CORPORATE WOMAN ARCHIVES
Catherine Fox's corporate woman column.
2010
FEBRUARY 9
Despite the many obvious signs that women on average fare much more poorly than men in the workforce there are still objections in many organisations when women's networks or mentoring programs are set up.
FEBRUARY 2
When Anthony Albanese, the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Local Government, gathered together most of Australia's mayors and shire presidents for a forum in late 2008 there was one factor that immediately stood out.
2009
DECEMBER 15
This time last year, one of the worst sets of data on women's representation in senior corporate ranks had just been published (by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency) to an astonishing level of corporate indifference.
DECEMBER 8
We are moving forward on gender equity worldwide, says Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
DECEMBER 1
Two important announcements about women and the workforce last week put the spotlight on the incredible level of continuing systemic gender discrimination in Australia.
NOVEMBER 24
The topic of introducing quotas or targets to boost the number of women on boards is continuing to gather momentum.
NOVEMBER 17
There were some innovative, successful and easy-to-implement examples of how to improve gender equity on show last week at the Business Achievement Awards, held by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.
NOVEMBER 10
The ingredients for many of the problems women encounter are all about human behaviour and unconscious biases exacerbated by competition for power, money, and status.
NOVEMBER 3
The global trend for companies to publicly report on a range of sustainability indicators has taken a little longer to catch on in Australia.
OCTOBER 27
It is time once again to bust a few of the persistent myths about women and their progress in the workplace that stubbornly linger in the corridors of business.
OCTOBER 20
One of the more unusual interpretations of the impact of the global financial crisis on jobs has been the commentary claiming women in paid work have never had it so good.
OCTOBER 13
There's a common perception that the higher rate of professional women than men who leave senior jobs is largely a result of their overwhelming desire to tend to children and housework.
OCTOBER 6
Julia Gillard fields many questions about the prospect of becoming Australia's first female prime minister. When she was asked about this at a Women in Finance forum in Sydney recently, her salient response applies not just to women in politics.
SEPTEMBER 29
There's no point giving women advice to help them get onto boards if the appointment process remains frustratingly opaque, according to a new study.
SEPTEMBER 22
The progress of girls and young women in many societies can be like a game of Snakes and Ladders, says Ian Wishart, CEO of community development group Plan Australia, which today is releasing a study Girls in the global economy: Adding it all up.
SEPTEMBER 15
Women are their own worst enemies, according to quite a few people in the corporate sphere (both male and female). In fact, this expression often pops up at forums for women, and is stated with great conviction.
Success depends on effort, persistence and being prepared to move out of your comfort zone, writes Catherine Fox.
SEPTEMBER 8
Women in leadership in this country are reminding us that, despite the odds, it is not only legitimate but beneficial for an entire society to have women step up to these high-profile roles.
SEPTEMBER 1
The federal government is canvassing business opinion on a series of changes to equal opportunity legislation including reporting requirements and enforcement, and the possible merger of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) with another body.
AUGUST 25
When you start playing around with language and allow euphemisms to creep into descriptions of important but difficult topics it doesn't bode well for progress.
AUGUST 18
Business executives may recoil in horror from the idea of setting targets to get more women into senior jobs but it's becoming a hot topic of discussion in some forums.
AUGUST 11
Women don't get ahead in business because men don't promote them, the former chief executive officer of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, John McFarlane, told a forum on the topic in Sydney a few years ago.
AUGUST 4
When women are poorly represented in management ranks and on boards, a popular fallback excuse is about the lack of suitable females for the job.
JULY 28
Perfectionism can be a particularly effective way to make you feel like a constant failure, says coach and psychologist Jim Taylor.
JULY 21
Women working in small to medium-sized businesses are not confronting a glass ceiling - it's more like concrete, a recent email from a reader claims.
JULY 14
Part-time work has recently become a reality for a lot of employees as businesses grapple with the effects of the downturn and, at the same time, remain aware of the underlying talent shortage.
JULY 7
When the word ambition is used or discussed in the workplace it invariably denotes a desire to climb the ranks.
JUNE 30
The idea that women's progress in the workplace must come at the expense of men's is pernicious and has little evidence to back it up.
JUNE 23
The latest data on the significant under-representation of Australian women on boards and in management ranks is another important plank in the compelling argument for greater gender equity in organisations.
JUNE 16
What a relief to discover the glass ceiling that has so hampered women in the workforce has disappeared, according to Marks & Spencer executive chairman Stuart Rose.
JUNE 9
The first rung of the career ladder is usually assumed to be equally accessible to men and women in the workforce.
Providing women with the finance to start their own sustainable businesses throughout Uganda is a special focus for the country's former vice-president, Speciosa Wandira.
JUNE 2
The human resources role is being tested more than ever as executives find themselves increasingly focused on the bottom line, writes Catherine Fox.
MAY 26
Katie Page, chief executive of Harvey Norman and a director of the NRL, last week described the scandal over the Matthew Johns affair as appalling and disgusting but said the retailer would not be withdrawing its sponsorship of the game because of the actions of a minority.
MAY 19
Sometimes the debate about women and promotion becomes so complex, intense and emotional that it's easy to lose sight of why we are having it, and we may even wonder if the whole struggle is worthwhile.
MAY 12
Has a cohort of men with very similar backgrounds and ways of thinking been part of what led to the financial meltdown?
MAY 5
Let's start making the very real and rewarding work of caring for children more visible, Elizabeth Broderick, federal sex discrimination commissioner, told the National Press Club last week.
APRIL 28
There have been millions of people watching talent show contestant Susan Boyle from Scotland in the past couple of weeks and millions of words written about the grey-haired woman who defied expectations and sang so beautifully.
