500 years of women

(Aphrodite)

This is an amazing display of 500 years of women in Western art. It’s incredible! And what I found extremely interesting was the variety of ‘feminine’ expressions captured through the ages.
500 Years of Women in Western Art.

A full list of the paintings.

caught in a labyrinth

I just came across an interesting article in this September’s edition of Harvard Business Review on women’s leadership in the corporate ladder, Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership.

Authors Alice Eagly and Linda Carli visualize the scarcity of female leadership in executive positions not as the conventional “ceiling,” but as a maze with winding paths and obstacles, where it is possible to reach the end, but only if you can figure out the right combination of turns. Specifically, the idea of a glass ceiling suggests that there is an actual point, or level, after which it becomes significantly difficult for women to advance. The authors argue that there are actually walls all around, where the entire passage “requires persistence, awareness of one’s progress, and careful analysis of the puzzles that lie ahead.”

Particularly, the article pinpoints several key barriers to leadership:

• Prejudice – nothing new, given the exact same job, with identical previous education/experience, women still make about 20-25% less than men
• Resistance to female leadership – qualities of leadership tend to clash when it comes to women. Between the two types, there’s “communal,” which is associated with being compassionate, friendly, kind, sympathetic, and there’s “agentic,” which is more aggressive, ambitious, dominant, and forceful. Women who are “communal” are not seen as leaders. But those who are “agentic” end up being labeled as control freaks. Whereas, when it comes to men, “agentic” qualities are seen to be normal, and “communal” qualities in men are greatly praised. Doesn’t seem to work out for women no matter which way they lean.
• Demands of family life - although there’s no surprise here, I was shocked to learn that men and women are actually increasing the number of hours they spend with housekeeping. “Married mothers increased their hours per week from 10.6 in 1965 to 12.9 in 2000, and married fathers increased theirs from 2.6 to 6.5″
• Underinvestment in social capital – Especially in the corporate world, much of one’s career advancement depends on the social networks. “Fast track managers spent relatively more time and effort socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders… and did not give much time or attention to the traditional management activities of planning, decision making, and controlling.” Women fall behind on this front – not only because of family responsibilities after work, but also because even in modern companies, networking (on the executive level) involves masculine activities…such as quail hunting (ha!)

Some more startling statistics:

• In the States, even though 40% of managerial positions are occupied by women, only 6% of C-level representation comes from women!
• Only 2% of CEOs in the States are women
• Just 1% (seven companies) of Fortune’s Global 500 have female CEOs.

a career woman’s closet

Hmm. Here are some interesting findings linking a woman’s wardrobe and her career, from Psychology Today:

 

• “We are less judgmental of women who wear provocative clothing if they’re doing low-status jobs…However, when people are shown a photo of a woman in sexy clothes and told she is a business manager, they say she seems less intelligent and less competent than suit-wearing execs.
• Women who wear excessive makeup are seen as trying too hard, says Sherry Maysonave, a career coach and author of Casual Power. But studies show people of both sexes rate women who forgo makeup as less committed to their jobs.
• Few workers are likely to set a badly dressed colleague straight. In fact, competitive female coworkers often relish a rival’s wardrobe faux pas, says Debra Benton, author of How to Think Like a CEO.
• Even brainy women aren’t above a little titillation. A survey of female M.B.A.’s found half had worn revealing clothing, sent risque emails or told male coworkers they look “hot” to garner favor. But such strategies tend to backfire: Studies show nonflirtatious workers earn 25 percent more and receive an average of three promotions while their brazen counterparts only earned two.
• Both sexes perceive women with long, straight, blond hair as being sexy and those with short, highlighted hairstyles as smart and confident, but not sexy, finds Marianne LaFrance, a Yale psychologist. “More hair equals more femininity, but also less intelligence,” she says. Likewise, high-maintenance hair makes others suspicious about a woman’s competence.
• When male executives are asked what holds top women back in the workplace, appearing too masculine is always in the top five, says Benton. Most men think women should be business-like, but should not try to join the boys’ club.

I think I fail on several fronts – I don’t wear make-up at work, and I avoid extremely feminine office attire. I think the “how you dress affects how you act” concept applies to me; I notice that when I’m wearing a skirt, pink, or anything frilly, I feel like I’m acting too ‘girly.’ Plus, I’ve always felt more comfortable in shirts, blazers, and dress pants. This is especially the case here in this country, where the few women I see in the offices are secretaries, and as a culture, they come to work daily adorned in makeup, jewelry, and brightly colored fabric. In the beginning, I felt pressured to conform with the ‘local dress’ and actually bought a few pieces. But I felt ridiculous in them, and also felt inappropriate, especially given my managerial position amongst this sea of corporate males. So I went back to my power-suits, and guess what? Being in a suit rocks.