The Glass Ceiling...Who's On Top Now?

Hard to believe, but if we were going to place little cartoon figures at the very top of this cartoon, we would be placing MORE women. That's right...WOMEN.

Women are still NOT supporting each other. In fact, in many cases they are making work and life in general HARDER. Why? I just don't know. I'm not saying that women should be so nurturing and emotional to each other that we become unable to competently do our jobs, but I suggest that we share, mentor, assist, advise, or collaborate with each other and give credit where credit is due. Superficiality and insensitivity between women especially in a boss: staff relationship robs both people of the opportunity to live authenticly and help each other on a few levels.

I went searching for concurring opinions on other blogs and here is what I found: http://journeytothirty.wordpress.com/ A woman boss= an awful experience "I think that many successful women have major unresolved issues that they feel the need to take out on those who work for them, especially if that individual is of the same gender. It’s that whole, I paid my dues, so you must now pay yours mentality. But does this really explain why so many women bosses are just so damn bitchy? Out there in the rat race, why can’t women be nurturing and caring? I don’t want another mother, that’s not what I’m saying. But, please someone tell me, where are all the mentors? Why are women bosses so freakin’ mean?"

http://www.propeller.com/ Women Bosses more Likely to Discriminate against Female Employees than Male Bosses! "Women bosses are significantly more likely than men to discriminate against female employees, research has suggested.
The study found that when presented with applications for promotion, women were more likely than men to assess the female candidate as less qualified than the male one.
They were also prone to mark down women’s prospects for promotion and to assess them as more controlling than men in their management style.
The findings, based on experiments carried out among more than 700 people, suggest that the “queen bee syndrome” of female rivalry in the workplace may sometimes be as important as sexism in holding back women’s careers."

and lastly, from across the pond....

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/ Sugar: Women bosses are more ruthless than me Apprentice boss Sir Alan Sugar claims female employers are more ruthless than their male counterparts.
He says women bosses are more likely to discriminate against mothers and less inclined to consider employing them.
The businessman, whose reality TV show The Apprentice returns to BBC1 tonight, added: "Be under no illusion. There are women employers who are more ruthless than men.
"They are more conscious of not employing other women because they feel they're not going to get the value of work out of them."
Sir Alan, executive chairman of electronics firm Amstrad, said it was only fair that employers asked female workers about their plans to have children.
"I think it's right for women to volunteer the information," he said. " Companies have no divine duty to help with childcare, companies employ people. It's the Government's responsibility to provide childcare." But his comments caused anger among women bosses, including Erika Watson, executive director of Prowess, the association for female entrepreneurs.
She said: "Dinosaur attitudes like these threaten the UK's competitiveness. Too many talented women are not achieving their potential in the workplace because of the discrimination such attitudes encourage."
Glenda Stone, co-chair of the Government's Women's Enterprise Task Force, added: "When men are ruthless, they are seen as assertive, but when females are, they are seen as aggressive."

Reading these accounts and observing that this may be the status quo, does not make me feel any better. I am quite disillusioned with what the future may hold. I have a career that I enjoy immensely, in a location that is very conducive to creative productivity and that I would like to be involved in for a long time. However, the moment that I feel as if I am not wanted anymore, I will not wait for my boss to pick, scratch and gnaw away at my self confidence. I know who I am, what I bring to the table and will take my offerings to someone who will appreciate it- and who will appreciate me.