Ep. 7: Equality Executive

By: Audible Originals, June Cohen, Anonymous

Length: 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Why does corporate America have so few female executives, despite overwhelming evidence that gender equality is good for business? Rare insight, from C-suites and boardrooms.

©2017 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2017 Audible Originals, LLC

Equal opportunity or equality of outcome?

Jamie R.

While I applaud the speaker for sharing her story, and absolutely understand and appreciate the care and place of empathy from which her talk comes, I'm not happy with the one sided view from which this topic was approached. This is more the fault of the curator than the speaker, and my review is more a rebuttal of the topic and points made in the speech, and not in any way an attack on the speaker herself.

I'd implore anyone who listens to this episode to be aware of the multi-variant studies that, upon analyzing variables like the different career choices men and women make, have concluded the state of gender equality in the workplace to be much more level than when simply comparing the percentage of men vs women in any given field. More men vs women within the management positions of a company does not, in and of itself, prove that company to be inhibiting women from advancing. What of the women who simply aren't interested in becoming executives and CEOs? Many working women, especially once in their 30s (this is also documented in studies), begin to pass on promotions, take different positions which require less hours or offer more time off, or quit alltogether to stay home and start a family. These are all conscious choices—sacrifices, if you will—that many strong and empowered women make for themselves and their children.

Obviously, gender equality is not, and should not be, a negative concept, so don't misunderstand me. I'm not making the claim that there is anything wrong with wanting equality among genders. I simply have a different idea of what equality looks like and the way it should be achieved. I just can't get on board with an employer setting aside a merit based hiring system to, instead, set hiring quotas to make certain a staff is always 50% men and 50% women. If women only account for 10% of the applicants of a given job, how, then, is it equal to fill the positions with 50% women? We can only achieve TRUE gender equality when men and women are being held to the exact same standards, when hiring practices are completely blind of gender, and as long as we're not turning women away simply because they are women, or hiring a qualified man over a qualified woman simply because he is a man, then the rest comes down to free will and personal choice... Choice is the backbone of a free society, isn't it?

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts. Love and Light to all! ♥

With increasing gender mobility gender parity is vanishing

What’s true in Scandinavia appears to be true of humanity. Just because women CAN hold any job, that doesn’t mean they seek or want those jobs. C-level jobs are a huge commitment. Businesses have many times more male applicants for these positions. The positions are risky and the culture brutal. Women who apply have a better than average chance of landing these jobs, but fewer applicants means fewer women execs. Equality of opportunity is good, but mandating equal outcomes is a recipe for disaster.

Equality

Did not hold my attention. Did not find this speaker very engaging. Disappointing but ok.