by Dot Callihan | Feb 1, 2013 | Acting As Empowered Women, Thinking Like Empowered Women
We are told that to rise to the top 1% you have to be very aggressive…cutthroat even. A week ago two billionaires –Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman – went at each other live on CNBC. It was re-aired several times, billed as the “Clash of the Titans” or “The Battle of the Billionaires”. It was ugly. Commentators decided that the battle was very personal. Is this the type of confrontation that they believe keeps women from getting to the top? Do personal attacks make you recede and give up?
During my construction career I witnessed a lot of these “battles” and have participated in my share of them. It is one of the things I hated the most about my job! They wore me down and frustrated me because I thought they were just a plain stupid waste of time and energy. I had more important things to deal with than arbitrary posturing. Eventually I learned better ways to react to these incidents.
by Dot Callihan | Jan 21, 2013 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
I read a book by Chrystia Freeland called Plutocrats – The Rise Of The New Global Super-Rich And The Fall Of Everyone Else. I was interested in the subject because I saw parallels to my Swamp War articles and several ideas I had swimming around in my head.
What are Plutocrats? They are the extremely wealthy class who (supposedly) rule and influence the world based on their wealth. Unlike plutocrats of the past who inherited the wealth, most of today’s plutocrats are self-made millionaires and billionaires, coming from ordinary backgrounds.
Why is it important that women understand Plutocrats?
Because as a society we measure success by wealth and because so few plutocrats are women. Chrystia writes “Consider the 2012 Forbes billionaire list. Just 104 of the 1,226 billionaires are women.” (8%) “Subtract the wives, daughters and widows and you are left with a fraction of that already small number.”
by Dot Callihan | Jan 14, 2013 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
I haven’t been able to write while I helped my mother during her declining health. At her funeral some family members noted that she was a woman ahead of her times – she was very independent and went after what she wanted. My mother pursued a nursing career and didn’t marry until later in life. She loved to travel and even as a young woman in the 1940’s ventured out across the country.
Because of my parents I did not grow up with the stereotypes. Neither of my parents believed that a woman’s sole role was to marry and have children. In my father’s family all the women back to his grandmother went to college. He was adamant that life was unpredictable so women cannot rely on a man to always be there to support them. Women should have the education and/or skills to support themselves.
by Dot Callihan | Oct 20, 2012 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
While talking to several women about their work experiences I realized that I forgot to list my top female balancing characteristic – Discipline. I grew up learning that female discipline is one of the most important foundations of society and civilization. The...
by Dot Callihan | Aug 29, 2012 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
When women entered the workplace in the 1970’s there was so much talk about women doing it all and the conflict of having a career and raising a family. Growing up in that era, it seemed we had such a short time to get it all done. We grew up hearing about working 30 years and retiring with a pension. The retirement age was 60. Life expectancy for men was 68 and for women 76.
Today life expectancy is 78 for men and 82 for women. My mother is 89. Baby boomers who were raised expecting to retire by 60 are now retiring at 65 and 67. Baby boomers who are younger than 55, can now expect their full retirement age (based on Social Security) to be 70…at least.
Wow – 50 years – that’s a long time to work!
by Dot Callihan | Aug 7, 2012 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
When I saw the American swimmers video of Call Me Maybe I had to laugh at my first thought – They are such girls!! Wait!! I am saying that about Olympic swimmers?!! I remember back in the 70’s and 80’s when we questioned the true gender of the Eastern European swimmers. The conspiracy – were they women who were shot so full of hormones that they are now men OR were they men who were made into “women”? In either case, it showed how we thought back then – that women have to be turned into men in order to rise to the top.
