Facebook COO: Men run the world
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, gave the commencement speech at Barnard College, an all female university, this past weekend. In her speech she focused on the importance of women in our generation overcoming patriarchal tendencies that have saturated and continue to saturate the business world today. She goes on to discuss the gender gap that societies are experiencing in the workforce and our need to do something to bridge this gap. Emphasis is placed on the notion that women are capable to make an impact in our world just as long as they have the drive to do so. She believes this is the main factor in the gender gap. The most powerful quote from Sandberg in my opinion was "Men are more ambitious. We will never close the achievement gap if we don't close the ambition gap," she went on to say "Women underestimate their performance." Sandberg is a trailblazer in the movement for women to attain positions of power. She has secured top positions in two of the most influential companies we've ever seen, Google and Facebook. She is also an activist for women in the workforce. If interested, you can check out her TED talk entitled "Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders." AMAZING TED talk!
It's great when women reach high positions in very successful companies. I see nothing wrong with women attaining high levels of achievement. But does being the CEO of a huge profit-earning company necessarily mean that you're using your "power" in the right ways? What if you're the top executive of a company with a string of social responsibility reports detailing extensive human rights abuses.... at that point, gender is not as important to me as substance. I think women's leadership is of utmost importance, yes, but 6 figure salaries do not necessarily mean that person is a good leader. I think sometimes what's more important is putting women in leadership positions in the areas in which their non-profit impact is most significant. Making money is awesome and everything, but is that really the indicator of success for all women? I don't think it is.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought-- perhaps women ARE more ambitious, but in different ways than just making money? Do you know how many female social workers there are compared to men...? Ambition should not always be defined by a position of power/monkey-making ability....... I've seen some really ambitious women in the world doing some of the grungiest, nasty work that no one else would ever want to do, if only to make enough money to put food on the table and to buy clothes for their kids...... it's not that they don't have AMBITION to get to those high rise positions, they just haven't had OPPORTUNITY.
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