You’ve probably heard of the glass ceiling – a concept where women in the workforce can only rise to a certain level, no matter what they do or how well they do it – but the glass cliff is a new one. The glass cliff is when a woman does get the coveted position, but she’s set up to fail so a man can then step back in. Slate’s Double X blog, which deals with women’s issues, believes that CBS news anchor Katie Couric is an example of the glass cliff – she made history as the first female prime time network news anchor, but her ratings were low and she’s reportedly leaving the job this summer. Do you agree or disagree with this phenomenon? Do you think Katie Couric is simply leaving a job she wasn’t that good at, or did CBS set her up for failure?
Tag Archive for 'gender in the workplace'
Can a new outfit help you get promoted? I don’t know, but it’s a really good excuse to go shopping. – Shine
Though it’s early in the year, one boss in Sweden is determined to be 2011’s worst boss. He snapped pics of secretaries in G-strings and sent them out to the entire staff, encouraging them to guess which body belonged to which employee. – The Frisky
Work really can kill you: a Los Angeles county employee apparently died at her desk on a Friday and no one noticed the slumped-over body in her cubicle until the next day. – KTLA
Think bank offices must be as boring as actual banks? These pictures will make you think again. – Business Insider
How “ethnic” can you be in the workplace? Women talk about everything from sporting dreadlocks to showing up for meetngs in a sari, and how it affected them at the office. – Marie Claire
Remember the awesomely disgruntled JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, who reached his boiling point at work and slid out of the plane on the inflatable ramp? This profile examines what made him crack and what’s coming up in the future. – New York Magazine
Today is President’s Day! If you’re American, that means you should have the day off. Here’s a primer if you need one. – Wikipedia
When I think of Valentine’s Day I’ll tell you what I don’t think of: work. But in Japan, it’s becoming increasingly common for young women to buy “giri choco,” or “obligation chocolate,” for their (usually male) bosses and coworkers on Valentine’s Day. It’s more common for women to buy chocolate for their officemates than for their boyfriends or husbands, according to a new study, and the fact that Valentine’s was on a weekday this year only upped sales figures more.
If it feels weird to buy candy for your boss on a day about love (I’m guessing Japanese regulations about what constitutes workplace harassment are not as stringent as the ones here), you can purchase “sewa choco” (chocolate given to a man you respect) or “tomo choco” (chocolate given to female friends) instead. Lest it sound like women are buying a bunch of candy for ungrateful people, there’s a Japanese holiday called White Day exactly one month after Valentine’s where men buy sweets for women.
If you don’t want to get fired, you probably shouldn’t show up at work wearing gear of the team that just beat your boss’ favorite team. – Chicago Tribune
How do you choose between two job offers? I wouldn’t know, because that has never ever happened to me. – Forbes Woman
An insider’s look into what it’s like working on a film set, No Strings Attached edition. – Picktainment
The best and most secure jobs to have in 2011 include registered nurse, web developer, financial planner, and truck driver. – CNN
A survey reveals that almost 50 percent of respondents quit a job without having another one lined up, even though the economy was horrible. – Business Insider
Michael Jackson’s former personal assistant has decided to follow Shmuley Boteach’s “exploit my dead friend for a book deal” path to success. – AP
A nuanced look at why so many women with incredibly successful careers are single (note: this one doesn’t blame you for being ambitious). – Sarah Wilson
How do you handle making a personal call while on the clock? Here’s a hint: don’t use your boss’ direct line. – Corporette
The “close door” button in your building’s elevator? Doesn’t work. The office thermostat? Yeah, that doesn’t work either. Notice a trend? – Consumerist
What’s the difference between a dream job and your goal? A plan. – Lifehacker
Will having a professional nemesis drive a woman to become more successful? I don’t know, but I hope people quit using pictures of people from The Hills to illustrate these stories. – ForbesWoman
Trace the assistant from Flipping Out is really hot. – DListed
You never knew that pictures of people at their desks could be this beautiful. – The Guardian
Some people, like Megan and Jane from Mad Men, think it’s cool to marry your boss. This much wiser person does not. – The Gloss
There is a “depressing vogue” for having fun at work. Methinks some people sound a little grumpy. – The Economist
Here are ten archetypes of bad bosses, including The Credit Hog and and The Put-Down Artist. Hmmm… why do these all sound so familiar? – Forbes
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps is finally out. But it doesn’t deliver as well as the original. (Note: do not click on this link if you are a spoilerphobe!) – AwardsPicks
Just because women are achieving pay parity doesn’t mean they’re achieving pay equality. Important distinction. – The New York Times
Sometimes, you have a horrible first day at work. But sometimes you can take that terrible first day and turn it into a really funny cartoon. – The Gloss
Women are leaving Wall Street at a much higher rate than men. Why? It has to do with a lot of factors, including institutionalized sexism and a desire to do something less evil for a living. – Wall Street Journal
Last week, many beauty and style bloggers participated in No Makeup Week, forgoing makeup and photographing themselves in the process. I was one of the bloggers who didn’t take part, however. No, it’s not because I love putting eyeliner on at 8 AM when I’m still groggy and liable to poke myself in the face by accident. It’s because I almost never wear makeup to work, which would make participating in the exercise kind of pointless. There are several reasons for this (overwhelming laziness being chief among them), but a huge factor is the fact that I work in an all-female office.
