Womenomics

Women that want the board seats don't get those positions--even if they want them--because it is assumed throughout their careers that they want to reserve time for their families, but this assumption is not always correct.

Believe it or not, there are actually women who can handle both career and family AND there are women who don't have children at home. Your note perpetuates the negative stereotype (by trying to justify it), thereby wrecking it for women who want to lead. I guess you can call yourselves "post-feminists."

What about the possibility that if more women held the high echelon positions, they would be more efficient/effective than men have been and wouldn't require 70-hour workweeks of themselves or any of their employees? Perhaps the whole paradigm would shift and balance would reign.

Finally a balanced view of women and work. We want it all, but does that mean we have to do it all, too? I don't think so. Thanks for your much appreciated thoughts!

If the treatment of Sarah Palin is any indication, we as a nation are a long way away from taking women seriously. Even when women such as the governor succeed based on their hard work and competence they will be attacked. Their beliefs will be open to attack unless they hold specific views. They will be dismissed if they are attractive or ignored if they are unattractive.

Can anyone really make an argument that Obama was more qualified than Hillary? Yet he was the chosen candidate. The shallow envy of women when it comes to other women getting ahead was evident in the Democratic primary as well as the treatment of Sarah Palin in the general election. As a manager I see women undermining other women on a regular basis, not to get ahead personally, but to bring other women down to their level. Until this attitude changes why should male candidates not play on these feelings for their own benefit?

I for one believe we need to find a way to get women to look past this self placed competition so they can take their rightful place in the governance of our nation. The problems we face simply are too great to have half our population sidetracked by petty gender envy and competition.

As for myslef, I hope I get the chance to vote for Sarah Palin in 2012. Her elevation would signal a long overdue embrace of women as fully contributing partners in our democracy.

I am a woman living with a rare disability called CAUSALGIA I have written to so many tv stations and some news stations I need help with my disability and there is no foundation or any charitys for it, they say I am in the MS Field, but I do not have MS it's all nerve damage and it's in both of my feet please read FOUNDATIONNEEDED.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE

I work for a small company that is owned and ran by a woman. I work tons of hours, don't get paid for overtime and the benefits are terrible. Once the ecomony improves, I will likely move on. I am a woman myself and used to consider myself a feminist, but don't know what to believe anymore. I've had both male and female managers and don't see a difference either way. When it comes to running a company all CEOs and managers care about is money and profits - that goes for males and females. If they put anything above profits and company performance (like treating employees fair), they get accused of not running their companies effectively. Females gaining CEO positions and board seats is not going to change any of this because money rules.

I beg to differ, but there are plenty of women who would excel in positions of power and influence. In fact, there is clearly a need for women in those positions based on the mess we are currently in -- which was devised by men -- an inside job brought this country to its knees.

Women not would, I believe, have positioned this country, the families, the children and the voiceless in our society in this position. Namely homeless and helpless.

Women, I believe, would have thought beyond the immediate need to feed ego and satisfy the need for greed.

Women, I believe, would welcome the opportunity to be on boards, in CEO/CFO/CIO positions. But the good old boys do not want this because they know that we are in fact better suited for the position. The act on fear, jealousy and insecurity.

Yes, Women have a lot to learn from the socialization of men. Men have been conditioned to play together via the team/sports dynamic that most women are not engaged in.

We, as women need to learn to play well together with the understanding that until we do we will continue to be the victims of those in power that are clearly not the "Servant Leadership" aka "mother" types. They are not as interested in everyone developing, evolving and being the very best that they can be -- especially if that means that will not be seen in the light they deem appropriate based upon the shallowness of their ego.

I like, men, I simply don't like the pattern of behavior that we as a country have seen played out over and over again -- not to our benefit.
There is the war, the economy, the gasoline, the environment, etc.
We, as women, owe it to this country to place our selves in positions of power and influence to change the growing trend of power and greed that is self-evident in those that currently lead.

It is time for CHANGE - I hope women take the cue and ask not what there country can do for them -- but what can they do for their country. Be the change/solution that we need.

If nothing else, when you have a budget make sure a line item gets designated for a women in business so that she can in turn do the same. Because until we have some form of economic foundation = power -- things will never change!

Maybe Katty and Claire want to take a look at the incredible women who are making a difference in this economy. Just look at the women named to corporate boards of directors the first week of January 2009, at -- http://www.newsonwomen.com

Thank heaven these women, and the sharp and savvy women of Obama's economic team, did not "cop out" as suggested.

The answer to the question also depends on the specific woman you're talking about. The Small Business Administration's research also found that women working simply "on jobs" had human capital characteristics that differed significantly from women working "in their own businesses." Take a look at the study from April 2008:
http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs323tot.pdf

Golly gee, whaddaya know? Not all women think alike!!!

Honestly...all feminist will try to kill me...but what ALL WOMEN want is a man like Clint Eastwood on Grand Torino. It's that simple.

I beg to differ -- it's you that's simple!

This is to transparente
This is a hasty generalization caused by poor inductive reasoning. This is one way most of our prejudices originates. It is very important you have supporting or logical points before you comment in such a manner. I look forward to more intelligent blogs in the future.

Me? No? Awe shucks.

Most women want equality, same amount of power, pay and work respect that men recieve. From personal experience, there should be no reason why a woman should be overlooked in high paying jobs, with the same or more experience as a man. Women have multi-tasks all their lives. Having a job, family and responsibilities is nothing knew for us. You don't see men coming home to wife and kids and cooking and cleaning as often as women, who also hold down a job. Until men learn that women aren't always their enemy, and they shed themselves of insecurities and "head man" mentalities, women unfortunately will take second seat. If a man is insecure enough to over look what a woman can do, I wouldn't hold much strength in his ability to see how to keep any business afloat. afterall, men who are in higher positions are not doing their jobs alone. They have others he depends on for information, secretarial and such. Most are women who do the work, yet it is men who take most if not all credit. EQUALITY. Womaen aren't asking for the world. They want the recogition, the respect, same pay, and same opportunities as men.It doesn not mean that we can't also be mothers, and care providers only.

What can happen is this. Women can work their butt off and achieve success. But the men in their lives, if they make less money, will find a way to cheat the money and power from them. It is that simple. It comes from the fact that when push comes to shove, and we are back in stone age conditions, men can kick the crap out of women. period.

I think that many women do not get into the upper leadership positions of corporations becasue of many reasons that we know so well. The most pronounced in my mind is that the business world has been designed by men for men and as we've been entering it, we've clashed with its structure that does not accommodate our interests.

Now that we have proved ourselves as capable and often times, more capable than our male counterparts and make an important percentage of the educated labor force, we can start to work with men to re-design the corporate world so that it's designed by men and women for men and women. If we take ourselves out of the market by declining promotions, we continue to contribute to the status-quo instead of offering another paradigm as an option that would be better for men, women, families, clients/customers, profits and societies alike.

At the same time, it makes sense that many women do not appreciate the way we're often treated in the corporate world and choose to leave it. We start our own companies and create environments and relationships that can offer us the joys of working and raising families in a more productive and effective way. I see this as a conscious choice about our lives -- not that we cannot "make it" in the high-level corporate world, but we choose how we want to work and live and design our lives to accommodate our interests.

I'm a VP at a large engineering firm. It's a technical profession, and as such, is very male dominated.

I find that the most effective and valuable female employees in my division are those who don't get caught up in gender issues, and just focus on the work, like their male counterparts.

So many of these posts seem to contain underlying hostility. I do not promote women in my division who exhibit this characteristic.