Category: Thinking Like Empowered Women

  • Should Women Strive For The Top 0.1%?

    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.”  (more…)

  • Thanks Mom and Dad

    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. (more…)

  • Discipline – A Female Trait That Draws On Our Motherly Instincts

    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 balancing male characteristic to female discipline is playfulness.

    Discipline and playfulness conjure up visions of the wild, wild west that was tamed by women and the Lost Boys of Neverland that Wendy mothered .  We also think of wives who produce “honey-do” lists for husbands who if left to their own devices would spend all their time watching sports or playing video games.  Our discipline is critical to getting things done on time and to high standards.

    Female discipline is tied to the thoroughness of women which together often results in women cleaning up after men.  I was recently reminded of this when I was in a new work environment with 4 men and 1 young woman.  Watching their interaction I saw discipline and playfulness in action and became very aware of the pitfalls women fall into.  We may think that our discipline and thoroughness is a good thing but this natural behavior moves us to the sidelines, if not completely out of view. (more…)

  • 50 Years To Work – More Than Enough Time to Have It All

    When women entered the workplace in the 1970’s there was a lot of 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!

    That’s also long enough to have it all!!  Without having to do it all at once! (more…)

  • Olympic Women – You’ve Come A Long Way Baby!

    When I first 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. (more…)

  • In A Crisis, Why Women Need To Take Charge

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    www.123rf – 54332571

    I built my career being the person who turned around failing operations and projects.  My jobs were really hard work and extremely stressful.  It wasn’t until I wrote my article on men and work hours that I really started questioning why I (and the other women in the office) stayed in there and kept working while the men eventually gave up and left.  In my article I wrote that men have a limit on the number of hours they really work and the amount of stress they could handle.

    After doing a little research I learned that my experiences reflect how men and women handle stress differently. (more…)

  • Men And Work Hours – It’s All About Image

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    When women entered the male dominated workplace we were confident we had the fortitude to climb the corporate ladder with our kids and family life slung over our shoulder. We knew we were great multi-taskers and time managers. So, there should be nothing barring us from climbing the corporate ladder to success.

    But as we started climbing the ladder, we didn’t count on the changes men were making in workplace demands.  Since the workplace is where men go to establish their status, they stopped valuing getting work done quickly and efficiently so you didn’t have to stay late. According to the new values, only expendable employees went home after 8 hours and worked a mere 40 hours per week. (more…)

  • The Cult of True Womanhood

    Did you ever wonder where all this “women are weak, timid and lack self-confidence” stuff came from?  We often think of the 1950’s and the visions of the idealistic stay at home mother in her apron and pearls but it actually goes back to the period from 1820 – 1860.  This was an age when the Cult of True Womanhood thrived. (more…)

  • Values – Women’s Source of Empowerment

    I read another one of those articles on a post from the Harvard Business Review stating that women often don’t get what they want or deserve because they don’t ask for it.  Does anyone else feel like me after I read these types of articles – here’s another thing I’m doing wrong.  Here’s another article that makes it sound like women aren’t cut out for the business world.

    But who decides what is and isn’t right?

    I read all this stuff about what I am supposed to do and get the impression that when I go to work I am supposed to be all about Me.  Me, Me, Me, Me, Me.  But those aren’t my values – being all about Me, isn’t Me. (more…)