This International Women’s Month we have a lot to celebrate as women that our grandmothers didn’t. We can vote. We can study whatever we want in college. We can compete for any job we want. And, at least for the moment, we control what we want to do with our bodies.
When my mom wanted to go to college to become a doctor, she was told that she should focus on having a husband and family. Instead, only her brother went to college. In the 1950s, which really isn’t that long ago, women were told that having a career meant taking a job away from a man. In those days, job listings were still separated by sex and employers could openly say they wanted to hire a man and not a woman.
When I started my own career in the 80s, things were better. No one told me I couldn’t work in the field I wanted, but I chose technology, which was highly male dominated. I worked in sales and marketing for a large tech company who was IBM’s largest competitor at the time, and the founder was overheard saying that he saw no reason why a woman should ever be in a senior management position. Despite that culture I rose pretty quickly in my career and when I was in my early 20s I was managing a team of 30 techie guys. I spent 26 years working in Corporate America, where the standard of success was to lead larger and larger teams and to travel the world, so that’s what I did.
After I had my daughter I kept up the pace. I breastfed for close to two years while traveling weekly, which created some interesting logistical challenges to overcome. But it was important for her health, and also for me to feel like I was caring for her, even when I was away. And then when she was about 6 years old she had a sleepover with one of her friends and as they were looking outside at the wishing star she told her little friend that she wished for her mommy to stop traveling. That was like a dagger to my heart and I realized that I didn’t want her to grow up without me. It took a couple of years to work through my exit plan but I left that stage of my career and became an entrepreneur. Building a business has been an incredible experience and as I reflect on the hundreds of small businesses we’ve been able to help with their marketing, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Having grown my career through a time that wasn’t particularly easy for a woman in tech, and now that my daughter is in high school with her sights set on a career in engineering, I’m passionate about helping women to be as successful as they can be. I’m a pretty practical person, and a bit of a data nerd, so I decided to take a deeper dive into why we still don’t have equality in the workplace. And we can’t blame it all on men.
When we see statistics that tell us only 6.6% of women hold CEO spots in Fortune 500 companies, or that women only make 79% of the salaries of men, it’s easy for us to want to take to the streets and protest, but the reasons for this inequality stem from a combination of education and sociology.
Let me sum it up before I get into the details, because it’s really pretty simple.
- Women are more likely to choose college majors in fields that don’t make as much money as those chosen by men.
- Humans in general are wired to show greater respect for the larger, stronger members of the species, which is not typically women, making it more difficult for women to rise to the top.
- Once women begin having children, which typically mirrors the career phase of most rapid growth for men, they tend to take on the bulk of responsibilities of childcare and organizing the home, making it more difficult to put in the extra hours needed to rise to the top. So as men are kicking it into gear, women start pulling back.
- At this point they become incredibly stressed at having too much on their plates and many of them pass on pursuing opportunities for promotion because they’re not sure how they would balance it all, or they may decide to drop out and start their own business.
- If they do start their own business, it’s often something smaller than a man might start, because they’re still trying to balance work and home life. If they go for something larger, either because it’s their first venture, or back to the sociology argument, VCs don’t perceive them to be as tough, they don’t get as much funding, so will end up making less money and it will take them longer to grow.
Now I’m not sure if hearing this makes you nod your head in agreement, or if you’re shocked at how incredibly sexist this sounds coming from a woman. But this is what over 30 years in business has taught me, and it’s backed by some pretty compelling statistics. Here are some examples:
On Education:
For the past 20 years, women have outpaced men in college attendance and degrees. So why are we still behind? Let’s look at what we choose to major in.
Here are the top 5 professions by pay:
- Electrical Engineering – median annual salary is $85,000 and is 90% men.
- Mechanical Engineering – median annual salary is $78,000 and is 90% men.
- Computer Science – median annual salary is $77,000 and is 90% men.
- Economics – median annual salary is $72,000, and is 70% men.
- Mathematics – median annual salary is $71,000, and is 60% men.
Women are much more likely to major in nursing, psychology, business administration, biology and teaching, which are all admirable professions, but not ones to choose if you want to make a lot of money.
On Sociology:
This one is a bit tougher to prove, but think for a moment about the animal kingdom. Let’s look at chimpanzees since we share 98.4% of their DNA. Chimps live in a tribe of 20-150 animals and carry a mental map of where everyone in the tribe ranks according to power. The alpha male walks with a certain swagger of confidence, and the other chimps grunt their acknowledgement of his superiority. The alpha male gets first pick of women, food and grooming, so it’s a pretty sweet spot. The alpha is typically physically large, but to remain the alpha, he also must continue to be socially strong and earn respect.
Across most of the animal kingdom we find examples of the most respected member of the group being physically larger and stronger. And this kind of makes sense when you’re an animal, because the larger members of your group are perceived as being better able to protect you.
But people are different, aren’t they?
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Blink”, he found that CEOs tend to be taller than their counterparts. About 3 inches taller in fact.
And it isn’t enough to look like an alpha, you need to sound like one too. A research team at Duke University and the University of California studied the speech of the CEOs of 800 public companies. They found that the CEOs of larger companies had deeper voices and thus made more money. A decrease of 25% in vocal pitch resulted in an additional $187,000 in salary! And we may actually be wired this way. Researchers from the University of Sussex found that women’s vocal pitch dropped by two notes during the year after pregnancy, perhaps to sound more authoritative during that critical window of parenting.
