What I learned in school yesterday: Girls, gear up for a battle upon graduating. Because we’re screwed.
My social psychology class spent part of yesterday’s lecture discussing sexism in the workplace. It’s no secret athat when I graduate, I can expect to have to fight harder than my male peers to move past my entry-level job and to work just as hard for less money.
But what if I managed to prove that I can be just as much of a hard-ass in negotiations as my male counterparts? Nope, still screwed. If I deviate too far from female stereotypes, I will be perceived as being competent, but cold. This will be considered a threat and I could be discriminated against.
Don’t worry, there’s more. In 2005, Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa published a study suggesting that biology is responsible for differences in the workplace, instead of discrimination.
According to Kanazawa, males’ evolutionary role as family breadwinners has left today’s men with a stronger biological desire to accumulate material resources than women. The desire is fairly comparable among young people of both genders. But as people age, women lose that drive because of the biological desire to have children and raise a family. And even if they don’t have kids, older women will still be driven to nurture other children in their lives and will lose some of their desire to pursue material success.
As you can imagine, I was feeling fairly pessimistic by lunchtime. But luckily, the Brown Daily Herald came to my rescue with an article about a new pilot program called “Women’s Launch Pad.” This program matches female seniors with female Brown alums that have found success in their respective careers to serve as mentors, and has met with overwhelming success.
Why doesn’t Penn have a program like this? Women obviously have enough to go through when trying to succeed. Having a mentor to show us that success really is possible could help relieve some of the stress. Wharton has taken an important first step with its affiliation with 85 Broads. We also have many alumni mentoring programs available, but we lack a Penn-specific network for women students and alums.
Yes, we’re supposed to live in an era when we shouldn’t need special mentoring networks for women because we’re all “equal.” But if Kanazawa is right, that might never happen. Knowing that other women who were in positions identical to ours have managed to overcome both biology and discrimination to find success would be a tremendous resource.
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November 10th, 2006 at 1:02 am
Perhaps this could be your chance to step out of the Penn entitlement stereotype, and start a program. Instead of expecting a mentor, maybe you can take the action so that in 5 years you will be one of many mentors for Penn women.
November 10th, 2006 at 8:42 am
Women ON AVERAGE make less than men because some women decide to leave their jobs temporarily to have children. Consequently, they forgo ancillary compensation (e.g., commission, bonuses) and experience (upon which raises are based) that are functions of one physically being at work. Despite what your social psychology professor tells you, women who don’t take maternity leave make just as much as their equally competent male counterparts. It’s not about sex, it’s about money.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Well said, Deepak. Liz, get real. You are coming from an Ivy League Institution. You will have many opportunities for employment. You will make just as much as your male colleagues. In fact, you will most likely be more sought after than any man. Large companies, public companies especially, are foaming at the mouth to hire women. Women, women, women. I’ve seen so many inferior women get jobs over extremely qualified males that it makes me sick. Whatever happened to jobs going to the most qualified? You are perpetuating a call for action contrary to fairness. And, unfortunately, this call is being and will continue to be answered.