WOMENSPEAK Training Blog

BBC: European Member of Parliament Takes Her Baby to Work

2012-01-05T16:14:00.000-05:00

An Italian MEP attended a European Parliament session in Strasbourg carrying her baby in a sling.

Licia Ronzulli says she wanted to make a point about the difficulties women face in trying to juggle careers and child care.

Read it here.

A new website for the New Year

2012-01-03T23:57:00.000-05:00

Check it out! Click here - or go to www.womenspeaktraining.com

Catalyst: Women and Leadership

2011-11-27T16:57:00.001-05:00

Click here to see whole deck from Catalyst

Catalyst: The Myth of the Ideal Worker

2011-11-12T21:56:00.001-05:00

Click here to download Catalyst.org's free PDF report. A must read.

From the report:

When considered as a whole, the findings are clear: even when women
stay on a traditional career path and do “all the right things,” they’re
unlikely to advance as far or earn as much as their male counterparts.

For women, making their achievements known and gaining access to
powerful others had the greatest impact on career advancement. Only
making their achievements known impacted women’s compensation
growth. In addition, we found that changing jobs can negatively impact
women’s compensation growth, indicating that Climbing, not Hedging
by keeping external options open, paid off most for women when it
came to compensation

2011-11-12T21:24:00.001-05:00

http://www2.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/women-and-economics/investing-in-women/index.html?cid=PS_01_19_07_99_01_01

HBR: Four Ways Women Stunt Their Careers Unintentionally

2011-11-04T20:12:00.002-04:00

This article by Flynn, Heath and Davis Holt cites "four specific low confidence behaviors cited by managers (both male and female alike)."

They are:

Being overly modest
Not asking
Blending In
Remaining Silent

Read the whole thing here.

The Nation: Where are the Women at Occupy Wall Street?

2011-10-29T13:41:00.000-04:00

photo credit: women occupy tumblr

"For many of the women I interviewed in New York, frustrations arise not from direct slurs or insults but from a lingering feeling that at times they’re not heard in discussions, or not respected when they try to explain their perspective."

Read the whole thing here.

DI: IBM CEO to Become 17th Woman to Head Fortune 500 Company

2011-10-27T13:54:00.000-04:00

From Diversity Inc.

Read the whole thing here.

"Fortune 500 CEOs remain primarily white and male. Rometty’s addition to this listing results in only an incremental shift (a 1.0 percent gain to total 3.4 percent; 3.6 percent if including Bresch) in the percentage of female Fortune 500 CEOs. There are four Black (0.8 percent), nine Asian (1.8 percent) and five Latino (1 percent) CEOs. They include: Kenneth Chenault, American Express (No. 13); Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck & Co. (No.15); and Ajay Banga, MasterCard (No. 31)."

Exploiting Beauty in the Workplace

2011-09-05T13:30:00.002-04:00

Excerpt:

Catherine Hakim, a professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, has shattered the last great taboo of the workplace: professional women should use their "erotic capital" — beauty, sex appeal, charm, dress sense, liveliness, and fitness — to get ahead at work.

And rather than believing old notions that beauty has only a trivial, superficial value, women should change the way they use the "beauty premium" and not be ashamed of using it to get ahead.

Professor Hakim, an expert on women's employment and theories of female position in society, isn't the only one talking about this. In the upcoming issue of HBR, our Synthesis column dives into Hakim's new book, and two others on the topic, to understand what this concept means for managers.

Hakim argues that while we have no problem exploiting our other advantages — money (economic capital), intelligence and education (human capital), and contacts (social capital), women especially still shirk from using erotic capital.

Why should that be? Women, she says, are more charming, more graceful in social interaction, and have more social intelligence than men, but they don't exploit those advantages. Men, on the other hand, have no compunction about using every asset to get ahead in their careers and have no embarrassment about reaping the benefits. Hakim says women feel shy, embarrassed, and ambivalent about admitting that they trade on their looks, and for good reason given the prevailing attitudes: "Women who parade their beauty or sexuality," Ms Hakim writes, "are belittled as stupid, lacking in intellect, and other 'meaningful' social attributes."

Yet, according to Hakim, the ''beauty premium'' is an important economic factor in our careers, citing a US survey that found good-looking lawyers earn between 10 and 12 per cent more than dowdier colleagues. Moreover, she says, an attractive person is more likely to land a job in the first place, and then be promoted.

Meet Today's Help

2011-08-12T17:11:00.003-04:00

Excerpt:

When the movie The Help opens this week, hundreds of thousands of viewers will get swept up in the story of domestic workers who are struggling for dignity and respect in Civil Rights-era Mississippi. What those viewers might be surprised to learn is that across America, modern domestic workers are living out that struggle today.

Just as the domestic workers in The Help were part of a persecuted and marginalized community, many of today’s “help” are immigrant women whose communities are blamed for our nation’s economic troubles. 50 years after the stories told in The Help, domestic workers are still an unprotected sector of the labor force, without access to basic rights other workers take for granted. Far too few domestic workers receive overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, sick leave or paid vacation. And far too many of them work for less than minimum wage. In this regard, too little has changed.

Read entire post here.

Pitch Like a Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succeed

2011-08-05T15:36:00.005-04:00

Excerpt:

Shelves full of business books have told women that the only way to win at work is to be like a guy. The truth is that science shows that the brains of men and women work differently. Here are proven techniques to maximize the intrinsic and instinctive strengths of women for the workplace.

Despite steady advancement, part of the reason for women's continuing struggle for success is a very personal challenge: They feel uncomfortable doing anything that feels like self-promotion.

That's why Ronna Lichtenberg, corporate veteran turned highly sought-after management consultant, built a program for women that works with their unique advantages. Starting with recent developments in brain sex research and moving through social stereotypes, Lichtenberg takes a fresh look at how women relate to work and shows them how to use their gifts to get what they want. The book includes easy-to-use tools, tips on managing communication styles, and exercises that have been honed in Lichtenberg's many workshops.

Whether giving women pragmatic advice on what to do about that infuriating boss, how to know how much money they should be making (and how to get it), or how to follow up without feeling like a beggar or a stalker, Lichtenberg is real, and really funny at the same time. Her advice ushers in a new world of possibilities for women who are ready for a success that feels right.

Read full review here.

A WOMAN'S PLACE. Can Sheryl Sandberg upend Silicon Valley's male-dominated culture?

2011-07-14T14:50:00.001-04:00

Excerpt:

In 2007, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, knew that he needed help. His social-network site was growing fast, but, at the age of twenty-three, he felt ill-equipped to run it. That December, he went to a Christmas party at the home of Dan Rosensweig, a Silicon Valley executive, and as he approached the house he saw someone who had been mentioned as a possible partner, Sheryl Sandberg, Google’s thirty-eight-year-old vice-president for global online sales and operations. Zuckerberg hadn’t called her before (why would someone who managed four thousand employees want to leave for a company that had barely any revenue?), but he went up and introduced himself. “We talked for probably an hour by the door,” Zuckerberg recalls.

