Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    My impression is that lots of men with MBA's would rather start
    their own businesses as well.  So I'm not quite sure how to interpret
    that statistic.  How many men want to do the same thing?  What's
    the split among the three alternatives (own business, part time,
    and stay home)?

    If I'm thinking of the same article, its point was that the women
    are "bailing out" because they've come to feel that they aren't
    being dealt with fairly.  Sexism, in a word.
    
    					=maggie

    
    re: .2
    
    	Certainly, some of the women mentioned the article 'bailed out'
    because they felt they were not being treated fairly but not all.
                                               
    	There were a number that quit simply because after achieving
    the 'position', 'power' and 'money' they decided that they would
    be more fulfilled staying home and raising a family. They were
    fortunate in having the option to do so.
    
    	That was not the result of sexism but of personal values and
    choice.
    
    David
    
    David
    

    Maybe I'm not remembering the article correctly, or it wasn't the
    same one.  My impression is that few were interested in the raise-
    a-family route by comparison with those who were leaving because
    of discriminatory treatment.  Is that an unfair characterisation
    of the article you're reporting on?  (I haven't a copy of the mag
    handy, so I can't examine it firsthand)
    
    					=maggie

    
    re: .4
    
    	I think it was pretty evenly distributed.
    
    	The last couple of pages talked about what steps companies are
    going to have to take to keep women in management and also listed
    several forward thinking companies that have already taken those
    steps.
    
    David

    
    According to information quoted in the ABC special "After the Sexual
    Revolution", many high-level women are bailing out because they
    find themselves stalled at the middle-management level of existing
    large corporations.  
    
    Some figures -
    
    In the Fortune 500 companies, there are only 2 female CEO.  Of 1600+
    members of the various boards or directors, only 48 are female.
    There are fewer female upper-level managers in these companys now
    than there were in 1982.
    
    					{cathy}
    

        .6 ("some figures") : that's depressing.
        
        	/dave

    The article concludes "The tougher challenge for corporations will
    be to overcome the remaining, sometimes extraordinarily subtle barriers
    to women's advancement.  If employers are serious about treating
    women equitably, they obviously will have to put them in the same
    jobs, provide them with the same support, and give them the same
    power as men."
    
    "As Rosabeth Kanter notes, companies have found a place in the
    managerial work force for the superwoman who came to the job
    unencumbered by outside obligations.  Now, if they want the benefit
    of her brains, they will have to find a place for the woman with
    a family.  The woman, in short, who is merely human."
    
    
    Sounds like an accusation of corporate sexism to me.  And the sexism
    of the 80s is far more subtle than the "Can you make me coffee,
    sweetie?" attitudes of the 60s.  Personally, I was surprised that
    FORTUNE largely attributed the "bailing out" to a workplace that is 
    insensitive to the multiple demands that women face.
    
    I think it's healthy that women perceive that they have
    choices. What's sad is that so many companies ignore the demands
    that living, working, and raising families place on women.
                                                              
    LZP
    
    

        The inability to cope with employees who want to live a well
        rounded life, or who put family before career isn't solely a
        problem of sexism. My family is very important to me and when I
        wanted to work at home after the birth of my first son, or when
        I found I had to bring him to work with me for two hours two
        days a week because all the available day-care had a waiting
        list, I found a lot of the older manager's and engineers had the
        attititude that they didn't have to do these things when they
        were younger and they were good fathers, so why should I need to
        do them.
        
        When it happens to a women it is tempting to think that it
        is just entrenched or retrenched sexism, but my experiuence
        is that when men try to balance their careers in favor of
        their family life and parenting duties, they get the same
        grief, which I at least wouldn't call sexism.
        
        I think corporate America has to learn how to cope with the fact
        that a lot of the high level managers and professionals are
        merely human and don't intend to make work their whole life.
        They're going to have to learn to cope with the re-emergence
        of the importance of the family.
        
        JimB. 

    Good point on the FAMILY vs. WORK "conflict".  You're right,
    traditional "women's issues" need no longer be considered restricted
    to women.
    
    I'm sure you'll admit, however, that child-rearing responsibilities
    are still somewhat skewed toward mom.  While this is may not be
    the ideal, this is true in the majority of American families.  
    
    I *DO* like your point!!!  If a greater number of those in senior
    management felt that children were a "family" (rather than a women's)
    issue, perhaps the difficulties that working *PARENTS* face would be 
    addressed more readily.
    
    BRAVO!
    
    LZP
    
    
    

        If you want the sexist MCP side of my history as a parent, my
        wife stopped working when the second boy was 9 months old, and
        now there are three. The stress on both of us with the two boys
        and the two jobs was pretty severe, and worse for her than for
        me, 'cause she just had a job, not a career she really enjoyed
        and derived a lot of pleasure and reward from. She decided that
        the only thing that made sense was for her to quit the job and
        work on being a mother. 
        
        The parental duties of feeding, changing, comforting, and caring
        for my first son were really split pretty 50/50. For Morgan--the
        third--I'm a much more traditional (90/10) father. I change the
        occasional diaper, I feed him moderately often and I sing and
        rock him to bed.
        
        I enjoyed the earlier experience a lot more.
        
        JimB.