Career Planning | FemaleBreadWinners

Reproductive Choice – Looming Battle on this Personal, Political and Business Issue

As we enter April with a battle looming in the U.S and increasingly in Europe over the most basic of human rights; reproductive rights for women.

The tenor of the U.S Republican nominations has brought an issue most felt we were long past; reproductive choice, back to the fore. The topic is so crucial to Female Breadwinners as economic security for women is built on their ability to plan family size – and therefore access education and remunerative work.

With U.S. Republican legislators and candidates vowing to restrict and even criminalise abortion and stop government funding for birth control, women everywhere should be very concerned. In Arizona, they proposed a new bill allowing employers to fire women using oral contraception – deemed ‘whore pills’ unless they can prove they don’t engage in casual sex! It is ridiculous that the same employers who quibble over maternity leave as a major deterrent to hiring women would now want the right to only employ women who use no contraception at all!

Forbes recently reported on Why you have the Pill to thank for 30% of your paycheck an article detailing the findings of economist Martha Bailey. She says “By cause or coincidence, the pill’s diffusion coincided with important changes in norms and ideas about women’s work and the end of the baby boom.” But it’s clear that as the Pill provided younger women with more control over childbearing, the number of women seeking higher education and traditionally male-dominated careers spiked.

As Amanda Marcotte of www.pandagon.net explained to Stylist magazine “Reproductive rights are critical to women’s economic empowerment, which is threatening to the right – but also threatening on an interpersonal level. Women’s independence means we can be pickier about marriage and motherhood. Men who feel entitled to marriages where women worship and obey them without expecting anything in return? They’re finding their prospects diminishing and they’re angry.”

Ironically these proposals come from the same politicians who wouldn’t question why vasectomies and even Viagra are widely covered by most U.S. insurers. It would set women, and the economy they support, back decades to have reproductive rights curtailed. Smaller families benefit women and their careers, but also the economic and educational prospects of the children these women choose to have and the men with which they partner.

While the developing world is waking up to the fact that reproductive choice is the best way to move nations out of poverty, American conservative politicians seem to be trying to set back the clock on women’s economic progress.

And why should these shifting winds in America be important to British women? Because anti-choice stalwarts increasingly feel empowered to protest in the UK as well. Anti-choice groups like 40 Days for Life are protesting outside London clinics and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service says staff and clients face new waves of intimidation. Working women must not allow reproductive rights to be challenged. This is personal and political but also a business issue.

Top 3 Considerations Before Your Job Move

Maybe you have achieved all the goals you set yourself in your current role and want to get on the next rung of the promotion ladder. Perhaps you’ve hit the proverbial “ceiling”, survived the latest corporate cull or want the courage to get out of your current rut. Or maybe you are stagnating in your current role but don’t see any room for growth.

Whatever your reason for wanting to move on, don’t be careless when it comes to your future. Develop a career plan that will deliver. Far too many people derail their hard earned careers because they feel overwhelmed by a job search and take the first opportunity that looks half way decent. The answer is not to upload an ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ CV on every executive recruitment website and hope your prayers will miraculously be answered. You will naturally be more focused than that.

Top 3 considerations before making a job move:

What do you next want to achieve? It can take a fair amount of soul searching to find the answer to that essential question but be bold – what would get you out of bed in the morning with a spring in your step? Do you want to step up to managing a team of direct reports? Do you want to switch from IT into the charitable sector? Do you want to help launch a new product line in an emerging Asian market? Until you have some firm conviction it’s unlikely you’ll build a career plan that a recruiter or a prospective employer will find credible or inspiring.
In what types of environments do you thrive? For example do you enjoy the cut and thrust of a corporate environment or the relative informality of a fast-paced start up? There are many personality tests you can take, for example Myers Briggs, Belbin Team Roles and Clarity 4D to name a few. These can help you identify your motivations and more importantly what kind of career environment would bring out the best in you. Be brave and ask friends and colleagues for 5 words they would use to describe you. It could draw out some surprising and intriguing insights.
What’s your specialist offering? What skills do you have – both technical and interpersonal, that organisations would pay for? What sector knowledge or industry experience makes you unique? Have you worked on a project that was characterised by rapid growth? Have you worked in an industry as it came to terms with new legislation? Have you established client relationships with people who might follow you to your new company? What have you achieved in your previous roles that demonstrate your future potential? Do you need additional training or ongoing executive education? Update your LinkedIn profile with industry relevant keywords and search for LinkedIn contacts of anyone who works in an industry or company you are considering. Simply asking a contact for a coffee or lunch is a great way to pick their brains.

