimpse of what women want plus a preview of a new book, too!

From Women, Skepticism About Marriage and a Hunger for Workplace Equality