Ann Oka
Suffrage, Friedan, Steinem, Thatcher? Since I’m not a historian, I’ll pick much closer to home.
As I reflect on this topic, I recall an interview from very early in my career, almost 30 years ago. I was being interviewed as one of the first women in manufacturing management for a multinational consumer products company. A chemical engineer managing a vegetable oil refinery was not my mother’s idea of a glamorous career choice, but in some respects, it was an opportunity to be a trailblazer.
What I recall telling the writer was that there was additional pressure on early women in these positions to do well, as we were setting out to break stereotypes. I recall inspecting tanks from the inside, wading through sludge up to my knees, and working with hazardous materials. There was no way that I would flinch from a tough job. It got to the point that my crew would delight in calling me out to face off with some of our toughest vendors, just to see the reaction. And yet, when I interviewed at another company, dressed in my requisite blue suit and white shirt, the engineering manager still had to let me know that the job would be in environments where I couldn’t wear “that!” But still, in my early naivete, when I was asked the mandatory question about what I wanted my future to be, I said, “Someday, I want to be King!”
It was much later, during my MBA studies that I took a class on business ethics. The professor graphically depicted the impact that unequal gender representation can have on a company. If you believe as I do that talent and intelligence are evenly distributed without regard to gender or race, and you also believe that having our best and our brightest at every level is critical to a company’s success, then this example may also resonate for you.
Picture a pyramid, with four levels. At the bottom, men and women are equally represented as they enter the workplace. In the second level, middle management, depending on what study you look at, the distribution of men to women is something more like 60/40. Theoretically, there are women left in the bottom level who are the talent equivalent, (or better) than 20% of the second tier. As you progress up to the third level, or senior management, the ratio of men to women is something more like 75/25; and at the upper most levels, 90/10. Imagine the talented women who are stuck lower in the pyramid, and ask yourself whether it is the best and the brightest running the firm. Compounding this waste, how many of those “stuck” end up disengaged, or leaving? As responsible business people, can we afford for this to happen?
My point is, while we’ve come a long way, we still have room to improve. In most professions, women don’t have quite the overt stereotypes to break, although I’m sure Hillary Clinton was tested in many ways in her last job. I know that I no longer think that success is defined in male terms, (I no longer want to be King – Empress is quite fine). Women are now an accepted and expected part of the workforce, and if we can solve the disparities in representation at all levels, we can fully capitalize on the potential of women in the workforce, and create our own history.
Ann Oka is senior vice president of Sodexo Supply Management.