YOYO-ISG 110306 Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders

[Kooper]

Dear ISG members,

Let's watch Sheryl Sandberg's speech on the TED and write an essay or summary about it. Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. Prior to Facebook, Sheryl was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google.

http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html

[Kooper]

Here is the final one.

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What stops women from climbing up the corporate ladder?

The majority of human societies have long been patriarchal ones, where men have higher social status and enjoy more power or resources than women. Although the gender inequities have largely been removed over the past decades, thanks to flourishing feminism, there are still plenty of areas to improve. For instance, whereas women account for nearly half of human population, the ratios of female leaders in most fields are way below 50%.

The lack of female leaders could be attributed to many different factors. Sometimes, however, it is women’s own mindsets that constrain them from shattering a glass ceiling. Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, pointed out several self-refrained attitudes which are strongly held, either consciously or unconsciously, by today’s women. Chances are these outdated ways of thinking stem from our long history of patriarchy.

In the old days, men were breadwinners, and women were homemakers. Today dual income families are commonplace, but when it comes to career achievements, human cultures still put a lot more pressure on men than women. A man who is successful in his career is generally admired and respected, no matter how messy his family life could be, and a woman usually shares more of housework and plays a bigger role in parenting than her spouse. On the flipside, a house husband, when introducing himself in public, might simply get rolling eyes, and a woman’s success in workplace could just hurt her likability. Hence men are a lot more aggressive at work, and women are more likely to drop out of workforce for family reasons. What makes it even worse is women tend to think too early ahead and stop pursuing career achievements long before it is really needed for the sake of their families.

A world with more female leaders would bring the globe more benefits and lead to better well-being, Sheryl believed. She encouraged women to do away with these unnecessary self-imposed limitations, if they have the ambition to work their ways up to the top.

[Sherry Liao]

Compare with previous generations, women in modern society are lucky to enjoy equal civil rights as men do; however, when it comes to professional success, numbers have shown that in top hierarchy and high-income part of the workforce, women are still the minority.

In the speech, Sheryl Sandberg points out several problems that hinder women from mounting the career ladder and provides some suggestions. First, women systematically underestimate their abilities, and often attribute their success to external factors; therefore, they are less likely to negotiate or fight for their own interests. Sandberg believes that women should build up confidence at workplace and believe they deserve the success. Thus they can negotiate for further opportunities.

Also, some women make plan for having baby much earlier than they really put it into action. In that period between, women tend to be more passive at work and it is unfavorable for their career after coming back from the maternity and parental leave. Sandberg suggests women should "keep foot on the gas pedal" until the very last minute.

However, Sandberg also points out something that is more a problem of the whole society. There exists a negative correlation between success and likeability for women, which restrains their motivation and enthusiasm for a higher position. Besides, it is obvious that mostly women are torn between their career achievement and family fulfillment. Natural instinct and social expectations of women make them undertake most of the housework and childcare even if they have a full time job.

It is believed that the world will be better if there are more female leaders. To achieve this goal, it will need not only effort of women but also full support for women’s pursuit of success from the whole society .