The Glass Ceiling is a Leftist Construct, and other things I picked up in business school
Chizoba Nnamaeka MBA'10
Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Opinion
My thesis upon graduating from Wellesley (a college I count amongst the top 3 things to have happened in my short life) was as follows: all women are high-minded allies eager to lead and encourage one another, all men are foes and foils to our ambition. Since then, I've been within and involved in a few male-dominated industries - investment banking (~75% boys), and venture capital (~93% boys) - and now find myself at this (~65% boys) business school (which somehow doesn't feel like a boys' club).
Not only was my thesis annulled 6 months into the corporate world, but I've stopped laying blame at the feet of men -- many of whom have gone above and beyond to support me professionally. My new thoughts: Women, you need to 1) take more risks, 2) stop keeping each other down, and 3) accept help from anyone who gives it-men, women, livestock, whatever. The professional experiences in my life that have been the most fruitful have all arisen from pure chance and risk-taking. Have I done things that were over my head? Absolutely. But, I don't believe one gets anywhere worthwhile in life by waiting for opportunities, skills, and interests to perfectly align. Is this an endorsement for lack of education and preparation? Of course not. That said, there are things that adrenaline and gut feeling and curiosity can help you accomplish that no amount of caution and analysis and book smarts ever could.
I've had the luck to write about politics professionally, and I've always been confounded by the pitiful number of women in the highest ranks of American politics (13%) as compared to in other countries. The prevailing wisdom is that the women who do seek office were usually asked to -- nay, coerced -- by a spouse, or by someone senior in their community. Women, it is said, usually do not think themselves capable of such positions. Yes, lack of confidence sucks. But if you can't be a confident woman in the largest, freest democracy and the greatest economic power on the planet, where the hell else can you be? I am not sounding a jingoist tune; this is a call to action. I don't want to live in a world where the most talented women have to be nagged to death to step up to the plate and take charge. We also don't need the world to collapse under the weight of irrational testosterone-driven gambles* for women to wake up. Oh wait, it already is.
Whenever I thought about male-dominated fields, I used to wonder about the women inside them, yearning to release wretched tales of wretched lives spent deleting pornography and golf invitations from their inboxes, and having male partners offer to lick vodka off of their elbows at after-work events. Or worse, I imagined characters straight out of Liar's Poker : abrasive, uncouth, unhinged, but in high heels. Now when I look at boys' clubs and hear about glass ceilings, I'm starting to think what some guys have privately suspected, 'It's all in your head.'
It's not in anyone's head. But if women are not assuming leadership for fear of looking presumptuous, for fear of making mistakes, then you are not women, you are girls. Grow up. If you are abstaining from the game because the current rules don't make sense, then come change them. Please.
*[For academic studies on this topic, you may check out Finance Professor Andrew Lo's work.]
Not only was my thesis annulled 6 months into the corporate world, but I've stopped laying blame at the feet of men -- many of whom have gone above and beyond to support me professionally. My new thoughts: Women, you need to 1) take more risks, 2) stop keeping each other down, and 3) accept help from anyone who gives it-men, women, livestock, whatever. The professional experiences in my life that have been the most fruitful have all arisen from pure chance and risk-taking. Have I done things that were over my head? Absolutely. But, I don't believe one gets anywhere worthwhile in life by waiting for opportunities, skills, and interests to perfectly align. Is this an endorsement for lack of education and preparation? Of course not. That said, there are things that adrenaline and gut feeling and curiosity can help you accomplish that no amount of caution and analysis and book smarts ever could.
I've had the luck to write about politics professionally, and I've always been confounded by the pitiful number of women in the highest ranks of American politics (13%) as compared to in other countries. The prevailing wisdom is that the women who do seek office were usually asked to -- nay, coerced -- by a spouse, or by someone senior in their community. Women, it is said, usually do not think themselves capable of such positions. Yes, lack of confidence sucks. But if you can't be a confident woman in the largest, freest democracy and the greatest economic power on the planet, where the hell else can you be? I am not sounding a jingoist tune; this is a call to action. I don't want to live in a world where the most talented women have to be nagged to death to step up to the plate and take charge. We also don't need the world to collapse under the weight of irrational testosterone-driven gambles* for women to wake up. Oh wait, it already is.
Whenever I thought about male-dominated fields, I used to wonder about the women inside them, yearning to release wretched tales of wretched lives spent deleting pornography and golf invitations from their inboxes, and having male partners offer to lick vodka off of their elbows at after-work events. Or worse, I imagined characters straight out of Liar's Poker : abrasive, uncouth, unhinged, but in high heels. Now when I look at boys' clubs and hear about glass ceilings, I'm starting to think what some guys have privately suspected, 'It's all in your head.'
It's not in anyone's head. But if women are not assuming leadership for fear of looking presumptuous, for fear of making mistakes, then you are not women, you are girls. Grow up. If you are abstaining from the game because the current rules don't make sense, then come change them. Please.
*[For academic studies on this topic, you may check out Finance Professor Andrew Lo's work.]
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posted 11/25/09 @ 9:50 PM EST
It is very interesring article!
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