Has new era of female government leaders in Canada already faded?
There was a time when women served as premiers in half of Canada’s provinces.
It was short-lived — just “one brief shining moment,” for those who yearn for parity. It began in February 2013 when Kathleen Wynne took over Ontario and ended, if not technically, last Monday, April 7, when Pauline Marois lost Québec. All that remains is the Parti Québécois leadership convention to choose her successor.
In between, Kathy Dunderdale fell in Newfoundland and Alison Redford in Alberta. Then there were two, Wynne and Christy Clark in B.C.
Not such a good record for women at the top in Canadian politics. (On mobile? Click here for a chart on number of days of female vs. male leadership, and here for number of female vs. male leaders since 1991.)
“I worry it’s going to fuel the perception that women can’t hack it,” says Janet Ecker , who “hacked it” very well as a cabinet minister in Mike Harris’s Conservative government in Ontario. She was finance minister when she was defeated in the 2003 election. [Read More…]
‘Thinner and Cuter’ Women Get Better Jobs and Higher Pay
Women have come a long way — and have some way to go. The wage gap, numbers of corporate directors, child care responsibilities are just some of the issues where more progress is needed in the workplace alone. Another is the harsh judgment of the obese, especially females. This month’s Atlantic has a sobering feature on the fate of fat women and their careers — fat is the preferred term for some in the overweight community; obese being viewed as medicalized and perjorative. I use both terms. [Read More…]Business Partnerships With Men Often Don’t Benefit Women
Women who start their own business would be best served by going it alone, new research finds. Women who start businesses with men have limited opportunities to move into leadership roles and even fewer chances to take charge when they do so with their husbands, according to sociologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [Read More…]What Works For Women As Entrepreneurs
I just finished reading What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know by Joan C. Williams and Rachel Dempsey. It got me thinking about the similarities and differences between corporate and entrepreneurial women. For women who are burning out from “Prove-It-Again” and again, and hitting “The Maternal Wall” (two of the four patterns Williams and Dempsey write about) in the corporate world, it may be time to go someplace else. Yes, there may be a big company that appreciates you more, but if you really want to control your destiny, entrepreneurship may be for you. While progress for women in the corporate world and other sectors has stalled, women are making big strides in the entrepreneurial world — 11 Reasons 2014 Will Be A Breakout Year For Women Entrepreneurs. [Read More…]In some MBA classes, women still need to speak up
At an admissions information session a few months ago, a female prospective student asked me about the balance of contributions from male and female students in the classroom. I answered what I believed – that I felt questions and comments raised in class came from both groups. What I didn’t say, though, was that this was true only in some classes. Recently, increasing attention has been drawn to career-minded women and the various challenges they encounter. From Facebook executive and author Sheryl Sandberg’s book on women in the workplace, Lean In, to the much-discussed New York Times article last year about gender inequity at Harvard Business School, it’s a continuing discussion that’s hard to miss. [Read More…]The 7 Worst Stereotypes Professional Women Face
Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide and her organization of the same name is now stirring up more controversy about the negative stereotypes women continue to face with its “Ban Bossy” campaign, which contends that girls are called “bossy” for the same behaviors that signal leadership qualities in boys. The campaign has brought the conversation about gender inequality back into the mainstream and placed a spotlight on residual biases against professional women. In a recent Quora thread, users addressed the question, “What are some of the ways women are discriminated against that men are often aware of?” We’ve highlighted the recurring stereotypes that professional women still deal with in the workplace [Read More…]Industry News
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When: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 to Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Where: InterContinental Yorkville, Toronto
To Learn more visit: www.CanadianInstitute.com/WomenLeadershipForum