It turned out that Sandberg was ready for a new challenge. She had even talked with Donald Graham, the C.E.O. of the troubled Washington Post Company, about becoming a senior executive there. After the holidays, Zuckerberg e-mailed her, and they had the first of many dinners. They met at the Flea Street Café, around the corner from her home in Atherton, but then decided that they needed more privacy. His tiny Palo Alto apartment—which had almost no furniture—wouldn’t work. So for six weeks they met for dinner once or twice a week at Sandberg’s six-bedroom home. Sandberg, who goes to bed early and starts e-mailing at 5 A.M., often had to usher the nocturnal Zuckerberg out at midnight. “It was like dating,” says Dave Goldberg, Sandberg’s husband and the C.E.O. of the online company SurveyMonkey. Sandberg says they asked each other, “What do you believe? What do you care about? What’s the mission? It was very philosophical.” Social networking seemed to have better prospects than newspapers and she didn’t want to move to D.C., so she gently turned down Donald Graham.

That winter, Sandberg met with Eric Schmidt, who was then the C.E.O. of Google, about her desire to do something else at the company. He proposed promoting her to chief financial officer, a job she rejected because she didn’t think it gave her enough management responsibility. She asked about becoming the chief operating officer, but Google already had a troika making decisions—Schmidt and the two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin—and they didn’t want to further complicate things.

By February of 2008, Zuckerberg had concluded that Sandberg would be a perfect fit. “There are people who are really good managers, people who can manage a big organization,” he says. “And then there are people who are very analytic or focussed on strategy. Those two types don’t usually tend to be in the same person. I would put myself much more in the latter camp.” Zuckerberg offered her the job of chief operating officer.

Read the entire article by Ken Auletta here.

You Go, Google Girls

2011-07-13T12:31:00.004-04:00

Excerpt:

At this year’s inaugural Google Global Science Fair, the three teenage winners turned in remarkable projects that grappled with real-world problems: carcinogens in food, increasing indoor air quality to help people with asthma, and fighting chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer patients.

According to the Google blog, the judges were impressed by:

their intellectual curiosity, their tenaciousness and their ambition to use science to find solutions to big problems. They examined complex problems and found both simple solutions that can be implemented by the general public—like changing your cooking habits or removing toxins from your home—as well as more complex solutions that can be addressed in labs by doctors and researchers. …

The projects are the important thing here. But I can’t help feeling a little sisterly glee at the fact that the winners were all girls. Lauren Hodge won the 13-14 age, Naomi Shah the 15-16 age group, and Shree Bose the 17-18 category. They earned their sweet Lego trophies with their thoughtful approach to science, but their gender is getting them more attention today. Someday, perhaps three girls rocking a science fair won’t be news, but for now, it is.

Read the original post here.

What Did Google Learn That Male Marketers Need to Know? It's Not Just About the Numbers

2011-07-07T11:43:00.003-04:00

Excerpt:

Watching the progression of Google’s newest social attempt with Google+ (also referred to as Google Plus), I have noticed a strong similarity with male marketers attempting to get on board with marketing to women.

There are two main stages that both must go through to be successful.Acceptance and understanding.

STEP I: ACCEPTANCE
Google had to first accept that “social” was going to ultimately dictate “search.” The best assessment I have read about this can be found in one of Jay Baer’s recent posts titled: Why Google Has the Hammer to Make Businesses Use Google Plus. It is a must read.

STEP II: UNDERSTANDING
Once male marketers and CEOs accept that women are the market, the real work begins. But some men are not willing to actually get to “know her” and sincerely “understand her” to build relationships and connect effectively. Likewise, although Google saw the writing on the wall with the undeniable impact of “social,” they continued to attempt to control people’s social paths to fit into their algorithms. They could not veer from the numbers long enough to allow users to be authentically social and their several failed social attempts reveal just that.

Read the entire post here.

Equal to What?

2011-05-17T13:30:00.003-04:00

Excerpt:

I know that I should be all over Equal Pay Day, but it usually leaves me frustrated. I’ve never seen a statistic on the wage gap that didn’t leave me with questions. Does that estimate account for differences in work hours, education, occupation, or childcare responsibilities? What age group are we talking about? What time period? What has changed since then?

Different answers to those questions lead to a different numbers, and that’s one reason we see so many conflicting stats. That’s also why we have some people claiming that the wage gap no longer exists.* So I’d like to ask what I hope will be a clarifying question: What would the end of the wage gap look like?

Read the answers here.

WSJ: Ranks of Women on Wall Street Thin

2010-10-20T15:38:00.003-04:00

Excerpt:

Women are fading from the U.S. finance industry.

In the past 10 years, 141,000 women, or 2.6% of female workers in finance, left the industry. The ranks of men grew by 389,000 in that period, or 9.6%, according to a review of data provided by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The shift runs counter to changes in the overall work force. The number of women in the U.S. labor market has grown by 4.1% in the past decade, outpacing a 0.5% increase in male workers.

The difference is pronounced at brokerage firms, investment banks and asset-management companies.

Read the whole thing here.

HBR: When the Glass Ceiling Helps

2010-10-13T14:06:00.002-04:00

Excerpt: The glass ceiling is an infamous barrier, but a team at Duke recently discovered that it actually metamorphoses from a negative to a positive as women move from below it to above it. For middle-management women, it's a barrier; for top leaders, it's a mark of courage and ability. In fact, women in the top spot who are credited with success are perceived as having a significant leadership advantage over men.

Read the whole thing here.

HBR: Women and The Vision Thing

2010-07-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

Excerpt:

One of the biggest developmental hurdles that aspiring leaders, male and female alike, must clear is learning to sell their ideas—their vision of the future—to numerous stakeholders. Presenting an inspiring story about the future is very different from generating a brilliant strategic analysis or crafting a logical implementation plan, competencies on which managers...have (often) built their careers.

Indeed, a whole generation of women now entering the C-suite owe their success to a strong command of the technical elements of their jobs and a nose-to-the-grindstone focus on accomplishing quantifiable objectives. But as they step into bigger leadership roles—or are assessed on their potential to do so—the rules of the game change, and a different set of skills comes to the fore.

A great section on "Strengthening Vision Skills," - most steps and suggestions require top-level communications practice.

Read the whole thing here.

CIO: The Executive Woman's Guide to Self-Promotion

2010-06-13T13:56:00.000-04:00

An interesting magazine from the IT industry on steps for self-promotion. Especially relevant section on Visibility.

Excerpt:

Volunteer for Visible Assignments

You want to be appreciated and acknowledged for making a difference. That means you have to do something that has a visible effect—and also gives you the opportunity to shine.

Take charge of something visible, that people need, advises Magalene Powell-Meeks, Deputy CIO at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "Put yourself in the position of solving a problem, and solve it for them," she says, "Even if it's a crappy job." Be the leader in that position, even if it's a small one, she says, and apply your unique technology or process to help those people. Become the go-to person in your discipline.

Read the whole thing here.

From Harvard Business Review's Blog: Can She Lead?

