By Michael Gibbons
North America first tuned in to the television series Leave it to Beaver in 1957. Every week, people watched as June Cleaver exemplified the postwar period’s ideal woman; she doted on her family and never showed any inclination towards wanting a career of her own. Fifty-three years later, that ideal is no more, but many women still find it difficult to climb the corporate ladder.
“If we think of the traditional male-dominated society, we think of the glass ceiling that women have to face,” said Catalina Dorobeti, communications specialist at the Toronto chapter of the Women in Leadership Foundation (WIL). “On the other hand, there’s the personal life. Women have to be more involved in having children and staying home with them.”
The Women in Leadership Foundation is a national non-profit volunteer organization that dedicates itself to advancing women in leadership roles. Founded in Vancouver in 2001, the foundation now has offices in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. Through initiatives such as mentorship programs and featured speakers, WIL works to help close the leadership gender-gap. For WIL vice-chair Viktorija Livins, 27, an organization designed for women to help other women is a no-brainer.
“The funny thing is that it’s something that women traditionally do anyways. Women are constantly sitting down with their girlfriends and talking about how they’ve faced different challenges,” she said. “It doesn’t really matter what industry you’re in; women face the same challenges… it’s important for everybody to share what worked for them and what didn’t.”
University of Toronto sociology professor John Kervin identifies several obstacles to women advancing in the work force. One is the work-family conflict that Dorobeti described.
“The fact that you’ve got to look after your home, look after a husband and possibly look after kids as well means that women basically have two jobs,” he said. “They’re always moonlighting... Some places are just not very flexible in terms of allowing women to work around those types of things.”
Another obstacle is compliance.
“When women do get into positions that have real authority, often they have problems getting subordinates to comply with orders in overt or covert resistance,” he said.
And the problem cuts both ways. It’s not just men who can react poorly to female bosses.
“(Female superiors) contravene our notions, our stereotypes… of what your boss should be,” Kervin said. “And there’s a different leadership style for women and sometimes that just doesn’t seem as good as or appropriate for some particular organizations. So you get resistance on the part of subordinates, be they male or female.”
The stereotypical notion of female behaviour is something that women in the business world are acutely aware of.
Because of societal notions of female timidity, some women also find it difficult to request things they rightfully deserve.
“Women are more afraid of asking for things than men in the workplace, especially for a promotion or a higher salary. Women tend to just be more modest on that side,” Dorobeti said.
One way WIL hopes to stamp out that tendency towards meekness is through its mentorship program. It matches up mentee applicants with volunteer mentors. Mentor relationships range from young women just starting out in the business world to established business veterans who want to learn from someone who has been there before.
Livins knows how valuable a mentor/mentee relationship can be. She works in the security department of a large Canadian bank. Upon entering her first job, she received valuable advice from a friend who worked in the security industry.
“She talked to me about salary negotiation and saying what you want and how to go through that interview process,” she said. “I think that if more young women had that, they would be better placed.”
Dorobeti and Livins are both good examples of the modern businesswoman. In addition to their responsibilities with WIL, they both work in the corporate world. Dorobeti, 23, works for a capital market communications company. They both try to balance their work lives with their personal lives. This delicate balance can get overwhelming at times. Volunteering with WIL does eat up some personal time, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s just so great because it’s very uncommon that you’re going to be in a room of 30, 40, 50 people that are women, that are all interested in furthering their careers,” Livins said.
If only June Cleaver could see them now.
Photo by plastAnka, available under a Creative Commons Attributions 2.0 Generic License.
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