Is There Sexism in America or Are We Just Whining?
I’ve been absolutely amazed at the number of articles I’ve seen recently about sexism in America that segue into the alarming statistics on the stagnation and slippage of women’s advancement in corporate America. What’s driving the numbers and why is there such emotion around the topic - from both men and women? For example, check out the recent article in Conde Nast’s Porfolio entitled Sexism in the Workplace. Some really “interesting” statistics include: (and there are many more):
- American Bar Association shows female attorney weekly wages amounted to 70.5% of male lawyer’s in 2006 compared with 77.5% in 2005.
- Number of women holding Fortune 500 board seats increased steadily between 1995 and 2005 but has been essentially flat for the past 3 years.
- Number of female corporate officers at Fortune 500 companies has dropped in each of the past three years.
What’s even more interesting is reading the blog comments of the readers. The venom represented by both men and women shows mass stereotyping, fear, anger and a general sense of powerlessness on the part of women. The Wall Street Journal had a front page article on Saturday March 29th titled At the Barricades in the Gender Wars talking about Hilary Clinton’s campaign and the fear her supporters have about a sexist backlash. A lot of questions about whether America is ready for a woman leader. My colleague Paige Wesley mentioned that she’s talked to a number of women from various generations who are actually concerned about this – feeling that a woman won’t get Congressional or public support to be effective in the White House.
How is it that other nations have been able to cross this barrier and the U.S., where we pride ourselves on civil rights and women’s lib, still quakes at the idea of women in power? Why is gender even a point of debate when there are so many other more serious issues to discuss? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one! What’s the next step? How are we as women owning – and investing in - our power and authority? What needs to happen to drive the change we want to see? Is it about networking skills - developing our own “old girls club”? Having intention? Being mentors? I think we could all benefit from hearing about how your gender may have affected your rise to leadership - both positively and negatively. What did you learn from the experience, how would you change your response to it now? Looking forward to continuing the discussion! apo prednisone quitting celexa side effects
April 18th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Very interesting topic Wendy! As a coach at Astia, I often struggle with women who “don’t feel comfortable talking about their accomplishments”. When was the last time your heard a man say that? For some reason, we as a society, don’t approve of women who are very upfront about who they are and what they have done.
Hillary Clinton is one who has overcome this feeling and is very comfortable talking about her accomplishments. But how comfortable are we listening to her? I’ve heard women say, “I just don’t like her.” Is that because she is a very forward personality?
I don’t think that overt sexism is a huge problem these days. Sure, it happens and we deal with it. But I’m far more concerned with an underlying orientation toward women that keeps women from promoting their ideas and themselves. How do we change that?
August 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Hi, this is my first attempt to respond to such a topic as sexism in America… or are we whining. I am of the opinion that Hillary is a true Leader, woman or not and the reason for her not being able to have made it to the final stage for the Presidential election was exactly due to the Sexism in the American Media. Again, I am not an expert, but the Media is dominated by men and they are very instrumental in influencing the American mind…
That being said, I am very eager to hear from some of the American women (i am from India originally) who can explain to me why, if America is such a strong place for equality of the sexes, that to this day there has not been a Woman President or even a Vice-President ever.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:59 am
I agree with u. I need to imedeatly add it in my RSS
October 14th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Quite a decent blog, at least filling of topics. Have more to these blogs.
December 29th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me