2010-05-23T23:18:00.003-04:00

Excerpt:

There is an evident need for women in leadership positions, and the lack of it in society. According to a study conducted at Northwestern University on "Transformational, Transactional and Laissez Faire Leadership Styles: a Meta-Analysis Comparing Women and Men," women can be the more effective than men as leaders due to their "transformational" leadership style.

The authors define this leadership style as those who "serve as role models, mentor and empower workers and encourage innovation even when the organization they lead is generally successful" (Eagly et al, 2003). The results of the study demonstrate the great need of women to act as leaders in society through their ability to nurture and cultivate greater talent in those they lead and serve.

Read the whole thing here.

LA Times - Men Explaining Things

2010-02-22T01:13:00.000-05:00

An opinion piece from Rebecca Solnit in the LA Times -

Excerpts

Men explain things to me, and to other women, whether or not they know what they're talking about. Some men. Every woman knows what I mean. It's the presumption that makes it hard, at times, for any woman in any field; that keeps women from speaking up and from being heard when they dare; that crushes young women into silence by indicating, the way harassment on the street does, that this is not their world. It trains us in self-doubt and self-limitation...

...

Billions of women are out there on this 6-billion-person planet being told that they are not reliable witnesses to their own lives, that the truth is not their property, now or ever. This goes way beyond Men Explaining Things, but it's part of the same archipelago of arrogance.

...

Most women fight wars on two fronts, one for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak, to have ideas, to be acknowledged to be in possession of facts and truths, to have value, to be a human being.

Read the whole thing here.

Science Blogs: How objectification silences women

2010-02-15T19:59:00.000-05:00

Excerpts:

As Saguy explains, "When a woman believes that a man is focusing on her body, she narrows her presence... by spending less time talking." There are a few possible reasons for this. Saguy suspects that objectification prompts women to align their behaviour with what's expected of them - silent things devoid of other interesting traits. Treat someone like an object, and they'll behave like one. Alternatively, worries about their appearance might simply distract them from the task at hand.

(these) could be major problems if the same detrimental silencing effect in Saguy's study applies in real-world situations where being vocal is important for success - job interviews, work meetings, networking sessions, classrooms and more. There will always be hardened lechers among us but often, objectification happens without us thinking about it or becoming aware of it. It's time, perhaps, that more of us did.

Read the whole thing here.

WST Blog On Hiatus Until Mid-February

2010-01-05T19:45:00.000-05:00

Great Resource - Women's Media Center

2009-12-11T09:00:00.004-05:00

A really interesting project from a media activism perspective from the Women's Media Center, with a terrific page on "Be A Voice in the Media" - upcoming posts that will contain "How-Tos and Guides for writing great letters, blog posts and editorials".

A great resource on getting heard - whatever the message. Please continue to submit other examples of on-line resources for media messaging, PR tool kits, etc.

Read the whole thing here.

Book: Code Switching - How to Talk So Men Will Listen

2009-12-03T15:44:00.004-05:00

From Wisconsin Law Journal -

The title refers to a linguistics term, and it means having knowledge of two cultures or languages and readily swapping between them, depending on the situation, to best communicate your message.

Damken Brown and Nelson, who both hold PhDs in gender communications, stress they’re not attempting to re-make women into men, nor do they bash men, per se. Rather, they want women to be “consciously mixing it up using both male and female communication styles to produce an overall androgynous, synergistic approach.”

Link to the book here.

BW: Women's Performance: A Perception Gap?

2009-11-16T15:36:00.000-05:00

Excerpt:

Women may think they’re really good at their jobs, but they tend to suspect others don’t see it that way.

At least that’s the finding of a study being presented at the Academy of Management conference on Aug. 11 by assistant professor Scott Taylor of the University of New Mexico’s business school. Taylor asked 251 managers—most of them MBA program graduates—to rate their own leadership qualities and then predict how others would grade them in a separate, 360-degree review.

Read the whole thing here.

Gail Collins: When Everything Changed

2009-11-11T09:45:00.003-05:00

Excerpt, from New York Times book review:

During the last 15 years, there have been at least a dozen sitcoms starring physically unattractive, infantile, selfish, dimwitted husbands (ugly babies, really), unconditionally loved by their beautiful, clever, kindhearted and competent wives. It is hard to think of a single show in which this premise was reversed. Did feminism fail? Less than 3 percent of stay-at-home parents are men. Did feminism fail? This year, the radio host and comedian Steve Harvey wrote in “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man” that “men want women to act like ladies at all times.” The book has been on the best-seller list for months. Did feminism fail?

Gail Collins’s smart, thorough, often droll and extremely readable account of women’s recent history in America not only answers this question brilliantly, but also poses new ones about the past and the present, as she explicates moments that were widely recorded and illuminates scenes that were barely remarked upon at the time.

Collins, a columnist for the New York Times Op-Ed page, begins “When Everything Changed” with the best summary of American women’s social and political history that I’ve read.

Link to New York Times Book review, here.
Link to buy the book, here.

O Magazine: 28 Ways to Become a Leader

2009-11-01T18:47:00.003-05:00

From O Magazine's Leadership Project - the "Skills to Go - 28 Ways to Become a Leader" section.

Fundraising Basics:
5 tips on asking for money

Communication Strategies:
3 secrets of public speaking

Achieving Your Goals:
How to create a million-dollar business

Resources:
17 terrific websites to start with

Plus:
Download your packet of worksheets

NYT: The Mismeasure of a Woman

2009-10-25T13:43:00.004-04:00

From Joanne Lipman in The New York Times, a very interesting article.

Read the whole thing here.

Excerpts:

Part of the reason we’ve lost our way, part of the reason my generation became complacent, is that many of us have been defining progress for women too narrowly. We’ve focused primarily on numbers at the expense of attitudes. ...We’ve got to include popular perceptions in the equation as well. Progress in one area without the other is no progress at all.

This isn’t simply a woman’s issue; it affects us all. It isn’t about blaming men, or about embracing feminism, which remains a toxic term for some women. Instead, it is up to all of us to help change the conversation.

...

Certainly, when you look at the numbers, women have made tremendous strides over the past 25 years. But in the process, we lost sight of something important. After focusing for so long on better jobs and higher pay, maybe the best thing — the enduring thing — we can do is make sure respect is part of the equation too.

If we can change the conversation about women, the numbers will finally add up. And that’s what real progress looks like.

NYT: When We're Equal, We'll Be Happy

2009-10-22T13:55:00.001-04:00

More on modern women and unhappiness - from Judith Warner at The New York Times, a terrific article.

Excerpts:

Life for women has not come together. That, at least, is the very clear conclusion you have to draw after reading the essays contained in “A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything,” a book-length report released this week by the Center for American Progress. Despite its cheery-sounding title, the report conveys a bleak portrait of women’s non-progress in our day. The wage gap persists, particularly for mothers, who now earn 73 cents for every man’s dollar. Our workforce and education system is still sex-segregated, operating along generations-old stereotypes that steer most women into low-paid, low-status, low-security professions. Women pay more for health insurance than men, have more extensive health needs than men, and suffer unique forms of discrimination in their coverage. (Women may be denied coverage because they had a Caesarean delivery or were victims of domestic violence — both “preexisting conditions.”) Regardless of the number of hours they work, they continue to do far more caretaking and housekeeping work at home than do their husbands. And discrimination against mothers (but not fathers) in the workplace is all but ubiquitous. These are not happy-making developments.

