In the American Lawyer article “Women are Leaning In. Wahoo.“, the advancement of women in the workforce is discussed. The author Vivia Chen points out that since Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In Ted Talk” not much has changed for women. Chen writes that even though women are staying in the workforce longer, we are not seeing comparable gains for women.
- For both sexes, the attrition rate from the workforce last year was 15 percent.
- Very few women and men say they plan to leave their jobs for family reasons (2 percent women vs. 0 percent men).
- Both sexes are asking for raises and promotions at similar rates. (In the last two years, 29 percent of men vs. 31 percent of women asked for raises, while 36 percent of men vs. 37 percent of women asked for promotions.)
- Both sexes say they want to advance in their jobs (75 percent men vs. 71 percent women).
Despite this, women remain less likely to get a promotion or to earn as much as men. Women are still outnumbered in leadership roles. “Only one in five c-suite leaders is a woman, and only one in 25 is a woman of colour.”
Chen outlines the reasons for this disparity. These reasons include a lack of support from managers, a lack of sponsorship within the company, unfair performance reviews, cronyism, and the thousands of small “slings and arrows” of gender discrimination.
(Views are my own and do not represent the views of any organization.)
You must be logged in to post a comment.