APRIL 21
Enough about Michelle Obama's arms. Yes, they are toned. Yes, she looks great. But could we move on?
APRIL 14
Tough times have some benefits, writes Catherine Fox.
APRIL 7
Women who are in their first few years in the workforce are one of the most sceptical groups when it comes to discussions about sexism or a gender divide.
MARCH 31
It is interesting to see which organisations make it as an "employer of choice" each year but even more interesting to note what some of them claim they are doing to tackle gender equity.
MARCH 24
Human behaviour is horribly complicated and yet at times also surprisingly predictable. The more research that is conducted on brain function, evolutionary psychology and the burgeoning arena of behavioural economics, the more we can identify why we make the same mistakes over and over, or ignore the evidence in front of our eyes.
MARCH 17
It's your call, and you need to make it fast. so how do you avoid the wrong
decision?
MARCH 13
There's something about a badly behaved woman, or one who has publicly failed
or been in a contentious position, that both fascinates and attracts disproportionate
amounts of vitriol.
MARCH 10
There's an alarming waste of talent and missed business opportunity as Australian companies ignore the advantages of promoting women, and it's time businesses committed to firm targets for women in senior management roles, according to the lobby group Chief Executive Women.
MARCH 3
As the Henry tax inquiry continues to consider input from interest groups on ways to overhaul our complex system, attempts are being made to get issues of particular concern to women onto the agenda.
FEBRUARY 24
There's a considerable gap between the reality of jobs today and the policies that govern the norms of the workforce, a seminar on part-time work in Sydney heard last week.
FEBRUARY 17
There's been some commentary in business circles over the past few weeks suggesting more women at the top of financial institutions may well have prevented the excesses that contributed to the global financial crisis.
FEBRUARY 10
Some of those attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week were particularly struck by one feature of the talkfest: there were very few women participating in or attending the forum.
FEBRUARY 3
As the financial crisis deepens, layers of jobs are cut and many highly paid executives face a worrying future, the knives have been coming out.
2008
DECEMBER 2
When word got out last week that the Rudd government was considering stalling the introduction of paid parenting leave it was described as a classic case of belt tightening.
NOVEMBER 25
The bad news about Australia's international standing in tackling gender equity just keeps on coming.
NOVEMBER 18
It was a remarkable display of unity, all the more unusual because it involved seriously competitive business types at a time of unprecendented financial upheaval. By Catherine Fox.
NOVEMBER 11
We need to drive it forward and there are a lot of men who believe in the issue, which helps. By Catherine Fox.
NOVEMBER 4
The reaction to the appalling Australian Census of Women in Leadership - released last week - was officially "disappointment" but informally there was a much blunter response.
OCTOBER 28
It is a disappointment, but not a major surprise, that the latest statistics show women's representation in senior roles of our leading businesses is sliding backwards.. By Catherine Fox.
OCTOBER 21
A few years ago, McKinsey consultant Joanna Barsh was interviewing some senior business women to find out what made them tick, and found herself taking a personal interest in the results.
OCTOBER 14
There's a wide range of issues over which Laura Liswood, an American workforce diversity expert and senior adviser to Goldman Sachs, could be losing sleep. By Catherine Fox.
OCTOBER 7
Motherhood can knock many women sideways with its incessant demands, as writer Monica Dux discovered when she had her first child a couple of years ago. By Catherine Fox.
SEPTEMBER 30
There's a terrific forum next month in Melbourne called the Business for Millennium Development Summit 08. By Catherine Fox.
SEPTEMBER 23
You couldn't call the last couple of years a period of rapid progress for women in the workplace. In fact, a senior woman in a large organisation recently described the present climate, around a few key issues such as flexible work, as not just going backwards, but going into free fall. By Catherine Fox.
SEPTEMBER 16
Since shooting to prominence, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has attracted more than her fair share of attention. That was the point of putting her in the role. But some comments have reflected once again the contradictions surrounding women and positions of power. By Catherine Fox.
SEPTEMBER 9
Some lessons for young, university-educated women need some lessons in the realities of working life. By Catherine Fox.
SEPTEMBER 2
Sexual harassment in the workplace is disturbingly widespread, and it's almost seen as part and parcel of the job in some environments. By Catherine Fox.
AUGUST 26
Would someone please tell Leisel Jones, Libby Trickett, Sally McLellan and Anna Meares that women aren't competitive? These outstanding athletes are sure messing up the well-worn idea that us girls just don't want to win. By Catherine Fox.
AUGUST 19
Joseph Healy remembers the awkward feeling of being the only bloke at a table of senior executives when he attended a forum in July. The executive general manager of National Australia Bank's business banking division says the unusual experience reinforced his belief in the importance of supporting and encouraging women in the bank, particularly in the senior ranks. By Catherine Fox.
AUGUST 12
The day after West Australian Liberal leader Troy Buswell resigned last week, a group of women gathered in Perth for a conference on getting more women onto boards. By Catherine Fox.
AUGUST 5
The global economic slowdown is starting to make even the most optimistic advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace a little downcast. By Catherine Fox
July 29
No one ever said the fight for gender equity was
going to be easy, but then again, few women
would have predicted just how difficult the
progress towards greater parity has turned out to
be in recent years. Catherine Fox looks at the
complexity of challenging gender roles and the
need for fundamental change.
July 8
The pay gap and negotiation skills are hot topics in
just about every forum on women and work these
days. And so they should be. By Catherine Fox.
July 1
Legislated paid maternity and paternity leave has
proved a big talking point, but there's often very
little attention given to the long-term implications
for women. By Catherine Fox.
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