ds of meetings" they don't get invited to because they are not seen as policy makers. When comparing men and women at the same level, men generally manage more people, have greater freedom to hire and fire people, and have more direct control over the company’s assets. When excluded from meetings and not given as much power, it is much easier to not acknowledge the skill and intelligence of these women. Of course it already had been overlooked or they would not be treated like that in the first place. Women, Their Families, and the Real ProblemAnother view that holds women back is the idea that once they have children they will become less reliable and less dedicated to the company. This idea is not true, and is yet another chauvinist view imposed by men. In a Wall Street Journal/Gallup survey, women managers were asked what they consider to be the most serious obstacle in their business careers. Only three percent said “family responsibilities”, but half named reasons related to their gender, including: “male chauvinism, attitudes toward a female boss, slow advancement for women, and the simple fact of being a woman.” In a survey by Korn/Ferry International, executive women were asked to name the greatest obstacle they had to overcome to achieve success; the most frequent response was simply “being a woman” (40 percent). More than 80 percent of the executive women in the Wall Street Journal/Gallup study said they believe there are disadvantages to being a woman in the business world. They say that men “don't take them seriously.” In the same survey, 61 percent of the women executives reported having been mistaken for a secretary at a business meeting and 25 percent said they had been frusterated on their way up the corporate ladder by male attitudes toward women. Stereotypical “Women” CareersWomen still have many stereotypes to deal with. They have jobs that t...