And they’re not failures of feminism. They are instead indicators of all the ways in which society has failed women, most importantly — and this comes up time and time again, in every section of the report — by failing to address the needs of working families.

Read the whole thing here.

CNET News: Why Women Dominate Social Networking

2009-10-06T09:44:00.003-04:00

Read the whole thing here.

WSJ Blog: 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking

2009-09-23T15:02:00.006-04:00

Excerpt:

At the top of the US Banker list, for the third straight year, is Heidi Miller, J.P. Morgan’s CEO of Treasury and Securities Services. One notable newcomer to the list is BBVA Compass retail chief Shelaghmichael Brown, who helped with that bank’s recent acquisitions in the US.

The magazine editors rank the women based criteria such as one-year performance, the results of business initiatives, management style and overall influence.

Read the whole thing here.

HuffPost: The Sad, Shocking Truth About How Women are Feeling

2009-09-18T09:52:00.000-04:00

Excerpt:

According to study after study, women are becoming more and more unhappy. This drop in happiness is found in women across the social and economic landscape. It doesn't matter what their marital status is, how much money they make, whether or not they have children, their ethnic background, or the country they live in. Women around the world are in a funk.

And it's not because of the multitude of crises we are facing. Women's happiness has been on a downward trend since the early 1970s, when the General Social Survey, a landmark study, began examining the social attitudes of women and men -- who, by the way, have gotten progressively happier over the years.

Read the whole thing here.

The September Issue

2009-09-08T09:58:00.002-04:00

Film website here.

The Glass Hammer: How Do I Talk About Being Laid Off In The Job Interview?

2009-09-02T12:00:00.003-04:00

A great post from The Glass Hammer today, on interviewing for a new job after a lay-off.

Excerpt:

While layoffs are more common and carry less stigma, it is still true that employers generally prefer employed candidates to unemployed. So you need to be truthful and acknowledge the layoff, but you don’t need to dwell on it. In fact, you want to move away from the topic quickly and refocus back on the positive aspects of your career.

Read the whole thing here.

Forbes: The World's 100 Most Powerful Women

2009-08-28T23:04:00.002-04:00

Excerpt:

Women continue to scale the heights of control and influence.

Our annual ranking of the most powerful women in the world measures "power" as a composite of public profile--calculated using press mentions--and financial heft. The economic component of the ranking considers job title and past career accomplishments, as well as the amount of money the woman controls.

A chief executive "controls" the revenue of her business, for instance, while a head of state gets the country's gross domestic product. The raw numbers are modified to allow comparisons across financial realms.

Read the whole thing here.

MSN Careers: He Said, She Said: Communicating between Genders at Work

2009-08-18T15:13:00.002-04:00

Image Credit: MSN.com

Excerpt:

At work, men and women use strategies in communicating with each other that the opposite sex may view negatively. Often, misunderstandings can be avoided when co-workers look beyond personalities and consider the different ways men and women communicate.

Read the whole thing here.

Time Magazine: Quote of the Day

2009-08-11T07:24:00.002-04:00

"My husband is not secretary of state. I am."

Hillary Clinton, responding to a Congolese university student after he asked what her husband thought about an international financial matter.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/quotes

NYT/Room for Debate Blog: Do Women Make Better Bosses?

2009-08-03T07:36:00.001-04:00

More on the Carol Smith interview for the New York Times - see reactions and debates regarding what the research shows on the subject from the following:

Alice Eagly, Northwestern University
Leora Tanenbaum, author of “Catfight”
Joanna Barsh, McKinsey and Company
Susan Pinker, psychologist and columnist
Gary N. Powell, University of Connecticut
Sharon Meers, former managing director at Goldman Sachs

Read it here.

NYT - No Doubt: Women are Better Managers

2009-07-27T07:28:00.000-04:00

New York Times Interview with Carol Smith senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group.

Excerpt:

In my experience, female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk. I’m so generalizing. I know I am. But in a couple of places I’ve worked, I would often say, “Call me 15 minutes after the meeting starts and then I’ll come,” because I will have missed all the football. I will have missed all the “what I did on the golf course.” I will miss the four jokes, and I can get into the meeting when it’s starting.

Men also, they’re definitely better on the “whatever” side. Things tend to roll off their back. We women take things very personally. We’re constantly playing things over in our head — “What did that mean when they said that?” — when they mean nothing. And I’m certainly not immune to this. So there’s a downside to women.

Read the whole interview here.

Pink Magazine: Media Kits 101

2009-07-13T07:54:00.001-04:00

A great article from Pink Magazine on Media Kits.

Excerpt:

High-quality, printed media kits are used for important conferences, trade shows and media mailings – and vary in price. "Depending on the size, quantity and elements involved, professional printing of a media kit can range from a couple of hundred dollars to several thousand," says Jessica Cooper, marketing manager at PrintingForLess.com, an e-commerce company that helps small businesses with their printing needs. "But you can develop a stunning, professional media kit at an affordable price by using a combination of professionally printed letterhead and your office printer – and then you can customize and update it frequently."

Read it here.

Image credit: http://www.justinwhedondesign.com/images/samples/print_herlifeadkit.jpg

Women's Media: How to Give Criticism

2009-07-08T09:53:00.003-04:00

A interesting "how-to" from Women's Media blogger Nancy Clark on giving criticism.

Read it here.

Happy Fourth of July from WOMENSPEAK Training!

2009-07-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

BBC: Women in Power Reveal What it Takes

2009-06-29T08:42:00.003-04:00

A terrific resource from the BBC in their "Education" section - entitled "Women in Power Reveal What It Takes." It includes profiles of Benazir Bhutto, Winnie Mandela and Chandrika Kumatatunga, the President of Sri Lanka.

Excerpt:

What does it take for a woman to succeed in world politics? Despite the progress made in the last century, there are still few women leaders. Hear these eleven women talk about how they achieved success. Find out what motivates them and how they overcame the barriers they faced. Can women have it all?

Read the whole thing here.

MSNBC: Sanford's Press Conference

2009-06-25T14:27:00.001-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Office Training On-line - Powerpoint Contest

2009-06-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

Excerpt:

Create a PowerPoint 2007 presentation template that motivates and inspires. Choose a business or education topic that you feel passionate about. Some ideas include sales, marketing, sports performance, leadership, and volunteering.

Read the whole thing here.

David Letterman's Gaffe and Apology

2009-06-16T09:36:00.004-04:00

From Reuters:

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - David Letterman apologized on Monday for making a sexually charged joke about one of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughters...

"I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception...and since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke," he said. "It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault."

Last Tuesday, Letterman joked that New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez had "knocked up" the former vice-presidential nominee's daughter during a family trip to a baseball game.

