Saturday, August 02, 2008

Ladies … Start your whining!

Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a piece entitled “Blogging’s Glass Ceiling” about women feeling frustrated at the fact they are not getting the recognition and rewards that their male counterparts do in the blogosphere. The article was a direct result from a recent Blogher convention. Once again, we’re hearing that women are getting the short end of the stick in comparison to men. Who would have thought that the Internet (the great equalizer that knows no gender) would be at the very heart of women’s irritation?

Okay, it was bound to happen. Get a bunch of women in a room and invariably the discussion will come around to why men are getting most of the credit and riches. We constantly create our own so called “pink ghettos” and by vocalizing our discontentment it usually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s as if we are looking for statistics to go a man’s way. Women seem to complain about everything when comparing ourselves to men. They get better Tee-Off times. Their haircuts and dry cleaning is cheaper. They sit on more corporate boards than women. And when they’re aggressive they’re deemed “tough” while we’re called “bitches.” It never ends, and I hate to say it but it may never be perfectly equal, but we’ve come a long way baby in so many areas.

This is why I purposefully avoid most chick clubs, simply because I don’t want to engage in a discussion about why men get all the breaks. Oh, it’s so tiresome and gets us nowhere. Can’t we just celebrate our womanhood more often, rejoice in our femininity, and marvel at the fact we can pass a human being through our legs and still get our figure back!

I’ve been part of Profit’s TOP 100 Women Entrepreneurs list for a few years now, and it’s been a privilege and honour being part of such an elite group of women. And what I’ve learned from these powerful, successful women is they don’t sit around complaining about getting snubbed by "the system." They’ve done it their way –sans balls.

So ladies, when you encounter a glass ceiling at work or heaven forbid on the blogosphere, stop whining about it. Instead, learn how to shatter it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Julie, thanks for your post. I hear too much complaining from our counterparts about glass ceilings. I guess it's there all right, but I also believe we make our own realities. When the direct river don't cut it, take a tributary.

Maggie Kerr-Southin
Artemis PR & Design

Anonymous said...

Here, here Julie! If it's not the glass ceiling, it's the female-unfriendly live/work balance once we do shatter it. The pity party never ends!

And yes, let's embrace our femininity and marvel that we the softer sex consistently excel at multi-tasking, understanding what makes our clients tick through our attention to detail and of course, our gift for expressing ourselves and deciphering the behaviour and words of those around us.

We do it all, and in high heels to boot. No more whining and no more apologizing for it. That's the way it should be...girl power!

Anonymous said...

Vaild points, but I'm curious...I'm sure you've encountered some glass ceilings. What did you do to shatter them? (Presumably without getting caught up in all that flying glass)

Anonymous said...

Valid...I meant valid. Sheesh.

Julie Rusciolelli said...

Thanks everyone for your comments. Sarah, the glass ceiling I encountered was many years ago (and the only one), at my first agency job. I was there almost five years and my boss (a senior male) could not look past the fact I was blonde and cute, with pretty good legs. He once remarked in my review that my greatest asset were my legs! It was brutal. I did what a lot of women in my position would have done. I quit and found a place where my legs did not get in the way of my ambition! I worked for a woman who gave me a lot of rope and there was no ceiling butting against my head. I was very lucky and fortunate... thanks for asking...

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much for replying!

Anonymous said...

Julie, some food for thought. Perhaps some people’s talent ends at the glass ceiling.