I won’t pretend that I see every trend or can put my finger on THE solution to how to achieve gender parity in leadership, however, I do notice a few things I believe can help women gain important perspectives. One thing that’s popped up in my practice lately are conversations about a...
Gender Equality
Damned if you do…. Unpacking Gender Bias in the Workplace
Over a decade ago, when I began writing about women in leadership and gender bias, I was very hopeful. Up to that point I had, what I thought, was a good experience working in mixed gender workplaces. I felt welcome and generally appreciated as a female leader. When I opted off the leadership...
Why I Am A Male Feminist
By: Rob Sterling It's not often a fresh new voice enters the women's inpowerment movement, but today we have one. Meet Rob Sterling, male homemaker, feminist, and advocate for women's and men's rights to make careers out of what makes them happy. Rob believes that powerful women need powerful men...
Unconscious Bias: The Key to Effective Gender Communication
In executive coaching (both women and men) I’ve often observed that two parallel stories about women and men in the workplace often coexist. First, “women and men communicate differently” is a truth that few bother to deny. Second, “men and women are treated equally in the workplace.” To me, it’s...
3 Things Women in Leadership Can Do To Stop Workplace Discrimination and Sexual Harassment
If you’re a woman in leadership, chances are you’ve experienced workplace discrimination due to your gender, even if you’re not aware of it. More likely, you were aware of it (especially if you’ve experienced sexual harassment) and were trying to ignore it so it doesn’t get in the way of your...
The Gender Wealth Gap: Pay Gap Reframed
For better or worse, the gender pay gap (currently at $0.77 per dollar) is now a fact of life we all seem to accept, sadly, as each equal pay day for different gender and racial demographics passes throughout the year. Given that our paychecks are not only necessary to our survival day-to-day, but...
Burkini or Miniskirt: Why can’t women make their own decisions about what they want to wear?
It’s a simple question that I don’t think we women ask ourselves enough: why can’t we decide what to wear by ourselves? Burkini or miniskirt, so to speak. It seems that women are “managed” in their fashion decisions to wear what’s hot, what’s hip, or what’s appropriate. Surprisingly, there aren’t...
Co-opting Post-Sexist Gender Bias to Retain Top Talent
Have you ever taken Karate? I took two classes, not enough to retain any physical benefit, but I learned one thing I still keep with me 30 years later: when we take advantage of natural forces to create change, change happens more smoothly and comfortably. Research out of Harvard may just hold the...
Reframing the Quest to “Have it All” – The Case for Worklife Equity
How did we get here? Who’s silly idea was it to “have it all?” in the first place? My mother’s generation didn’t “have it all” – or even half. Married women in my mother’s and grandmother’s generation were locked in the domestic ivory tower as queens of their homefronts, but powerless in...
Do Men and Women Vision Future Success Differently?
One of the joys of my career has always been helping individuals and groups develop compelling, meaningful and guiding visions – the kind of visions that pull them excitedly into their future success. Most of the corporate visioning work I’ve done with executive teams has not included many women....