But the daughter in question was 14-year-old Willow, not the intended target, 18-year-old unwed mother Bristol. Letterman said the following night that he was confused between the two and would never make sexual jokes about a 14-year-old.

See clips of both the joke and the apology.

NPR: Sotomayor's 'Wise Latina' Line Maybe Not So Wise

2009-06-01T08:10:00.002-04:00

A really interesting article from NPR's news blog "The Two Way" regarding Sotomayor's controversial speech in 2001 at the UC Berkeley Law symposium, the theme of which was "Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation".

Excerpt:

If she's really the wise Latina she seems to think, she's probably wishing right about now that she had never uttered those words since they give her political opponents a very exploitable angle of attack they otherwise wouldn't have. And she will have the somewhat uncomfortable situation of explaining what she meant to the mostly white men in the Senate who will vote on her confirmation.

For Womenspeakers - recognize the sound bite elements in "wise Latina"? what is it about this phrase that makes it viral / "beg to be repeated"?

Read the whole article - which includes excerpts of relevant passages from Sotomayor's 2001 talk - here.

Sotomayor Speaking: Nomination for The Supreme Court

2009-05-31T08:03:00.001-04:00

NYT: What Do Women Want in a Lap Top?

2009-05-26T08:40:00.000-04:00

The computer maker recently took the wraps off a new Web site geared toward women called Della, which advertises Dell’s line of Inspiron Mini 10 netbooks.

The site originally featured tech “tips” that recommended calorie counting, finding recipes and watching cooking videos as ways for women to get the most from a laptop.

But the approach may have done more harm than good...

...

Della’s heavy emphasis on colors, computer accessories, dieting tips and even the inclusion of a short video about vintage shopping “seems condescending to women consumers,” she said. Meanwhile, details like pricing information and product specifications are buried deep in the site.

“Della’s marketing strategy sounds like it’s advertising a purse,” Ms. Learned said. “There’s a level of consumer sophistication they’re missing.”

Read the whole thing here.

Happy Memorial Day from WOMENSPEAK Training

2009-05-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

MSNBC - Workplace Balance of Power

2009-05-18T16:27:00.001-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

MSNBC.COM - Men Rule, At Least in Work Place Attitudes

2009-05-11T16:07:00.001-04:00

(Respondents) who expressed a preference said men are more likely to be effective leaders...the survey...found a bonanza of stereotypes among those polled, with many using the optional comment section to label women "moody," "bitchy," "gossipy" and "emotional." The most popular term for woman, used 347 times, was "catty."

...

women are stuck between a rock and a hard place, trying to be ambitious without overdoing it. According to our study, women don’t want to come off too confident and aggressive for fear of being labeled bitchy. But they also don’t want to be wishy-washy or risk being called indecisive or emotional.

Read the whole thing here.

NYT: First Lady in Control of Building Her Image

2009-05-04T13:39:00.000-04:00

Editors at More said they were dumbfounded when, after painstaking negotiations, Mrs. Obama showed up at the photo shoot with a different dress from the one she had promised to wear...“We were like, ‘Excuse me, we tell you what to wear,’ ” said Lesley Jane Seymour, the editor-in-chief of More...“She wanted none of that. She was creating the cover. She was creating the image."

Read the whole thing here.

NYT: Yes, Looks Do Matter

2009-04-27T06:00:00.002-04:00

Image: Courtesy of Corbis

A great article from this week's New York Times about Susan Boyle, and the psychology and science of stereotyping.

Excerpts:

Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton, said that traditionally, most stereotypes break down into two broad dimensions: whether a person appears to have malignant or benign intent and whether a person appears dangerous. “In ancestral times, it was important to stay away from people who looked angry and dominant,” she said. Women are also subdivided into “traditionally attractive” women, who “don’t look dominant, have baby-faced features,” Professor Fiske said. “They’re not threatening.”

... research has shown that racial and ethnic stereotypes are easier to change over time than gender and age stereotypes, which are “particularly sticky.”

... Scientists are finding that stereotypes are not simply stored and retrieved by the brain, but “are associated with general regions in the brain involved in memory and goal-planning,” Professor Amodio said, suggesting that “people recruit stereotypes to kind of help them plan a world that’s consistent with the goal they might have.”

Read the whole thing here.

Visibility Via Facebook

2009-04-20T11:32:00.001-04:00

From Charlene Li at Harvard Business Review, "Why Your Company Needs to be on Facebook".

Excerpt:

Let’s start with a fundamental premise – that all business is social and personal. Business involves people and communications and we all prize “networking” skills and opportunities. Businesses don’t strike deals with each other – people do. And we build bonds by talking about everything from sports teams and the weather to our families and hobbies.

So we as business people already engage in social networking every day, primarily through phone calls, emails, meetings, and events. The same activities take place on social networking sites – people share the tidbits and moments that build relationships.

Read the whole thing here.

Managing Performance Anxiety: Relaxation Exercises

2009-04-13T08:11:00.001-04:00

Nothing assuages the nerves of a public appearance as effectively as being well-prepared. Part of thoroughly preparing yourself is properly warming-up - as any seasoned public performer can tell you.

WST has put together the following guide for relaxation exercises to help you be as warmed up and prepared as possible.

From Suite101, a great article that outlines the benefits and type of meditation, here.

From WebMD.com, the following links:

The Women's Rest and Relaxation Page, here.
The Stress Management Page, here.
Relaxation Techniques, here.

From The Mayo Clinic, relaxation techniques, here.

From the women's site ivillage.com, a downloadable relaxation MP3, here.

For those interested in meditation, the following links will get you going in the right direction:

www.learningmeditation.com
http://www.newyorkmeditationcenter.com/
www.shambhala.org

For DVDs and/or Supplies:

http://www.gaiam.com/

HBR: 4 tips on Writing Better Emails

2009-03-31T11:26:00.007-04:00

From the Harvard Business Review blog, a great article on writing better emails, by David Silverman.

The Four Tips are:

Call to Action
Say it Up Front
Assume Nothing
Do the Thinking.

Read the whole thing here.

Terrific Presentation: PR Squared, "Marketing in a Recession"

2009-03-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

This is a terrific presentation from Todd Defren at PR Squared.

Aside from its TERRIFIC content, it is also a great example (for WST presentation training clients) of a killer powerpoint presentation.

Check out his blog here.

Marketing in a Recession

View more presentations from Todd Defren.

BusinessWeek: Links Page for Public Speaking & Presentations

2009-03-16T14:11:00.002-04:00

A terrific resource from Business Week - a page centralizes their articles on presentations and public speaking.

Articles include:

Restoring Confidence, One Presentation at a Time
How to Handle Tough Questions
Manage Your Fear of Public Speaking
How to Deliver a Presentation Under Pressure

Check it out! Here

BW: Why Persuasive Speaking Matters

2009-03-10T13:57:00.000-04:00

Carmine Gallo's Article on Persuasive Speaking in Business Week.

Excerpts:

"you simply cannot get a job at this (CEO) level if you can't stand up and teach, and persuade, excite and lead."

