FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Dallas, TX) Behavioral scientist Shannon
L. Goodson says women did not create the
glass ceiling -- the notorious invisible
barrier blamed for limiting the career prospects
of females -- but they help maintain it.
In a scientific paper entitled "The
Role of Gender and Attitude Toward 'Selling'
vs 'Task' Orientation in Executive Career
Advancement," recently presented at
a convention of the Southeastern Psychological
Association, Goodson said visibility management
plays a key role in maintaining salary and
status disparities between men and women.
"Women with similar education and experience
still earn less than their male counterparts,"
she explained. "Clearly, for women,
there remains a missing link between performance
and payoff." The absent ingredient,
she found is "The ability of women
to comfortably and consistently draw the
attention we deserve to the contributions
we make."
In a study of 322 men and women executives,
Goodson found that women are considerably
less comfortable promoting themselves than
men. Many believe all self-promotion is
unacceptable and have been taught that hard
work alone is sufficient to eventually put
them on a par with men. They also tend to
be "over-preparers," making sure
their work is technically correct instead
of making sure it is technically correct
and noticed by influential people in the
organization.
Compounding the problem is the scarcity
of effective support networks for women
like those which traditionally nurture up-and-coming
male employees. Goodson unflinchingly blames
career women themselves for their failure
to provide effective support for one another.
Women who do make it to the top often fail
to reach out to other women coming up the
ranks behind them. To illustrate, Goodson
quoted an Australian report: "When
women get to the top of the corporate ladder,
they pull up the ladder behind them."
Goodson found that even women who understand
how important visibility management is in
the modern workplace often hesitate to translate
their knowledge into effective self-presentational
behaviors; "Women can be competent,
assertive role models without becoming pinstriped
male clones. But no one's going to do it
for them, not even other women who have
made it to the top. If career women want
to earn what they're worth, they have to
learn to help themselves -- and each other
-- shine more brightly in today's competitive
work settings."
Goodson, co-author of The Psychology of
Sales Call Reluctance®: Earning What
You're Worth in Sales, is a leading authority
on the influence of fear on the performance
of people at work. For more information,
call 972.243.8543 or visit the web site
at www.BSRPInc.com. |
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