How and when women are promoted

5 Comments

1. AnonymousAugust 22,2024 at 2:11PM UTC

   I have found that in some companies, especially those in industries with a preponderance of men, having a mentor is really important. Most men feel comfortable mentoring other men, and I think this is often the reason they advance more rapidly. In one situation, I was in a more senior (or less junior) role to a new male employee with a male mentor and "played the game" by not prioritizing projects that should have been assumed by the "mentee", so he ended up having to pay his dues, at least in that instance, which leveled the playing field somewhat. In another situation, I did find a female mentor, although those can be difficult to find. We used to say in the 1990s working for tech companies that women were either your mentor or tried to stab you in the back. Hopefully that has changed as time has gone on. In my last position a year ago, that remained to be seen.

2. AnonymousAugust 23,2024 at 6:15PM UTC

   I've found that very few women actually mentor other women. They'll happily criticize or cut down another woman, but never want to truly mentor her.

3. AnonymousAugust 23,2024 at 10:13PM UTC

   Very true. I have worked for many companies for over 50 years and have found 2 female mentors that I can recall. Hopefully, we will become those mentors to others and change the situation for the younger women beginning their careers!

   In my last job, I had that opportunity, and it was a really satisfying and enriching experience, both for the younger woman and for me. May others have this same experience!

4. AnonymousAugust 22,2024 at 7:43PM UTC

   Not in a major city on the coast. Smaller city in the mid-west. I've seen this in some gov. sector employers.

5. AnonymousSeptember 2,2024 at 1:24PM UTC

   Overall, I think it happens in many, if not most, cases and industries, especially when looking at the gender wage gap statistics (Google the Forbes list). Women are still not seen as viable candidates when looking at a pool of applicants, and managers see them as risky promotion material.

   Early in my career, in the 1980s, I recommended a neighbor for an admin position to my director, and he only had two questions. 1) How old is she? -and- 2) What does she look like? My answer was she could take dictation and type. Thank goodness these questions are now illegal. However, the laws are ahead of the thoughts and minds of the people (both men and women). Younger women are perceived as risky to hire and promote because they might become pregnant. Older women aren't as nice to have around and look at all day (regardless of how productive they might be.) Ageism, ableism, misogyny, and beautyism directed at women are prominent in the workplace and something I have had to battle my whole career. I started working in 1978, but it seems that even though there are more women in better jobs, and they have infiltrated some previously male-only professions, the attitudes toward them being there haven't changed much.