...

As a business leader, there are some things beyond your control: stock prices, home values, and the future course of the economy. But the one thing you can control will set you apart from your competition—the ability to create and deliver presentations that inspire, excite, and persuade.

His points for success:

Keep it Concise
Gain Instant Credibility
Strive for Simplicity

A great article - read the whole thing here.

Huffington Post: Strength of Women Can Rebuild Global Economy

2009-03-03T11:50:00.003-05:00

Excerpt:

Ernst & Young has released a report during the World Economic Forum that highlights the significant and proven contributions women make toward business and economic growth. The report, Groundbreakers: Using the strength of women to rebuild the global economy, builds a powerful case for the advancement of women around the world as an overlooked and untapped way to meet the challenges of our global economy.

....

As the world works to recover from the current financial crisis, the report is a resource for private sector and government leaders seeking to advance gender equity initiatives around the world.

Read the whole thing here.

MSNBC: Work at Home Moms $$$

2009-02-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Washington Post: Women Have Come a Long Way. The Family Picture Is Less Bright.

2009-02-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

By Dalton Cooley

Excerpts:

It's bad out there. That we know. But amid the economic wreckage, there is a bright spot for women. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- enabling women and other workers to sue for wage discrimination -- was the first piece of legislation President Obama signed. And a parsing of the grim economic statistics shows that recent layoffs have disproportionately hit male-dominated industries. We have reached a milestone of sorts: Women may be poised to outnumber men in the labor force.

...

...we can't fully celebrate the Ledbetter Act or the strength of women in the workforce unless we also take steps to address the widening income gap among families. We need to help fathers work less outside the home (and more inside it) and reduce wage inequality...

Read the whole thing here.

Department of Labor: Stats - Women in Work Force

2009-02-09T21:56:00.000-05:00

Another invaluable resource - categories include Employment and Labor Force Trends, Education and Training, Wages and Earnings, Retirement and Health Benefits - and more.

Click here.

More Most Powerful Women - 2008 Fortune Magazine

2009-02-02T21:41:00.000-05:00

Click here.

From Institute for Women's Policy Research

2009-01-26T20:22:00.002-05:00

Data: Women's Economic Status in the States.

With the following statement: "At the rate of progress acheived between 1989 and 2002, women would not achieve pay parity for fifty years"

Click here.

Reuters: White House Website / Blog

2009-01-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

Excerpts:

Moments after Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th U.S. president, the Web site for the White House, www.whitehouse.gov, underwent a dramatic metamorphosis, offering a new blog for online readers. ...

The site features a web-log or blog, an online “briefing room” and allows visitors to sign up for e-mail updates on major announcements and decisions, and to send in their own ideas.

Click here to read entire article. See side bar for White House website and blog.

Inauguration, 44th US President: Barack Obama

2009-01-20T13:46:00.002-05:00

NY Times: Women in Science

2009-01-20T10:58:00.002-05:00

Excerpt:

With the inauguration of an administration avowedly committed to Science as the grand elixir for the nation’s economic, environmental and psycho-reputational woes, a number of scientists say that now is the time to tackle a chronic conundrum of their beloved enterprise: how to attract more women into the fold, and keep them once they are there.

Read the whole thing here.

The Journal-Register: Schwabb on Michelle Obama as First Lady

2009-01-19T10:45:00.004-05:00

Excerpts:
Why are there no expressions like, “next to any great man is a great woman,” or visa versa ... or no man at all?

...

This societal pressure for women — whether it is first ladies, women in power or any other type of woman — to remain calm, pretty and silent made me think back to the Democratic campaign trail when critics ruthlessly dubbed Hillary Clinton the “Ice Queen” due to her willful, demanding, resilient and fierce character. The problem with most white first ladies (with the exception of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Hillary Clinton) is that society has pressured them to be meek in their advocacy.

...

Michelle is intelligent, cultivated and posses a sense of elegance in her strength and confidence — she is a mentoring figure that rejects both black and white stereotypes of what it means to be a “proper” woman and first lady.

Read the whole thing here.

Fun with Speaking & Delivery: Gilda Radner/Barbara Walters

2009-01-15T09:57:00.001-05:00

A piece about Gilda Radner's famous impersonation of Barbara Walter's on SNL.

The XX Factor from Slate.com

2009-01-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

Another great blog on "Women, Politics, etc."

Check it out here, and in side bar.

From WomensMedia: Top 10 Rules for Women in Business

2009-01-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

Excerpt:

What makes women successful in business? What can we learn from the high profile success stories that are out there? I have tried to codify the lessons learned by women like Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon Products, Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson Publishing, and Meg Whitman, former President & CEO of eBay, the advice of high-profile female entrepreneurs like Barbara Corcoran, Bobbi Brown, and Muriel Siebert, along with my own experience gleaned from twenty years of coaching female talent.

Read the entire article by Michelle Brailsford, here.

More Caroline Kennedy from NYDN

2009-01-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

Caroline Kennedy of why she wants Senate Seat - notice the speaking tics.

From NY Daily News: Caroline Kennedy / Speech Coach

2009-01-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

This article from a 12/29/08 is about Caroline Kennedy's speaking tics, which are negatively affecting her credibility as a public figure and her ability to persuade.

Excerpt:

In a 30-minute session with The News on Saturday, Kennedy punctuated her answers with "you know" more than 200 times. "Um" was fairly constant, too.

Transcripts of her interviews with other media outlets showed the same problem. She said "you know" at least 130 times to The New York Times and more than 80 times on New York 1.

When The News asked if President Bush's tax cuts on the wealthy should be repealed immediately, Kennedy replied:

"Well, you know, that's something, obviously, that, you know, in principle and in the campaign, you know, I think that, um, the tax cuts, you know, were expiring and needed to be repealed."

Read the whole thing here.

From MobLogic: Are Women Less Willing to Speak Their Minds?

2009-01-05T14:06:00.000-05:00

UC Berkeley: Department of Rhetoric

2008-12-29T14:20:00.004-05:00

A great resource - check out their website here.

A great Gender and Sexuality Page as well, with resources - here.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from WOMENSPEAK Training!

2008-12-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

Old Post from Broadsheet: Katie Couric & Sexism

2008-12-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

Excerpt:

That sentiment is that sexism -- while, again, not by definition more offensive or more common than any other kind of identity-based diminishment -- remains conversationally acceptable in a way that probably magnifies its presence for some people.

With that in mind, our quote of the day, from a recent interview with Katie Couric:

"I find myself in the last bastion of male dominance, and realizing what Hillary Clinton might have realized not long ago: that sexism in the American society is more common than racism, and certainly more acceptable or forgivable."

Read the whole thing here.

From Salon.com: BROADSHEET

2008-12-17T13:56:00.000-05:00

Check it out, here and in our sidebar.

Equality Camp Event

2008-12-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

Check it out, here.

From CBS News: Chelsea Surprised By Sexist Comments

2008-12-15T18:00:00.003-05:00

Photo Credit: CBS News

Tagline: "Campaigning For Mom In N. Carolina, Clinton Says She Was Sheltered From Chauvinism"

An old story from the campaign trail - interesting and relevant here.

