Grow Up

That´s true, generally women cause a lot of small troubles, dramas that maybe get on your nerves, but men cause catastrophes. They are much more risky, proud and gladiatorial.

But generally I don´t think that a woman in a high position is that unprofessional.

 

You cannot look at corporate america as an example when it comes to equal opprotunity for women, she can excel in all three of those characteristics and she STILL will not be able to smash the glass ceiling.

Lets use black men as an example of equal opprotunity in corporate america. There are practically no top black male executives in corporate america. Yet, even though black america makes up only 13% of the population, in every other field EXCEPT corporate america, the black male is well represented. In sports, the millitary, entertainment, academia, etc. not only is he well represented but even dominates some fields.

In sports, there are professional basketball teams or football teams that are dominated by black males. Boxing is another one where almost every weight class has a black champion.

In the millitary, you can start from a four star General on down to a first class private, black males are in every category. General, major, captain, colonel, etc. every millitary category there is.

In entertainment, you can start with Billionare Russell Simmons and just work your way down. Many of your popular musical genres like jazz, blues, gospel, rthyum and blues, soul, hip-hop, rap were started by black males.

In academia, some of your top universities in the country has a black professor on the faculty. You can work you way down to the high schools and elementary schools from there.

Now, in every other field there is, the black male has more than proved himself capable. With almost no black males in the top corporate positions it is obviously not because he is incapable of handling that position. There are other things going on there.

The EXACT same thing with women. It ISN'T because she is lacking brains, ambition or tenacity which is why she can't break that "glass" ceiling. There are other, behind the scenes, backroom deals going on where there are no women or minorities.

 

Yes she will, it isn't that thick. I'm going to be a bit harsh now; I don't think you know about what you're talking about. You're theorising, I'm speaking from experience. About a decade ago I worked for a large software group employing a coupld of hundred people worldwide whose CEO position was taken by a woman whilst I was there. Since then I've worked for about three women in almost identical positions within the triangle, and I'm 1/2 IC in the departments. This 3 out of 12 figure is not far from Pareto's 80/20 rule.

There are closed-door meetings going in at all levels, but as for excluding women and racial minorities; insofar as the latter is concerned, I AS a member of a racial minority tell you you're wrong - the sheer fact I've headed departments of whites is proof of that. As for the former, I've watched the ceiling broken by exactly the same proportion of women who had the BAT (brains etc) to do so. Which is a sharply smaller proportion than in men.

Now I'd be quite happy to continue this topic with you but please, bring some 'daily working life' examples from your own experience.

 

YOU are the one who needs to bring some experience. Not everyone works in the technology field. You are basing your experience on a software company with worldwide employees. I am refering to the majority of the companies in america that are NOT technology based, auto industry, steel factors, retail stores, etc.

Some of the largest companies in the entire world are american based companies. General Electric, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, etc. World class companies from many different industries besides technology.

When I hurt my knee for a SECOND time, I was advised by a doctor to stop playing football or I could end up in a wheelchair the next time. I was always good in mathematics so I studied and got a degree in electrical engineering. I started working at General Motors right out of college almost 15 years ago. At that time, General Motors was one of the top auto manufacturers in the world.

Even then, in the mid 90's, you still had some of the older guys ( and young ones too ) who hated women or minorities being in any position other than an hourly employee. Many of those guys had been with the company for many years and had high management positions. They wanted nothing to do with us and this was the 90's.

A small company was looking for some field engineers to build the infrastructure for the broadband service in the midwestern states. I left General Motors to go and work for this company. This company was very cutting edge, broadband, VOiP, replacing analog signals with digital signals, etc. These people were doing this before anyone even knew what VOiP or High Definition ( HD ) television was. There were very few televisions that could even transmit a 1080i picture.

1080i is just the amount of resolution per square inch. The higher the resolution, the sharper the picture. The same as with the monitor on your computer.

RF signals or "radio frequency" signals use to transmit one way, forward. The sound you got from your radio or the picture from your picture tube use to transmit from an office somewhere to your house. This company also dealt with the "return" signal. This is something that generates from YOUR house and goes back to the office. When you send email, talk on the phone, or use video on demand from a digital box. There would be a movie stored on a server somewhere. When you clicked your remote control, you could watch that movie on your television set. You could stop it, fast forward it or rewind it just by clicking your remote control. This was all done with the "return signal".

Now, with that company, in that type of environment, the best supervisors I ever had were women. I was the personal assistent to this one tech ops ( technical operations ) manager. She was the one everyone went to when they had technical problems. She took me under her wing and trained me. She was by far, one of the most smartest person I ever had the pleasure to work with, bar none. I repeat, bar none, male or female.

This company was eventually bought out by a much larger company. The larger company replaced the old companies' managers with managers of their own. After two years with the new company, I left. The new company had the same attitudes and prejudices as those older General Motors guys did.

So when it comes to experience, I have that and then some.

I am an african american with a high IQ. Most white women grasp that after a few moments conversing with me. It usually doesn't take long before they become comfortable with me and they loosen up. Many of the glass ceiling scenario are from women telling me how they are treated.

 

I work for a Japanese manufacturing company. We have one female department Director. The rest are men....from Directors on up to the CEO - all white men, with the exception of a Japanese man who is kept in the states to keep an eye on things.

There are some companies that are very "old school" when it comes to women and minorities.

Just my two cents.

 

Absolutely, mine is pure American and very very very old school and I also think its funny that JB think he knows the inner workings of Corprate America and try to school an American on it.

 

I must be tired. I can't believe I didn't capitalize States. LOL.

There are many problems in corporate america when it comes to equal opportunities. Unless you've lived it, you can't know.

There are many companies who have made great strides, but we still have a long, long way to go.

 

Thank you Bookworm and Flyingeek, I don't know why I got myself wrapped up in a conversation with someone from another country about corporate america.

As it was stated, there have been some great strides but it still has a long, long way to go in that area. There are companies with very old school, TRADITIONAL ways that no matter how well qualified a woman may be, she is only going to go so far.

When that one company bought out the technology company I was working for, they replaced the female manager with a male one. As stated in an earlier post, the female tech ops ( technical operations ) manager was probably one of the smartest person I'd ever met, male or female. She was very sharp, could think on her feet real fast. ALWAYS had me alert and standing on my toes because she would come at me with situations that FORCED me to think.

When the old school company took over, they demoted her to being a secretary and replaced her with a male manager that was absolutely CLUELESS. Working under this guy was probably the worst two years of my corporate work life. He didn't have a clue about ANYTHING.

Its these types of situations that women ( and minorities ) run into in coporate america DAILY. Using corporate america as an example of equal opportunities for women ISN'T the best example to use.