Being a Lady...

...in a male dominated work place is not easy...You will often find successful women in the corporate world saying that they never faced any discrimination or difficulty because they were women....And that is because they have learned the vital art of survival...which demands that you ignore any difficulties and go on.....and tell lies or rather 'politically correct' statements...the 'casting couch' and the 'glass ceiling' are both terms which represent realities and not figments of imagination....

Any attempt to point out any kind of 'non-acceptable' behaviour from the male colleagues and superiors is seen as a sign of weakness on the part of the lady - or worse still, as 'unprofessional' behaviour. This is then used as an instance to be quoted during appraisal meetings as 'an area of improvement'. Women who are fed up with this often end up opting for less lucrative careers or even no careers.

I have hardly seen any feminists in the board room...Most of the ones who make it are ones who have cleverly worked within the limitations of a rotten system...and who have had to work extra hard to reach where they are when compared to their male colleagues...Of course, like every statement, this too has exceptions.

In terms of the sheer numbers of those who make it big, anyway, women have a lot of ground to cover...I wonder whether even the ones who made it, had a level playing field...I do not know if there is any comparison of the years of experience of these women poster girls vis.a.vis the men who occupied the same role before and after them...that would be a good indicator of whether they had the same set of opportunities and difficulty levels as the men...

The workplace, like the rest of the world, is still a male bastion....Your views?

Comments

My ex-boss (a lady) gave me some interesting tips on dealing with this. Will tell you more when we speak next! :-)

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