Excerpt:

Chelsea Clinton said Saturday that she didn't realize how much sexism remained in the United States until she noticed the issue at recent campaign stops for her mother.

"I didn't really get how much sexism there still was in our country until I was at a rally with my mom in New Hampshire, and someone came up to me and said, 'I just can't see a woman being commander in chief,"' Clinton said during a stop in Research Triangle Park.

She also noted another New Hampshire rally that was disrupted by men who stood up and told Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton to "Iron my shirt."

Read the whole thing here.

Pink Magazine: Public Speaking / Thinking on Your Feet

2008-12-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

A great article on last-minute public speaking. The list of to-dos it suggests are as follows:

Hook Your Audience: Start with a Thesis Statement
Keep it Simple: Make Three Succinct Points
Show, Don't Tell: Give a Specific Example

Read the whole thing here.

From Business Week: What Works In Women's Networks

2008-12-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Tagline: How three corporations crafted organizations for female employees that have an actual impact.

A very useful article regarding the efficacy of women's networking groups and events. This article mentions successful initiatives at three corportions: Deloitte & Touche (see out side bar for the link to their women's blog), Best Buy and General Electric.

Excerpt:
Networks need not be feeble. They can be a magnet for recruiting and retaining top achievers. They may go beyond mentoring and networking to draw in clients, as General Electric Co.'s does, or let members work on key business issues, as they do at Best Buy Co. For companies like Deloitte & Touche USA, the network helps address the needs of all employees, male and female.

Read the whole thing here.

The Hollywood Reporter: Women in Entertainment (WIE)

2008-12-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

"The Hollywood Reporter" covers the WIE (Women in Entertainment) Breakfast; an event done in conjunction with the release of the annual power 100 list.

Excerpts: Friday's 17th annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, done in conjunction with the release of The Hollywood Reporter's annual Power 100 List, mixed talk about politics and economic woes with poignant speeches and messages about empowering women.
...

There...were calls for activism among the panel. Asked what they would most like to change about the media world or the world at large, Sweeney noted that, while she was proud of the election of Obama, "the next step is ours," adding, "this is not the time to write the check to the charity. This is the time to go out and be that charity. We can't wait for him to take steps. We have to go out and walk with him."

Pascal offered an unusually candid assessment of the film business and Sony's place in it. "I wish all of us would be a little braver," she said. "I wish all of us would make the movies that made us get in the business. I don't think I always do that. And that's what I'd like to do."

Read the whole thing here.

US News & World Report: Minorities and Women Fill Many Top White House Posts

2008-12-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

Excerpt:

"I think people are going to say this is one of the most diverse cabinets and White House staffs of all time, but more importantly I think they're going to say these are all people of outstanding qualifications and excellence," the President-elect said. "There's no contradiction between diversity and excellence."

Read the whole thing here.

The Women's Library

2008-12-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

Image: From The Women's Library, Magazine cover

A great resource from England called The Women's Library. The tag line reads "celebrating and recording women's lives".

From the "about us":

The Women's Library exists to document and explore women's lives in Britain in the past, present and future, and houses the most extensive resource for women's history in the UK.

It was originally established in 1926, as the Library of the London Society for Women's Service, the successor of the London women's suffrage organisation led by Millicent Fawcett.

...

The Women's Library today incorporates a Reading Room for the consultation of printed materials, archives, and museum collections, an exhibition hall, and education and events facilities. It aims to inspire learning and debate on issues that concern women for the benefit of all and is an internationally renowned resource, available to everyone, for women's history research.

Check it out, here.

More from Change.gov - Women's Agenda

2008-12-03T06:06:00.001-05:00

Image credit: karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images

From the Women's Agenda page at Change.gov -

"From the first moment a woman dared to speak that hope -- dared to believe that the American Dream was meant for her too -- ordinary women have taken on extraordinary odds to give their daughters the chance for something else; for a life more equal, more free, and filled with more opportunity than they ever had. In so many ways we have succeeded, but in so many areas we have much work left to do." -- Barack Obama, Speech in Washington, DC

Some of the topics include:

Health Care
Economic Issues
National Security
Education

Plus, a link to submit your ideas.

Check it out here. Join the conversation!

Change.gov - Site for Office of the President Elect

2008-12-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

From the Office of the President Elect, excerpt below:

This site is for the Office of the President-elect and Office of the Vice President-elect... (it) provides information to the public in support of this important public purpose.

Throughout the Presidential Transition Project, this website will be your source for the latest news, events, and announcements so that you can follow the setting up of the Obama Administration...the transition process will offer you opportunities to participate in redefining our government.

Come back often as we define new programs and possibilities to engage and be part of this administration.

A great opportunity to join the conversation - Check it out, here.

Change.org

2008-12-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

This is a great grass-roots social networking site for activism, with a terrific "Womens Rights Page".

Excerpt, from the "about us":

Today as citizens of the world, we face a daunting array of social and environmental problems ranging from health care and education to global warming and economic inequality. For each of these issues, whether local or global in scope, there are millions of people who care passionately about working for change but lack the information and opportunities necessary to translate their interest into effective action. Change.org aims to address this need by serving as the central platform informing and empowering movements for social change around the most important issues of our time.

Check it out, here. They also have a call for bloggers, here.

Happy Thanksgiving from WOMENSPEAK Training!

2008-11-27T10:20:00.001-05:00

The Women's page: godsend or ghetto?

2008-11-25T10:28:00.001-05:00

More on "Pink Ghetto" - digging around, this article on from 1998 popped up.

Read the whole thing here.

Excerpt:

At WACC's recent Cape Town Conference on Gender and Communication Policy the question of women's pages and similar "gendered spaces" came up: were nominal women's issues relegated to these spaces, or did these pages offer space for empowerment and information for women? We asked four media practitioners to take on this question.

Gender, Politics and Media Redux

2008-11-21T10:19:00.002-05:00

Another great one from Marcia Yerman at The Huffington Post.

Excerpt:

One topic that spawned plenty of conversation during the race for the presidency, was the
role of gender. Last week, New York Women In Communications presented The Spin Room: Gender, Politics & Media in the 2008 Election. The panel of four, Geraldine Ferraro, Arianna Huffington, Lesley Jane Seymour, and Marie Wilson - with moderator Carol Jenkins at the helm - dug into a range of issues navigating territory that has been well-trod, albeit without resolution.

Read the whole thing, here.

What is the "Pink Ghetto"?

2008-11-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

Image Credit: Shank Pile

An answer from Ask Amy at Feminist.com

Excerpt:

The pink collar ghetto is used to describe the fact that women repeatedly and historically have been concentrated into low wage, underpaid jobs. If you look at any profession that is less valuable -- like being a secretary, or a nurse compared to being a physician's assistant or being a bookkeeper compared to being an accountant -- women are the majority of those in these jobs and these jobs pay which are "male" jobs.

It's a hard term to find much about online. Here are some more resources:

An an article from The Seattle Times, here.

