Early last week, another student, Vanessa Lee, created a blog post surrounding the idea that women do not have respect in the business world today. Vanessa touches upon the notion that corporate America has not moved into the 21st century in the sense that men in business are not welcoming women as they should. However, I completely disagree with this. Being a woman myself, who has the desire to obtain a position of power in my later life, I feel it is about time that women themselves get caught up into the 21st century. It is crucial for us females to put an end to thinking in the past. For instance, the more time women spend whining and complaining about the fact that we are the minority in business, and as of right now we are, the less time we will spend on doing something about that issue.

Take Jessica Macht for example, an Audit partner at PwC, who graduated UBC with a BA in Economics. She recreated what it meant to be a woman in business by being confident. Men have shone over women for the sole reason that they have a history of being more confident than females. Jessica is one of the few women who is caught up in the 21st century in the sense that she did not linger on the fact that there are few females in business, but instead she worked with confidence and chose to grab opportunities that were presented to her with enthusiasm and certainty. Jessica proved that when you are confident and act accordingly, women can do the same and perhaps even more than men can do.

In my opinion, women are feared by men in the boardroom. As a female, I can speak from personal experience that men walk into meetings with confidence and a natural domineering attitude, however, a woman would come to the same meeting with a well planned out action plan with proof and logic to support it. Men are afraid of this, because they know they have not thought of everything a female might have. It has been noted that schools are now beginning to implement more boys support groups than girls, as they are more worried for the next generation of young boys, as girls are developing a louder voice.

Even though I agree that woman are still unfortunately the minority in business, and it is hindering the possibilities of the market and corporate America, I also feel strongly that women are indeed respected in the boardroom. However, we have just not noticed it enough to utilize the confidence we do possess to shake the business world forever.

Sources:

Lee, Vanessa. “When Will Women Earn Respect in Boardrooms?” UBC Blogs. N.p., 26 Oct. 2014. Web. 3 Nov. 2014. <http://blogs.ubc.ca/vlee/2014/10/26/when-will-women-earn-respect-in-boardrooms/>.