Women in the Workplace

In the second half of CBS this morning, there was a story on two CEOs that have had their businesses take off in the last few years, making them lots of money and some of the most successful current business people. Though the story was not solely on their businesses per se, it was on the fact that they were women, and how women entrepreneurs are becoming very prevalent in the business world of today. The two women in the story were Laurie Ann Goldman, CEO of Spanx and ALi Webb, creator of Dry Bar.

Though this isn't uncommon, it is more common place than it used to be. If you recall one the talking points in last years presidential campaign was the issue of equal pay for women in the workplace. The issue was also raised in the interviews this morning. The answer from both women was that, they felt the opportunities for men advancing through the system were much greater than for women, so they both branched out and started their own business to bypass this system (just one of many reasons, surely not the main reason, but one that they insisted was important).

As a man trying to navigate through my career, it is hard for me to relate to this. I understand the issue and I agree with the arguments, but I feel that the inequality in the workplace is starting to erode and will continue in the near future at an even faster pace. The reason, is many but there are two points that to me stand out. One is that women have and are continuing to prove that they are capable of radically shaping and influencing big business in a very profitable way, take a look at the stock rebound of Yahoo! over the last year. The second is that the generation of men that are now entering and about to enter the workplace are simply way behind emotionally and maturely which now leads to the hiring of more women. This is not to say that women are now only be given opportunities because men are failing to satisfy basic skills desired by employers. Its because women are now emerging as the more qualified and suitable employees.

Look at the stats, women now make up 1/3 of the primary bread winners in American households. Women are also the higher percentage of the two genders in colleges. The playing field is radically changing. Personally, if I was an entrepreneur or an a hiring position, especially here in Miami, I would be more inclined to hire women. Especially with the examples and the women that I surround myself. If I was starting a business, I would not have to look far to find quality workers (I would also pay them way better than me because they have the skills, hard and soft, to make sure the business succeed.

In fact, that may be the issue in this final point. When you look at skills coming out of college, it may be difficult to determine who is the best fit for the job based simply on a resume. When determining how a potential employee will fit into their role and then merge into the direction of a company, it can be argued that soft skills are one of the more important things. And given today's generation, it can be further argued that generally speaking, women posses these skills way more than men do.

I am by no means the only one talking about this, there is a myriad of authors and experts talking about the crisis of this generation of men.

One great  read that you check out is Generation iY by Tim Elmore.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think and what I got right and what I got wrong.

~Brett