Women in the Workplace: Change Still Needed

Last Wednesday evening marked the Second Annual Women’s Networking Event, sponsored by the Virginia Tech Career Services and a featured Virginia Tech Women's Month event. The Women’s Networking Event is intended for undergraduate women to practice and strengthen their networking and professional communication skills. This year, students learned about challenges they may potentially face as women in the professional world from Lean In author, Sheryl Sandberg, in her TED talk and then discussed issues Sandberg raised. Registrations for the event at Smith Career Center, March 25, from 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m., reached capacity this year.

Why a Women’s Networking Event?

Statistics can shock, confirm, scare, or console. Unfortunately, when it comes to women in the workplace, the statistics do little more than shock and scare. The second half of the 20^th Century saw the steady influx of women into the workplace and into higher education institutions. Today, the educational achievements of women have continued, but professional advancement has stalled.

Consider these numbers. Women comprise 50.8% of the U.S. population. In 2014, women earned 60% of undergraduate degrees, 60% of master’s degrees, 47% of law degrees, and 48% of medical degrees. And yet, in the workplace, women make up only 14.6% of executive officers, are 8.1% of top earners, and 4.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs. And to add insult to injury, women earn around 0.77 cents to every dollar earned by a man.

A challenge for the next century will be for women to stand up and take a seat at the table. Recently, books like Lean In have brought attention to the disparity discussed above, while movements like “Equal Pay for Equal Work, “Ask Her More,” “He for She,” and “Not There” attempt to shine light on monetary discrimination and the notable absence of women in leadership roles. It is obvious there is momentum for changes in the workplace, but the question that remains is how to break a glass ceiling that just won't budge?

How can we make the changes? 

1. Be confident in our value.

2. Take initiative.

3. Negotiate for what we're worth.

4. Act like a leader.

5. Support other women.

Resources for women in the workplace: 

1. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

2. Levo League

3. Knowing Your Value by Mika Brzezinski

4. Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois P. Frankel 
5. Women Don't Ask by Linda Babcock

5. Various Career Blogs

Source of Statistics:

1.https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2014/03/07/85457/fact-sheet-the-womens-leadership-gap/