Women Wrong to Think Workplace Unfair

So argues Naomi Schaefer Riley:

No matter how well women are doing relative to men, it doesn’t matter. They’re still the victims of discrimination — or so they think.

This, when women today earn more college degrees and advanced degrees than men, and have lower rates of unemployment. How are the decks are still stacked against them?

The new Pew Social Trends survey reports that “Millennial women . . . are just as likely as older generations to believe that women face an uphill climb in terms of being treated equally by society and by employers.” Indeed, “Fully three-quarters of Millennial women compared with 57 percent of Millennial men say the country needs to do more in order to bring about workplace equality.”

On the other hand, Pew found that among workers between the ages of 25 and 34, women’s hourly wages are 93 percent of men’s. And Kay Hymowitz, author of “Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys,” says that she suspects that gap would disappear completely were the data disaggregated between women who had children and women who did not. In fact, a 2010 study by Reach Advisors found that young, single, childless women earned more than their male counterparts in most metro US areas.

Having children clearly makes all the difference. Hymowitz says the “whole way the conversation is framed is wrong.” Feminists and policy makers, she notes, say that they want “absolute parity and that anything less represents real discrimination and injustice.” In fact, though, the lack of parity is largely the result of the choices so many women make for the sake of the next generation — working part time, taking time off to raise kids, asking for less demanding assignments, etc.

For instance, 34 percent of Millennial women told Pew they’re not interested in becoming a boss or a top manager, compared to only 25 percent of men. The reason seems obvious: Some of the Millennial women may already be parents, and many of the rest are still thinking about how to balance these issues down the line. [snip]

Maybe, but it’s the constant media drumbeat about supposed unfairness that’s making women think the decks are stacked against them at all. Consider, even though many women seem to believe the playing field isn’t level when it comes to wages and hiring, Pew finds that “relatively few working adults report these types of gender biases at their own workplace.”

In other words, the impression isn’t driven by what we actually experience, but by what we’re constantly told by others.

Read her full article, Women Think the Workplace is Unfair ... This is Why They're Wrong."

Health Care is a Woman's Issue

It's been said that women make the majority of family health care decisions, so it's not surprising that women would be the most upset with the president's false promises about Obamacare and the disaster his law has become for them in terms of policy cancellations, higher premiums and deductibles, poorer coverage and fewer doctor choices.

Indeed women are upset with the president, according to the CBS News poll released Nov 20, 2013.

The President's overall job approval rating has declined among many demographic groups since last month, including independents (a 12-point drop), men (down 9 points), and women (a 10-point drop). More women now disapprove than approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing as president.

Only 39% of women now approve of Mr. Obama's job performance, while 54% disapprove.  In October, the numbers among women were 49% approve, 46% disapprove.

Crouch: Body Language at the Workplace

"Studies have found that thoughtfully reinforcing verbal dialogue with accurate non-verbal cues can carry a message farther, especially in the workplace," writes Ashley Crouch, Contributing Editor/PR Manager at Verily magazine (and a former intern at the Luce Institute). "In fact, it makes more than four times the impact on first impressions than any words we say. So here are five quick tips from [Carol Kinsey] Goman’s free downloadable e-book, Body Language for Women Who Lead..."

If you're unfamiliar with the new magazine Verily, check it out.

Out-Spent, Out-Numbered, Out-Researched

"We've read plenty about women voters who supported President Obama 55-44, creating an 11-point gender gap," writes Sabrina Schaeffer. "But we have paid scant attention to the wealth of Progressive women’s organizations that helped drive this victory, their vast funding capability, or the fact that they’re armed with a new science of politics."

Schaeffer lists several of the many liberal "research, grassroots, and fundraising machines" that pour resources into wooing women: Emily's List—$51 million; Catalyst—$12 million; League of Women Voters—$9 million; Women's Voices Women Vote/WVWV Action—$8 million.

Against this tapestry of Progressive organizations pouring millions into research and programs, what do we have on the Right? The reality is when it comes to securing women voters conservatives are out-numbered, out-researched, and outspent.

AEI’s Christina Hoff Sommers said it best at a recent IWF policy forum, “Conservative leaders and funders don’t take women’s issues seriously. They tend to treat women’s groups like the Ladies Auxiliary and women’s issues as a distracting side show.”

Sommers is right... The Right can count among their ranks exceptional individuals like Hoff Sommers, Diana Furchgott-Roth, June O’Neill, Carrie Lukas, and Kay Hymowitz, writing independently at different think tanks. There are a handful of women’s groups like the Independent Women’s Forum, where I’m the executive director, and our sister organization the Independent Women’s Voice, as well as Concerned Women for America, Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, Smart Girl Politics, and VIEW Pac, which raised a mere $346,000 during the 2012 election to help elect Republican women candidates.

What the Right lacks is serious interest and investment in finding out how to move more women to our side. If conservatives truly want to shrink the gender gap and win elections, women can no longer be an after-thought. Conservatives need to invest meaningful resources into the groups that are speaking to women. And conservatives must embrace social science research, digital communications, and boots on the ground to find out what works and with whom.

Read her full article in Forbes.

"Painful Pandering to Women"

"It’s the year of the woman — or at least the year of the painful political pander to women," writes Karol Markowicz. "Both political parties are bending over backward to cater to this underrepresented minority group, which made up just 54 percent of voters in 2008."

...why, exactly, are women being treated as some sort of mass unit? All this catering to “women’s issues” assumes that all women feel the same way about all issues — and that those issues are almost all tied to sex or reproduction. That women may worry about taxation, terrorism, government spending, jobs or other “men’s” issues is apparently inconceivable.

It’s not a step forward for women that we are the focus of all this; it’s condescension, pure and simple.

If the goal is still equality between the sexes, then the pats on the head women have been receiving from politicians in the last year show we’re just not there yet.

Advice: 9 Rules Women Must Follow to Get Ahead

Despite many examples of females in the top ranks of power, "women held just 14.1% of executive officer positions in 2011 in Fortune 500 companies," writes FINS reporter Julia Steinberg, and "women held 16.1% of [board] seats."

Why are the numbers so low? Despite their talent, education and hard work, many women simply aren't chosen for roles that lead to greater success later. Women often don't have the "intangible skills" needed to gain the attention of higher-ups at the company, says Elena Rand Kaspi, a former consultant to law firm White & Case and the president of LawScope Coaching, an executive career coaching company.

Getting "chosen," then, is an art that many women need to learn. FINS spoke with women executives and leadership coaches to determine the best ways you can position yourself for the next great position.

Steinberg lists the 9 rules women must follow to "help them earn more management roles in the workplace:"

Iron Lady: Utter Anti-Female Travesty

"'The Iron Lady' is an utter travesty, both in content and in form," writes Examiner movie critic Kelly Jane Torrance. "The woman born Margaret Roberts won a place at Oxford on scholarship, studied science, and became a chemist. She became friends with many of the leading free-market thinkers of her time. The woman on screen gets all her ideas from her father...This film was written by, directed by, and stars women. But it's the most anti-female film I've seen in quite some time."

Mothers as the New Breadwinners?

Robert Patterson's statistics-packed article in the Washington Examiner points to a troubling employment picture for men ages 25-54, a better-than-average unemployment rate for women, and a trend, with government's assistance, in the feminization of the workforce. Women should file this under "be careful what you wish for..."