"Our struggling" - Part 3

If you read part 1 and 2 of this series you might already be at a point where you think: "Holy crap, seeing all these challenges, that we women face in the business world concentrated on one page are already enough of a struggling." But I have to tell you, it is not the complete list yet. Another big challenge that you probably have identified for yourself already is the double role, that we still have to play: Being business woman and mother.
Ok, society models are changing and luckily more and more fathers are taking over huge parts in the responsibility for the kids. But nevertheless it is us, who have the baby. And honestly, the decision about who stays home raising the children is often based on the salary: The one who earns less, stays home. And unfortunately that is in most cases the woman. So, for us the baby question often becomes a question about the fundamental decision between family or career.
But the good news is, that you don't need to make a decision. You can have both! If you want it. This might, however, include some reshaping of our original idea about how a family works. The romantic idea about spending afternoons with our little ones in the kitchen baking cookies, or accompanying them to school pick nicks is not working in this model. Having both, career and family, means that we have to get used to the idea, that big parts of our private responsibilities and roles are taken over by other persons. This help can come from persons that we "buy" like nannies or housekeepers, or it can come from inside our family like our parents or in-laws supporting us.
This might sound like a simple solution, but the biggest challenge of this solution is coming from inside of us. Not for every woman it is easy to give away those responsibilities. Many of us are suffering from accusing ourselves of being a bad mother or housewife when having someone else taking care of those things. If you are recognizing yourself in this now, consider the following: A long-term study conducted in the US since the 1970-ies and published in 2008 revealed that children of working mothers are happier, more successful and more resistant than children of non-working mothers. This is explained by the conclusion that working mothers are happier because they fulfill their professional dreams, and this happiness and balance is transmitted to their children. But careful: Mothers that decide to stop working because they find their fulfillment in being together with their children create a different case!

This series about "Our struggling" revealed a lot of challenges that we women face in the business world. But it also showed that these challenges have the potential to be overcome. In this blog I will come back again and again to these three main areas of our struggling and put them into a different light. I am looking forward to your comments and will enjoy discussing the different issues with you. Hope to see you soon.

"Our struggling" - Part 1

The business world is a place that is so familiar to us, but even so, we sometimes feel like strangers. We are playing the game, but then it seems there are new rules coming up. What if those rules don't just come up? What if they are there all the time and we just didn't find them yet, because they are no written rules? 
Hundreds of years ago, the business world was created by men. So, it is just natural that they applied the rules to it that suit them best. And because in the beginning the business world consisted purely of men, there was also no need for writing those rules down. But then women started to enter the business world and we would need some kind of manual for the game! 
Fortunately, there is this blog now. And over time I will share the most important rules with you. But before we start with that, we have to talk about some other factors that can create challenges for our success in the business world. Read about it in Part 2 and Part 3 of "Our struggling". 

"Our struggling" - Part 2

Women are not only challenged by the unwritten rules in the business world, we are also challenged by our education, or rather socialization, and by the absence of the right role models.
Think back, when you grew up, what kind of ladylike behaviors did your parents, teachers or whoever teach you? Being nice and well behaved, smiling, not being loud or cheeky, keeping your arms close to your body, and so on. All those small things that are considered to be ladylike. Now as grown-ups we do all of this unconsciously. After years of practice, those behaviors became just natural to us. And in the business world they turn into mistakes. Unconscious mistakes. All these ladylike behaviors have the potential to undermine our professional success. Because we appear shy, or not tough enough, we might be considered less likely for leadership functions or even just the next step on the career ladder.

And then there is another trap lying in front of us, so obvious that we don't see it. Our society obviously expects from us, that we are the embodiment of sexiness. Wherever we look, women that we see in television or magazines teach us one thing: How to be sexy. Nobody teaches us, how to appear competent. We are definitely missing the right role models. A survey by Catalyst confirms that 64% of women see the absence of role models as barriers to their careers. And not only that this absence complicates our career progress, on top of this we are working against our career, when we dress sexily at work. A study by Arthur Brief et al. from the Tulane University proves that women who dress sexily at work get less often promoted and earn less money than women who don't. These facts should make us think. And it is not the end of our struggling in the business world. Read what else is there in Part 3 of this series.