Excerpt:

The term 'pink ghetto' was coined in 1983 in a study of women, children and poverty in America and was used to describe the limits on women's career advancement in these traditional, often low-paying jobs," said Jonamay Lambert, president and founder of Lambert & Associates, a diversity and consulting firm in East Dundee, Ill.

"It's estimated that today 55 percent of women working outside of the home are trapped in the pink ghetto. There probably are fewer women in that category today than there were 10 years ago — mainly because women themselves have made the effort to make the change."

Please submit more on this topic - we'll post your links!

Great Book on Women and Public Speaking

2008-11-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

Check it out, here.

Professional Attire - Guides

2008-11-14T08:55:00.000-05:00

Image credit: S. Hahn at Drawmo, flickr.com

Here are some useful links regarding guidelines for Women's Professional Dress. Feel free to submit more!

From Yale School of Management - Etiquette and Attire, here.

Excerpt:

Business Formal Guidelines

Guidelines for appropriate business attire are being blurred by the switch to “business casual” styles at many organizations that hire MBA's. In addition, for those in entrepreneurial and technical fields, even more casual modes of dress prevail. There are, however, many occasions when you will be expected to adhere to standards for traditional business attire...

How Women Should Dress

Conservative suit: formal, dark colors. Pants versus skirts? In some industries, such as advertising, a suit with pants is appropriate. A skirt is the safest choice. Avoid short hemlines and patterned hose.
Shoes: Closed-toe and lower heel.
Accessories: Minimal. No clunky jewelry. Be wary of long necklaces that may distract you.
Make-up: Natural look is best, but if you must wear make-up, apply it minimally.

...

From womenforhire.com, a section on "Professional Dress and Appeareance", here.
From www.execstyle.com, a pdf (viewable as html), here.
From ehow.com, an article titled "How to Dress in Women's Professional Attire", here.
"Business Etiquette", here.

BusinessWeek: Obama-Style Speaking

2008-11-12T08:24:00.003-05:00

Photo Source: www.freeproject.org

An article by Carmin Gallo in BusinessWeek titled "Bringing Obama-Style Inspiration to the Workplace", for which the subheading reads "To rally employees shaken by the bad economy, borrow a page from President-elect Barack Obama's public-speaking playbook."

Gallo outlines the "7 techniques common to inspiring communicators". They are:

Exude Passion
Have a Clear, Concise Vision
Sell the Benefit
Paint Pictures
Invite Participation
Radiate Optimism
Encourage Potential

Read the whole thing here.

Real Simple Offers Insight into Women's Media Habits

2008-11-10T20:45:00.002-05:00

Photo Credit: Super Stock

From MediaWeek. Read the whole thing here.

Excerpt:

One group identified by the study, so-called Armchair Explorers, are described as cautious and low-risk. People in this group spend 53 percent of their media usage watching TV, 19 percent with magazines and just 13 percent online. But among highly motivated, action-oriented women, dubbed Task Masters, members spend 61 percent of their media time online and split the rest of their time between TV and magazines. Even so, the women tracked had a propensity to be in their 30s, suburban and above-average earners.

WOMENSPEAK Training Blog

BBC: European Member of Parliament Takes Her Baby to Work

A new website for the New Year

Catalyst: Women and Leadership

Catalyst: The Myth of the Ideal Worker

HBR: Four Ways Women Stunt Their Careers Unintentionally

The Nation: Where are the Women at Occupy Wall Street?

DI: IBM CEO to Become 17th Woman to Head Fortune 500 Company

Exploiting Beauty in the Workplace

Meet Today's Help

Pitch Like a Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succeed

A WOMAN'S PLACE. Can Sheryl Sandberg upend Silicon Valley's male-dominated culture?

You Go, Google Girls

What Did Google Learn That Male Marketers Need to Know? It's Not Just About the Numbers

Equal to What?

WSJ: Ranks of Women on Wall Street Thin

HBR: When the Glass Ceiling Helps

HBR: Women and The Vision Thing

CIO: The Executive Woman's Guide to Self-Promotion

Volunteer for Visible Assignments

From Harvard Business Review's Blog: Can She Lead?

LA Times - Men Explaining Things

Science Blogs: How objectification silences women

WST Blog On Hiatus Until Mid-February

Great Resource - Women's Media Center

Book: Code Switching - How to Talk So Men Will Listen

BW: Women's Performance: A Perception Gap?

Gail Collins: When Everything Changed

O Magazine: 28 Ways to Become a Leader

NYT: The Mismeasure of a Woman

NYT: When We're Equal, We'll Be Happy

CNET News: Why Women Dominate Social Networking

WSJ Blog: 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking

HuffPost: The Sad, Shocking Truth About How Women are Feeling

The September Issue

The Glass Hammer: How Do I Talk About Being Laid Off In The Job Interview?

Forbes: The World's 100 Most Powerful Women

Women continue to scale the heights of control and influence.

MSN Careers: He Said, She Said: Communicating between Genders at Work

Time Magazine: Quote of the Day

NYT/Room for Debate Blog: Do Women Make Better Bosses?

NYT - No Doubt: Women are Better Managers

Pink Magazine: Media Kits 101

Women's Media: How to Give Criticism

Happy Fourth of July from WOMENSPEAK Training!

BBC: Women in Power Reveal What it Takes

MSNBC: Sanford's Press Conference

Office Training On-line - Powerpoint Contest

David Letterman's Gaffe and Apology

NPR: Sotomayor's 'Wise Latina' Line Maybe Not So Wise

Sotomayor Speaking: Nomination for The Supreme Court

NYT: What Do Women Want in a Lap Top?

Happy Memorial Day from WOMENSPEAK Training

MSNBC - Workplace Balance of Power

MSNBC.COM - Men Rule, At Least in Work Place Attitudes

NYT: First Lady in Control of Building Her Image

NYT: Yes, Looks Do Matter

Visibility Via Facebook

Managing Performance Anxiety: Relaxation Exercises

HBR: 4 tips on Writing Better Emails

Terrific Presentation: PR Squared, "Marketing in a Recession"

BusinessWeek: Links Page for Public Speaking & Presentations

BW: Why Persuasive Speaking Matters

Huffington Post: Strength of Women Can Rebuild Global Economy

MSNBC: Work at Home Moms $$$

Washington Post: Women Have Come a Long Way. The Family Picture Is Less Bright.

Department of Labor: Stats - Women in Work Force

More Most Powerful Women - 2008 Fortune Magazine

From Institute for Women's Policy Research

Reuters: White House Website / Blog

Inauguration, 44th US President: Barack Obama

NY Times: Women in Science

The Journal-Register: Schwabb on Michelle Obama as First Lady

Fun with Speaking & Delivery: Gilda Radner/Barbara Walters

The XX Factor from Slate.com

From WomensMedia: Top 10 Rules for Women in Business

More Caroline Kennedy from NYDN

From NY Daily News: Caroline Kennedy / Speech Coach

More on MobLogic Post from Subvert

From MobLogic: Are Women Less Willing to Speak Their Minds?