That’s right: B5 Media, the company that owns The Gloss as well as our sister sites Blisstree and Crushable, does not have a single male working in the New York office. We have between 10 and 14 women in here every day (depending on which interns are in). A lot of people like to think that a large group of women can’t work together and that cattiness and backstabbing will inevitably ensue, but that hasn’t been our experience in the least. We’re lucky enough to work in an informal, close-knit, open office. Most of us dress casually to the office – no sweatpants, but no suits. Because we spend most of our day looking at computer screens instead of meeting with clients or vendors, we only have to dress to impress each other. As a result? I come in to work barefaced 99 percent of the time.
Working in an office full of women doesn’t make me feel like I have to dress better or get skinnier. Instead, it makes me feel like no one will care if I have blotchy skin or limp hair. More likely, one of my coworkers would lend me her favorite hand lotion or concealer if I needed it. My coworkers and I talk openly about everything from our relationships to our gray hairs. Part of the reason for that comfort is because we work at a startup, where a small group of core employees worked round-the-clock to launch three sites in a period of weeks. At some point, between late nights coding and early mornings trying to get a jump on the headlines, you have to lose your vanity.
That’s not to say that everything about our office is sunshine and roses. There are definitely disagreements, but that has to do with the fact that we’re all people with opinions rather than because we’re people with vaginas. It’s also pretty entertaining to watch how people react to walking into our office. A male janitor in our building calls us “the lady office” without a hint of humor. Guests who come into the office for meetings sometimes ask why there aren’t any guys in our office and start peeking behind doors, as if we’re stashing our male employees in the coat closet. And there are also plenty of people who don’t notice, which I consider the biggest achievement of all.
Every workplace is different, and I’ve worked in enough of them to feel pretty lucky about this one. And the reason I’m talking about what it’s like here is to refute some of those old notions that women can’t work together without becoming catty bitches, or that we dress up out of some desire to make other women jealous of us. Sometimes, we just go to the office to work.
This post also appears on The Gloss.
Senator Harry Reid referred to his colleague, Senator Kristen Gillibrand, as ‘hot’ at a recent fundraiser. Since Reid’s the majority leader, he could be seen as Gillibrand’s boss. So CNN went to the street to ask people how they’d feel if their boss called them hot.
Although I really do like Lois Frankel’s book Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, the squicky way that Citibank has appropriated some of her advice and felt compelled to hand it out to their female employees kind of rubs me the wrong way.
Even the shittiest summer job has something to teach you. It might be “never work in this industry again,” but it will be something. – Lemondrop
A boss in Virginia is being accused of bullying an employee to death. Just another incentive to leave terrible working environments. Yikes. – NBC
Germany has passed a law that forbids employers from looking at a potential hire’s social networking pages. However, they are still allowed to Google potential employees. – Speigel
Why do men still get promoted more than women? One woman says she is being “mentored to death.” Interesting, and leaves just as many questions as answers. – Harvard Business Review
Some guy who has obviously seen Office Space a few too many times went apeshit on his company’s computer server. By which I mean “he shot it.” – AOL
Having friends at the office is good for morale. But is it bad for business? Either way, you’re probably screwed, so go to happy hour already. – CNN