Guest article by Janet Davies, founder of www.myexecutivecareer.com – the premier career planning resource for aspiring and established senior executives. Join Janet and I on March 12th at 8PM for our joint webinar – The Recruitment Game for Professional Women: How to Get Noticed by and Work Effectively with Headhunters

Working Women May Be More Educated, But are We Getting Ahead?

When I am working with a female coaching client, sometimes the question arises as to whether or not further studies would be a smart idea. This is most often for women who already have one, if not several degrees – but who feel that something intangible is holding them back. Something perhaps that a another qualification could rectify?

While I have a PhD myself, so am a fan of education, I do encourage my female coaching clients to look at the degrees (or lack thereof) of their male colleagues before deciding if such a huge commitment is warranted. Still, increasing numbers of women are voting with their feet by attending university in droves.

As described in a recent article in the Economist on “The World of Blue Stockings” “The big surprise of the past few decades has been women’s huge advance into tertiary education. Across rich countries the share of those aged over 25 who have had some form of higher education is now 33%, against 28% of men in the same age group …. However, it is too soon to feel sorry for men. Although women now earn more first degrees, they mostly still get fewer PhDs and if they stay on in academia they are promoted more slowly than men.”

As the authors explain: “Crucially, women’s lead at first-degree level does not so far seem to have translated into better job opportunities. In a paper published earlier this year Ina Ganguli, Ricardo Hausmann and Martina Viarengo of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government concluded that the achievement of educational parity is a “cheque in the mail” that may encourage women to join the labour force, but lots of other factors—such as cultural attitudes and the availability of child care—also play a part. On its own, educational parity—even superiority—is not enough.

The authors continue: “Women may not be helping themselves by concentrating heavily on subjects that set them apart from men. In rich countries they account for over 70% of degrees in humanities and health, whereas the vast majority of degrees in mathematics and engineering go to men. Women with humanities degrees are less likely to be in demand for jobs in high-tech industries, which tend to pay well. At postgraduate level the gap between subjects gets even bigger. And on MBA courses, the classic avenue to senior corporate jobs, women make up only about a third of the students.” Let me know if this is at all familiar? Have you put in the time for a degree, but feel you are still waiting for that “cheque in the mail”?

Four Top Tips If You Want To AVOID Promotion

I commonly work with professional women who are aiming for promotion. There is a lot you can do to get noticed by senior stakeholders. However, if you want to be promoted there are four things to avoid:

Don’t threaten – Saying my “husband plays golf with the company president” can come across as a veiled threat. Knowing the company president means nothing if your work isn’t up to standard. Do your research, find out what similar jobs in your industry pay. Make sure your slate is clean and your appraisals positive. And using the phrase “other companies are interested in me” can demonstrate a lack of loyalty.

Don’t ask what they can do for you – turn this around by telling them what you can and have done for them. Keep channels of communication open with your boss so that they know about your achievements and you know what is expected of you. And never try to discuss promotion when you have just missed a deadline or failed to meet a target

Don’t keep quiet – let it be known you have career goals and ask what steps you need to take to achieve them. Talk about your goals in your review and ask what you now need to do or learn in order to gain promotion.

Don’t talk about money, except in terms of how much you can save or earn the company – never say I need a pay rise to pay for school fee’s, a new car, etc. Your boss has no interest in what you do with your salary, they will promote you based on what you bring to the company.

Meredith Lepore gives more tips on ‘How to Get a Promotion, Our Take on What not to Say’ in The Grindstone.

Bosses Are Not Mind Readers – Top Leadership Tips For Women

This morning I found this article by Jenna Goudreau on leadership tips for women in Forbes which resonated with me, as just last night I ran a webinar on how female breadwinners can demonstrate ambition and credibility in the workplace. (If you missed it you can still purchase the recording)

One of my key messages is that you must make it known that you have ambition. Too often women fear “blowing their own trumpet” worrying that they will sound conceited, but how many times has the man next to you taken credit for a project where you did the lion’s share of work? Or been promoted into a role you wanted, and are qualified for?

I often tell my clients that your boss doesn’t have a crystal ball – how do they know that you are keen for promotion, willing to travel or relocate unless you make it clear? And this is especially true if you have children. Unfortunately it is still assumed that a woman with children is less ambitious than her male counterpart. Make it quite clear what you want from your career both on a regular basis and especially during your performance review. Ask for what you feel you need to enable you to move to the next level.

The author of the Forbes article includes being persistent, I would add don’t think that because the answer is no this time it will always be no, it may just not be the right time now.

If you would like more tips on how to build confidence and raise your profile take a look at our library of webinars on these topics.