Women As Caregivers:
I know this won’t come as a surprise to any of the moms reading this, but despite women being more educated and employed than ever, they still carry the bulk of the burden of household responsibilities. Women take 10 times as much temporary leave from work following the birth of a child, not all of which is paid. Women are also 8 times as likely as men to look after sick children or to take time out of their day to organize their child’s schedule. This often leads to switching jobs to something more flexible, where perhaps they can work from home. This can lead to lower pay.
Women As Entrepreneurs:
Often the most practical alternative to an inflexible workplace, is to start your own business. For many women who do so while their kids are still young, it’s a business of necessity as they need to find a way to earn supplemental income. But they may not be able to put as much time into it as it takes to be financially successful, especially considering that top self-made millionaires will tell you success comes down to working like crazy so you’ll be exposed to more opportunities, and many work 14-18 hour days. That just isn’t practical for a new mom.
When women do start a business, with the exception of highly educated and licensed professionals such as physicians and attorneys, they tend to do so in personal services, healthcare services, retail and real estate. These all tend to be business areas with lower revenue potential than those chosen by men. Interestingly though, when women do tackle those male dominated industries, such as construction and high tech manufacturing, they tend to beat men with higher first year revenues.
Women get a much lower share of VC funding than men, bringing in just under $3 billion in funding compared to the almost $110 billion of their male counterparts. But they also don’t ask for funding as often, and many women start smaller businesses that they are able to self-fund.
So What Can We Do To Fix The Gender Gap?:
Despite the deck being stacked against them, the survival rate of female founded businesses matches that of men. So the issue isn’t one of competence, it’s one of role models and flexibility. So what can we do?
I began my career in tech, have never shied away from power tools, and my husband has an engineering degree, so perhaps it’s no surprise that our daughter wants to be an engineer. But aside from us, where will she find her role models of strong women in STEM careers? I think that for any woman in any field that has been traditionally male dominated, whether you’re a criminal defense attorney, a surgeon or a scientist, it is our duty to share our stories of how we made it not only with our daughters, but with everyone’s daughters. We need to show our girls that STEM and other power careers are fun. Maybe instead of art camp, send them to robotics camp. Perhaps balance those princess movies with stories of women who were ahead of their time. There are also some really fun apps they can play around with to teach basic coding that don’t feel as though you’re doing a school assignment.
I also think we owe other women the reality check of what it takes to be successful and the sacrifices you need to make. I spoke to a young mom the other day who was really frustrated that her husband wasn’t helping enough. Unfortunately, most husbands don’t help out enough. Perhaps they grew up in a family with traditional roles where the woman was expected to do most of the cooking, housework and childcare and then work on top of that. She was probably as exhausted and stressed as most women are today, but she never spoke up because it wasn’t the thing to do. So if you are a dad who helps out at home, and I don’t mean just putting the dirty dishes in the sink after your wife makes dinner, then it is also your duty to educate your sons and other young men to behave this way, so that perhaps our daughters will be able to finally break free from gender stereotypes and be able to have as much time as their husbands to dedicate to their careers. Until men start having babies, we may never have true equality, but we can get a heck of a lot closer.
And if you’re reading this, then chances are you’re an entrepreneur. If so, then change begins with you. Women are backing out of the workplace because they need more flexibility, so how can you give it to them? My company is 100% virtual, and as long as everyone gets their work done, then within reason, they can set their own hours. This allows time to take kids to appointments or watch a school play. I’m also not required by law to offer benefits, but I do, including maternity leave, which can be cost effectively covered by a short term disability policy. And think about the career paths in your company. There is no good reason why the only way up the corporate ladder is by managing larger teams. This tends to favor people who do not need flexibility. What about setting career paths for your employees who deepen their expertise in particular areas? Perhaps you could value knowledge as much as you value management.
And finally, if you’re a woman in the workplace, trust me I feel your pain. You may be challenged by trying to balance work and home life, or perhaps you ended up in a profession that isn’t as lucrative as being an electrical engineer, but don’t give up hope. You still have a few tricks up your sleeve! Here are 3 changes you can easily make today that will make a difference:
- Pay attention to your voice. About 14 years ago I was handed a team of 300 people to lead. Considering I had only managed 40 people up to that point it was a bit intimidating. One of the first things I did in meetings was instinctively to deepen my voice and speak more slowly. Subconsciously, people will perceive you as more of an alpha. Listen to successful women being interviewed on CNN and you’ll see what I mean.
- Under promise and over deliver. As women, we are inclined to take on too much. We think we should be able to get something done by a certain time, but didn’t take into account that we’d be distracted by a child who suddenly doesn’t feel well, the dog needing to be rushed to the vet, or an unexpected errand that took longer than you thought it would. Always add a bit of a buffer to your delivery date to make sure you can dedicate the time to deliver your best work, as this reflects on you as a professional.
- Ask yourself, “what would a guy do?”. This will serve you well in many situations. Should you agree to take on that extra assignment? A guy would probably ask, “what’s in it for me?”. Should you make other arrangements to pick up your child from school so you can stay late and work with the team on a deadline? A guy might say yes. In reality he’d probably call his wife to pick up the kids but you too can have some creative back up plans in place! And if you’re a female founder thinking about expanding, ask yourself “what would a guy do?”. You probably know the answer and will find a way to take a bit more risk.
This International Women’s Day we have much to celebrate. I feel as though between each of the last 3 generations we have doubled our opportunities and progress. Now it’s time for women to step up and be role models for other women. And for those women working your way up the ladder, things are far from perfect, but the more you can recognize how you can personally overcome sociological stereotypes, the better a role model you’ll be for the next generation of daughters. And we need you to be that role model!