Refreshly Minted

It's that time of year, final exams, the start of summer, and Pomp and Circumstance mentally playing in the minds of bright, newly graduated eyes that are eager and anxious to make their marks in the corporate world. It kinda makes you wonder: what kind of corporate workplace will they find?

If workplace history holds, what he and she will find is a well gender-balanced entry class of working newbies (women will actually be the majority, but it's subtle enough that most won't take notice). Good news for sure—let's recall that it wasn't always like that.

But what each sees at the start of potentially illustrious careers is not what today's reality says the fresh-faced women will experience down the line. Recent studies, once again, present a sobering picture of stalled progress in terms of women's advancement. The number of women corporate officers in the Fortune 500 is stagnating; almost half of the Fortune 1000 have no women in their top executive ranks; the labor force participation of women with young children is also languishing; and the gender pay gap seems equally stubborn-- even after controlling for sector, experience and performance.

Fifteen years ago, Felice Schwartz, the founder of Catalyst, made the business case for attracting, retaining and advancing women in a landmark Harvard Business Review article . Leading organizations work diligently to address—and remove--both the structural and cultural inhibiters that women face as their careers progress.

While in the short run, these young turks may be puzzled about why world class organizations like mine have gone to the all the trouble since they look around laterally and don't see an issue. [See Time Warp and Time Warp Revisited for corresponding vignettes.] 

On the other hand, maybe I'm not giving this group enough credit. Maybe they are the ones that will force the break of this elusive cycle. I ponder what I can do to support them (I've got a few big ideas on the drawing board—more on this shortly).

Do you ponder what you can do as well? Any crafty ideas you'd like to throw out there?

Cathy

By blogger Cathy Benko, Deloitte LLP

Comments

[Anonymous]

Great post. I think there are a significant number of us who see what's coming (war for talent) as a tremendous opportunity to excel and break informal barriers. However, as we look around (and as you mentioned), there are very few women in very senior positions to whom we can reach out to as mentors... and those that are out there may not be directly connected to us. Therefore, like the generation before us, we're trying to figure out how to clear those hurdles but not sure who to ask for guidance.

A more structured mentor-mentoree program would be a good starting place. But the relationship should consider more than just someone's current career level or function. For example, some of us aspire to be very senior partners (i.e. BOD, Executive Committee, Chairman, CEO, etc) and therefore a superior (Senior Manager, P/P/D) who does not share those goals may be misaligned in a mentoring relationship. We have a culture of thinking through these issues and acting creatively, so it's likely that someone will come up with something to meet the needs of the "newbies" that aspire to great things.

[Eileen in Sydney]

Supporting the rise of women and other minorities in their quest for "success" involves more than measuring success based on historical male trends and factors.

Sure, women strive to perform well and be rewarded for it through promotions up the rank. However, as a balanced individual I do not seek "success" at all costs. If I need to forego other "successes" (eg. personal life, family, etc...) to achieve success at work, I will think twice about it and more often than not, I will opt for the "more balanced" success.

Sure, the business world is based on the bottom line, but shouldn't we be building more KPI's around "contribution" to success? This means changing our mindset so that when assessing the performance of people at work, we not only look at his/her contribution to the bottom line, but other factors such as team building (in a broader sense than the male-oriented methods currently employed), facilitating performance, etc...

Furthermore, as a female graduate, I am astounded by the prospect of earning less than my male peers in a few years time, simply because of my extra X chromosome!

Accordingly, when the time comes for me to make the big decisions on whether to keep pursuing my career or other goals, I am more likely to opt for the latter, if nothing else, simply to avoid the humilation and indignation of being undervalued by the very organisation for which I am sacrificing.

[Anonymous in New Jersey]

This is my first ever blog so I apologize upfront if I go off topic. But this and the Time Warp blog definitely hit home on some feelings I've been having lately. I, too, had entered the workforce 15 years ago with the mindset that there are no gender differences. And I believe that to be true in the beginning of our careers. However, our careers often take off at the same time we are beginning our families. My husband and I are both very successful. However, as much $ as we make, he makes that much more than I do and He only has a couple extra years of experience. Why is that? We made a choice that I would be the primary care giver for our two children. That means, when the kids are sick, I pick them up from daycare; if we both have training overnight, I miss mine. He goes to his allowing him to socialize and network and forcing me to be at home becoming more isolated from my male peers. I am not complaining because it was a conscious choice. However, what drives me crazy is he'll ask why I don't ttalk to the "boss" about new opportunities or getting more pay that is equivalent to the men we are currently recruiting. Can I ask for those things when I can't commit the same time (evenings and/or overnights) as the men? I am equally if not more qualified then the men but is it our time commitments that are holding us back? Is this even on point to refreshly minted? Like I said... this is my first ever blog and I'm having a bad day.