McKinsey & Company releases annual studies of women in corporate America, usually with interesting and provocative conclusions. This year’s report is out, and it’s worth a read. It’s clear that women are not advancing in the workplace as much as numbers would suggest they should, but why is that? We’ll ignore the doofuses who say that it’s because women aren’t smart enough or don’t have the “right stuff”; I dare anyone who thinks that to go tell their mother that on Sunday.
Instead, it’s a range of social and institutional factors, intertwined. Some are cultural, some are discriminatory, and some confirm everyone’s worst suspicions about business (e.g., that the most senior executives in a company care more about personal agendas than the enterprises they run, and who wants to be part of that silly game?) They go far beyond tired saws about women quitting to have babies, and that’s nice.
Anyway, give it a read, and let me know what you think.
