Women in Workforce/Glass ceilings/my mentor

by Stacy Smith 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  Stacy Smith

  My finace recently started work at a wage which will take me years to reach even though our qualifications will be about the same. Many women have claimed that the glass ceiling exists and that women are paid less for the same jobs that men do.

  What reasons explain this in your mind? Is it because women might have children? Women put up with it? Women aren't as capable? I'm curious as to the mindset of some of the men and women here.

  I have gotten pretty lucky recently. While attending college in the mornings I've been used as a gopher at a very large corporation. I've been working with various high level managers. These are people who make huge money. One of them has made arrangements with the college for me to work every afternoon and evening as her assistant. I will be receiving some generous college credits towards my diploma and might even be able to graduate early since I've got most of my required courses in already.

  This woman is one of the highest paid females in the business but it has taken her many more years to get there than a man would take and she isn't all that happy about the "good ole boys" club. So I feel very fortunate for her to be taking me under her wing. I'll even be traveling with her to Seattle next week on a business trip.

  She is a driven woman and it's amazing to watch her at work. I have learned more from her in a few days that all my professors added up. She says all the diploma does is prove that a person is trainable and for me to forget everything I've learned in college. It makes sense.
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  micheal

  First off, it is totally unfair and it is wrong. There is absolutley no reason whatsoever that a man should get more pay than a woman if they have similiar jobs. Basically, though women have taken many giant steps over the last number of years and have broken down many barriers, it is still "a man's world".

  As a man who's mom is his hero, I would love nothing more than women gaining greater oppurtunity in the workplace, especially when it comes to pay. Hopefully this process will speed up and take on greater momentum.
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  LittleToe

  I believe it ridiculous.

  The few jobs where a man usually has an advantage (like on a building site) are where few women venture (though I know a few).

  In an office environment there are good and poor hiring choices of men and women.

  IMHO glass ceilings are contemptable.

  (LT, who's boss is a woman, and who earns considerably more than he)
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  wednesday

  In the numerous years i worked as a nurse, usually we had a female nurse manager. But they were often not respected and the turnover was rapid. The best managers I recall were the males. They seemed able to handle the petty fighting that always went on on the unit and were fair about counseling issues. Like it or not, women fight among themselves. This is my personal experience, your milage may vary.
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  LittleToe

  The best working environments are mixed gender, IMHO.

  For some reason there's less same-gender friction.

  Maybe some of the "mating pherimones" pacify the srife.
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  Stacy Smith

  I have no doubt that many women don't earn or deserve respect. The same might be true of men.

  It's not easy for a woman to be in a managerial posistion for many reasons.
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  wednesday

  I'll use my nursing work experience as an example here. Many of the nurses i worked with were from the East. At home they were generally in a subservant position. But in the workforce, they could be charge nurse, nurse manager. Some of these women had no power anyplace but work. Often it "went to their head" as the expression goes. This was true for minorites also. So of the nurse managers i knew sat in their offices and cried at times-rarely do men do that. I have worked for men and women, and if i have a choice, i prefer to work with a male manager. Anyway, that was my experience, and it may be curious to nursing, other people of course may have different experiences.
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  Stacy Smith

  My experience in the work force isn't much so that's why I asked. Eventually I will be a manager and I will need to learn to motivate and direct both sexes. Being close to the bottom right now I can only go up
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  Purple

  Sorry but only a man would say it was contempible. I have the exact same job as many other men and get paid around $5000 less. Explain that as I am more qualified and have more experience. Coming out of an organisation that preaches equality but in no way practices it you should know better! Of course you are entitled to your opinion based on your experinece but it must be a limited experince. The glass ceiling is alive and kicking and serves to keep women out of all the top jobs.. THe perfect example of that is of course politics, accademia, and business. If there is no such thing aas a glass ceiling why is there so much press about women who hold top positions as unusual and worth writing about? Where are the articles when men make these positions? Of course there arnt any because that is reality. WOmen will never have true equality until they push for it. Ms Greer and her associates started the fight but we have such a long way to go!
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  Stacy Smith

  Purple the woman that is mentoring me refers to it as a lexon ceiling since if it were glass she would have kicked it in years ago.

  I believe things will change. One of the problems is some of the perceived strong female politicians are women like Hillary who isn't that likeable regardless of politics. There are many other female politicans that I really admire. But there are changes coming. The lady I work for has proved her worth and is gaining a top salary comparable to any man. But she's the exception still.

  She has taken her bonus money as shares, once more women hold chair posistions I believe things will change even more. I'm confident it will happen.