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...
Gender Equality
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 society...
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....
Why is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) so hard? Part II
In our InPower Women Mastermind community the subjects of discrimination, bias, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) come up pretty often in conversation. These discussions are stimulated by personal experience and requests for advice as well as a shared commitment the women in our group have for...
A Guide to Allyship: The Authenticity Paradox and How to Help Women in the Workplace Move Past It
I’m often asked how to be an ally to women in the workplace and help them achieve their career goals. In thinking about developing a guide to allyship, I wanted to be specific about the reasons women need allies in the first place. Well into his career, my husband came back from a trip overseas...
Owning My Place on the Ladder of Privilege, Social Justice and Inequity
One coach’s approach to becoming a better human being I am profoundly uncomfortable. I recently wrote an article for Smartbrief about how to lead in response to the protests roiling our cities. While I stand by what I said, here is what I did not say in that article: I’m really not feeling like...
3 Ways a Male Executive Can Help Create a Less Biased Corporate Culture
Dear Dana, I’ve recently been promoted to an executive position in my company and I read your article about how senior women can help change corporate culture regarding gender and sexual discrimination and harassment. In my new position, I now see things that are walking the line of sexism and...