Last night on London’s Liverpool Street, there was a glamorous gathering of designer bags and stiletto heels, all assembled with their occupants at the Financial News 100 Most Influential Women in the City Awards. The Great Eastern Hotel boasted a gathering of ladies sporting mainly black and navy suits (both skirt and pants variety), with crisp cotton blouses and luxury silk scarves featured prominently. Dior, Hermes, Ferragamo, Celine, Manolo et. al. were spotted in abundance. The Glass Hammer held its head high with your own correspondent sporting pearls, Gucci scarf and (vintage) Chanel jacket.
Though women have made great strides in the workplace in recent decades, there is still a disturbingly significant gap between the earnings of men and women in the same jobs. In both the US and the UK, independent juducial bodies have been created to address claims of pay disparity. However, the pay gap issue is so significant that these organizations run the risk of being overwhelmed.
In Britain, the large numbers of women taking employers to equal pay tribunals has left the system under such strain that the head of the Equal Opportunities Commission says that a moratorium on claims is urgently needed.
Jenny Watson, outgoing Chairman of the Commission, stated that the 155% increase in the number of claims from 2005 to 2006 has left the system overburdened and in danger of collapse.
A recent article in Pink Magazine called The Devil Wears Handbags cited the statistic that those with incomes over $150,000 spend three times more on luxury goods than those in households with incomes ranging from $75,000-$99,000. While it’s intuitive that people with more money would spend more and would have more disposable income for luxury items, that’s not the whole story.
When it comes to high earning single women, it seems that the more you have, the more you spend. Among my group of friends, all successful young female lawyers, shopping is huge. It seems that every time we get together, someone is wearing a new designer outfit, showing off a new Marc Jacobs bag or sporting the latest Manolo Blahniks from the resort collection (or sometimes all three).
How many times has this happened? You’ve had a super-stressful day at work: phones ringing off the hook, boss yelling in your face, long on hours and short on appreciation. You lean back, close your eyes for a minute. You picture yourself letting go and flying through the air, weightless and unburdened. Soaring like a bird, looking down on your office building, which suddenly looks tiny. After a few deep breaths, you are refreshed, ready to finish up that report in time to have it in your boss’s inbox by 8:00 am.
While its possible that you are a bit less mental than me, and don’t often engage in this fantasy as frequently or at work, every girl has dreamed of flying at least once. So, you can imagine my childlike glee when I learned that I could fulfill my lifelong dream by enrolling in a lesson at New York’s Trapeze School. Along the West Side Highway in downtown Manhattan’s Hudson River Park, the trapeze school operates outdoors in the summer and under a big-top tent when it gets colder.
The November 2007 issue of Entrepreneur magazine published a list of the top 50 fastest growing female-led companies in North America.
The study, co-sponsored by the Women Presidents Organization and Entrepreneur magazine, solicited applications from women-led businesses in North America that met the following criteria:
- Must be a privately held, woman-led company in the U.S. or Canada.
- 2002 sales must have been $50,000 or greater.
- 2006 sales must have been $1 million or greater.
Companies were ranked according to a sales growth formula and the top 50 were selected.
Twenty years ago, if a person mentioned having a coach most people would have assumed that they were an elite athlete or that they drove a tour bus in their spare time. Today, having an executive coach has become an increasingly common feature of corporate life – but why?
In the past, organizations were relatively simple structures. There was usually one leader to whom a number of sub-leaders reported, each being responsible for a department related to their own specialization. There was usually a clearly defined hierarchy, explicit reporting lines and specific job descriptions. Of course this led to its own set of problems, in that departments did not always collaborate to the extent necessary, but it was at least fairly simple to manage. With globalization has come a complexity which was not present in the old traditional structure. Companies today have numerous different structures and matrices which overlay each other in a complex web of local market and centralized resources.
This piece is the first in the Spotlight on People series, in which the editors of The Glass Hammer ask high-ranking women in business to share their secrets to success.
We first interviewed Pat David, MD and Head of Diversity for Citi Markets & Banking, about her experiences in banking and her advice on mentoring, balancing your work and your life, and getting ahead. Pat had the following wise words about mentoring to offer young women beginning a career in finance:
- Take ownership of your career
- Be a mentor to others – formal or informal
- Build strong relationships with senior management and other people of influence – create your own ‘board of directors’.
This past month in the news, sexual harassment in the workplace has been mentioned almost as many times as Lindsay Lohan’s efforts at rehab. First, it was the suit brought by Anucha Browne Sanders, an executive with the New York Knicks organization, who accused Knicks coach Isiah Thomas of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the company and its chairman had to pay Ms. Sanders $11.9 million in punitive damages, with a possible $9.6 million in compensatory damages to be decided upon shortly.
As a young professional woman attending the 13th annual Women on Wall Street conference, I was impressed by what the panelists had to say. Their advice was pertinent, somewhat sassy and all together entertaining. They talked about changes in the work force, changes in their professional careers and changes that helped them achieve personal success.
Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the National Women’s Conference (Houston’77) and join women and girls from around the U.S. at the Freedom On Our Terms Conference. There will be panels, workshops, issue caucuses and a concert. Rosie O’Donnell will be the special guest. Featured Speakers include Liz Abzug, Gloria Steinem, Carol Jenkins, and more.