We spend a lot of time talking about, reading about and writing about gender diversity, pay equity, the glass ceiling and the lack of women in executive and leadership roles. We hear about how there is movement and change happening in this area and that women are advancing the ball by “leaning in” more to accept executive responsibilities.<\/p>\n
So here’s the pressing question I couldn’t shake that led me to write this article seeking answers: <\/strong>If there is this huge movement to support and advance professional women, why do both women and men report not only that they prefer male bosses but that they just prefer to work with men in general more than with women? What’s the real issue of working with women?<\/p>\n Can we create more female executives without actually wanting to work for them?<\/strong><\/p>\n Can we support and advocate for the advancement of women and for crushing the glass ceiling without going all in? Who are female leaders supposed to lead when even women prefer to be led by men?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think we have to ask ourselves – Are women, albeit sometimes unintentionally, keeping women down?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’m not sure if it is a lack of advancement opportunities, societal norms and built-in expectations, some sort of professional jealousy or something else, but certainly there are strong underlying factors to contribute to these statistics and research.<\/p>\n We have to do more to support professional women; we have to WANT<\/span> to work for them.<\/strong><\/p>\n We often have this discussion about breaking the glass ceiling and resolving pay inequities as if it is a male-driven phenomenon, but clearly it isn’t. From what I can tell, it is very much, or at least equally, a female driven phenomenon.<\/p>\n When women say to women: we want you to be promoted and to get paid more, but we just don’t want to work for you, we are part of the problem<\/span>.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I posit that until women actually want to work with and for other women, these statistics will not change. Until women stop viewing leadership as a mostly masculine concept, these statistics will not change. Unless women match words to deeds and develop supportive workplace relationships with professional women, these statistics will not change. Until women report at least an equal preference for working with and for other women, nothing will change.<\/p>\n Why? <\/strong>Because of supply and demand. Women increasingly make up more and more of the professional workforce. We have the dominant voice, and our voice and actions are sending the message that men should be in charge.<\/strong> So long as the employees themselves prefer to work for men, wouldn’t is stand to reason that more and more men would be elevated to positions of authority and get paid more for the privilege? I think so.<\/p>\n It’s not just male bosses that women prefer; women prefer male colleagues in general.<\/strong><\/p>\n Why would we ask organizations to design and administer proactive measures to develop female executives and promote diversity if we don’t. Women are reporting they prefer working with men in all position levels and capacities.<\/p>\n Some questions I have to ask to learn – does some of the resistance to women come from one or more of these factors:<\/strong><\/p>\n I think it’s fair to say we can’t explain all of this away by pointing the finger at organizational policies and male dominated practices without at least looking at what’s going on between women that creates this result.<\/p>\n In hopes of getting some answers and feedback from you, the readers, I pose the following questions. These are questions we don’t tend to discuss in the workplace, but maybe we need to start.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n How do we overcome inherent gender biases that not only men have but – women also have – against women?<\/em> As it stands today, both men and women report a preference for working for men and with men. So long as this stands, we can’t expect that more women will advance to the c-suite, and we surely can’t expect that the inequalities in pay and promotional opportunities will increase.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: Linkedin.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We spend a lot of time talking about, reading about and writing about gender diversity, pay equity, the glass ceiling and the lack of women in executive and leadership roles. We hear about how there is movement and change happening in this area and that women are advancing the ball by “leaning in” more to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":81397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[36,38],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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I could go on, but the ultimate and final question here is –<\/h3>\n