Possible Evidence of A Needed Early 21st Century Paradigm Shift (?)
"There's a lot of data that shows when there's one woman on the board, it's much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board," said Huffington, according to several people who heard the remarks.
"Actually," Bonderman interjected, "what it shows is, it's much likely there'll be more talking." [1]
Interesting point. And upon reflection, generationally understandable.
Recall, it's from a man grounded in the ways of past generations.
Men from those older generations grew up being taught that men hunted, And women stayed home to have and raise children, cooked, and sewed. Those older men 'shaped' the younger men, and those women 'shaped' the younger women. It wasn't accidental. Both genders believed it was "The Right Thing To Do."
Now, "Flash forward."
It's 2017, moving rapidly towards 2020, 2030, 2040.
Today executives send their senior managers to training to learn how to become active listeners, build relationships, empathize with clients, form stronger trust relationships. Sound familiar?
Sure it does.
Those are inherent (potential) life skills that some 75% or more of the women bring to the workplace every day, hampered only by the men who were programmed to eliminate "More Talking" when options, alternatives, and strategic decisions are on the table.
What Is The Early 21st Century Paradigm Shift (?)
The critical need for men at all senior and executive levels of management in all profit and non-profit enterprises to begin their journey in learning and practicing active listening. Maybe start by making their first response to another's statement "That's an interesting point, please tell me more" before they begin to express themselves.
- If not now, when? If not you, who? Plan --> Do --> Study --> Act -->
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/06/13/a-top-uber-board-member-just-cracked-a-joke-about-women-at-the-worst-possible-time/?utm_term=.b60fc6e74793
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William Hayden Ph.D., P.E., CP, F.ASCE
Management Quality By Design, Inc.
Amherst NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-22-2017 01:18
From: Karen Chou
Subject: Female Engineers
Until an average person treat a female engineer/scientist or any profession the same way as the male counter-part, there won't be much progress in equal representation. I have been in the academic arena of civil engineering for 35 years. The progress I saw and personally experience was: 35 years ago - I was told at my face that I (being female) don't belong; few years ago - I got the silence treatment; now - I can afford to ignore them.
In the era of collaborative research, silence treatment is not progress. Being ignored by your colleagues reduces your chances of getting grants and tenure. One interesting observation I have is that my male colleagues are perfectly happy to have female graduate students or students in the class. They just cannot accept the concept of female colleagues. The former represents some one whom he has power/control over.
I also saw an ever increasing number of strategic plans or goals to increase female faculty, diversity, etc. in engineering from university presidents. This top down concept is fruitless in university because I am not aware of anyone who got the tenured revoke by ignoring or not collaborating with their female colleagues. I found the climate in the engineering firms a little warmer as long as you have the right boss. My unscientific conclusion is that there is a bottom line (profit/productivity) in private industry. There is no accountability in government or universities.
Another interesting observation in my 35 years is that studies throughout almost 4 decades has not reveal anything I have not seen or learned 35 years ago. Proposed solutions are about the same. The results was marginally successful. Changing one's attitude is not an easy task when there is neither carrot nor stick.
While I am pleased to see our student body in civil engineering is about 50-50 in gender distribution, it is a small program in a private university. The same distribution does not occur in large state universities. Ultimately, gender distribution is not close to be equal at the student level which affects the professional level.
35 years ago, some one said that while women do not need engineering to be successful, the other way around is not true. It is obvious to me that either certain part of our society has not wised up or they really don't care. I am hopeful the climate for women engineers will improve faster than glacial retreat but not optimistic.
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Karen Chou Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE
Assist. Chair & Clinical Prof.
Northwestern University
Evanston IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-20-2017 23:38
From: William Hayden
Subject: Female Engineers
Just some fact-based information to randomly sample part of our past and present, with a quick glance towards part of a desired future.
- GE today announced goals of having 20,000 women to fill STEM roles at GE by 2020 and obtaining 50:50 representation for all our technical entry-level programs. The program will significantly increase the representation of women in its engineering, manufacturing, IT and product management roles - a strategy necessary to inject urgency into addressing ongoing gender imbalance in technical fields and fully transform into a digital industrial company.
http://www.gereports.com/engineering-future-ges-goal-bridge-stem-gender-gap-2020/
- Technology and engineering suffer from a lower participation rate of women, holding back the pace at which these sectors can advance and their overall contribution to the economy. In the U.S. today, women account for 47% of total employment, but just 27% of manufacturing employment. These percentages are even lower in the engineering and IT sectors, with women encompassing only 14% of all engineers and 25% of IT professionals. This under-representation corresponds to leadership roles as well.
http://www.clarkson.edu/temp/GE_Balance_The_Equation.html
- Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in nanoscience, also known as the "Queen of carbon science," passed away February 20, 2017. She was 86.
A celebrated and loved member of the science community, Dresselhaus was the first woman to win the National Medal of Science in Engineering and has continued to inspire the women in STEM who came after her.
http://www.makers.com/blog/remembering-mildred-dresselhaus-women-stem
- 'My competitive advantage is not giving up'.
An inspiring quote by S.Stefan from
http://invent.ge/2ostifk
Cheers.
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William Hayden Ph.D., P.E., CP, F.ASCE
Management Quality By Design, Inc.
Amherst NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-03-2017 16:57
From: Particia Harburg-Petrich
Subject: Female Engineers
I have been practicing structural engineering for over 10 years. While there were many female engineers at my level when I started, I see very few women at the management level. Is this something others are also seeing? What can we do to narrow this gap and create a more equitable engineering community? I'm interested in both long term strategies and steps we can take today to create positive change.
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Particia Harburg-Petrich A.M.ASCE
Associate Principal
Burohappold
Santa Monica CA
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