A recent survey by Marie Claire magazine and everywoman which found that eighty per cent of women think that being attractive helps them get on better at work and more than half believe a woman’s age is considered more important in the workplace than a man’s was deemed “shocking” and the results “startling”.
Perhaps my cynicism is showing but I don’t find this information shocking in the slightest. Disappointing and rather depressing certainly, but not shocking. I can’t speak for every workplace but I think it’s fair to say that in the main, looks and age do matter. Look no further than the accusation from presenter Selina Scott that the BBC do nothing to address the issues of sexism and ageism against women. They are issues which will not and cannot disappear overnight. Both forms of discrimination are rife in our society in general so finding that they permeate our workplaces too should not come as a surprise to anyone.
The survey asked the opinions of 3000 women across the UK between the ages of 18 and 55 on subjects to do with sexism in the workplace and whether or not women are at a disadvantage when it comes to pay and promotion. The survey reveals that 50% of the respondents believe the glass ceiling still exists. Again, no big surprises there. The much discussed introduction of boardroom quotas for women and the question of “positive discrimination” would not be deemed necessary if it weren’t for the glass ceiling.
Interestingly, the preferred instrument with which to smash a hole in the glass ceiling is mentoring. Two thirds of the women surveyed felt that mentoring in the workplace would make a huge difference if it were readily available. The problem is that there are so few women in UK boardrooms to be mentors in the first place.
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written by Gary Dickenson, May 19, 2011
I don't know but can this in some circumstances be a case of self for-filling prophesy for those women who believe the glass ceiling is there?
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written by Ann Hawkins, May 19, 2011
"High profile women from the world of film, fashion, beauty and business will mentor Marie Claire readers throughout the 12 month campaign"
Perhaps a better contribution would be stop placing so much emphasis on looks in their magazine and feature a few women who don't believe these things are important as role models for the young women who would be better spending more time on their education than peering into a mirror every five minutes.
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written by Diana Probst, May 19, 2011
Removing the internal glass ceilings means some massive changes, on a society-wide scale. Dealing with the external ones is easier and is a step along that path. The mentoring suggested here is a single tool and I suspect leading questions, but it does not make it a bad tool in itself.
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written by Zoe Rose, May 19, 2011
As strange as it sounds, when I was young I actually envied my Mum that she'd fought on the battlefield of sexism - I thought I'd never get the chance. How little I knew...
Ann, you said 'What bugs me about now is that no-one is standing up to be counted as we did back then. There is no energy, no passion, no commitment to make the legislation work'.
I agree but I want to extend that - I think women in my age bracket are actually terrible at identifying sexism. We're told that's all over, so we assume that it is, even when our actual lived experience is the opposite. It's bewildering.
A woman my age can spot a sexist joke (e.g. 'blah blah blah female driver') from 50 paces. We can scowl about it, too, and bitch with our friends later. But faced with a man who actually and profoundly thinks women are inferior to men, or that women holding lower positions is the natural order of things, and acts on those beliefs - we turn blind.
The thing is, the men who hold these beliefs don't self-identify as sexist - that would be like self-identifying as racist, and who would do that? So they don't realise they've got a problem, we can't see what they're doing, and the whole mess just gets worse.
Of all the attributes I take to work with me, my favourite is contrariness - I'm quite pleased by the number of male colleagues that I've managed to irritate by not allowing them to talk over me, not stepping aside for them in the corridor, and - weirdly - by laughing in the office. (In our office, the men like to do what I call a 'business laugh' - it's like they're trying to take up space with their voice. Women don't laugh in our office. Ever. Apart from me
) I'm very disappointed in my age cohort of women. I wish we'd wise up. We're lucky that most of our male colleagues are sensible, normal, and therefore not sexist - but good golly, we let the minority get away with murder.
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written by Peter Gelderbloem, May 19, 2011
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Germaine Greer
I'm old and lived though the introduction of equal opportunities legislation in the workplace in the 70s. I was the first female manager in company of 1200 people and every day was a battle.
What bugs me about now is that no-one is standing up to be counted as we did back then. There is no energy, no passion, no commitment to make the legislation work and tabloid journalism turns everything into a joke.
I don't think mentoring in the workplace is the answer. Education (as with most things) in the home and our schools is the only answer.