1.0 Introduction
Women around the world continue to study and work in male dominated industries. Women everywhere have contributed to major roles and efforts in business and government sectors. However, women still struggle from multiple issues within the workplace that hinders them from reaching their full potential and creating a positive, empowering workplace. This report will identify and explore the issues women face in the workplace and evaluate three well-known business women as case studies.
2.0 Context and issues
‘Despite the fact that women are graduating from university at higher rates than men, …women are under-represented in the labour market. …[This] has been widely recognised as having detrimental effects on individual workplaces and the wider economy …costing the nation billions of dollars in the form of an unrealised productivity potential.’ (Australian workplace of Statistics, 2015).
A major issue that women face is the glass ceiling. The glass ceiling is an invisible limit in corporations and organizations, where women stop rising up in the ranks; they hit the ‘glass ceiling’ and cannot go any further, purely because of their gender. The glass ceiling is a metaphor for the hard-to-see informal barriers that keep women from getting promotions, pay rises and further opportunities in most industries.
It is glass because it’s not usually a visible barrier, and a woman may not be aware of its existence until she “hits” the barrier. In other words, it’s not an explicit practice of discriminating against women though specific policies, practices, and attitudes may exist that produce this barrier without intention to discriminate.
The glass ceiling is a very prominent issue relating to women in the workplace however, there are other issues and hinderances that women face in relation to working. These are as follows:
- Male dominated industries
- The parent trap (work-family balance)
- Sexism
- Pay gap
- Domesticity
- Characteristics (male versus female)
- Bias (male over female)
Some examples of male dominated industries, government figures show fewer than 2 per cent of construction, automotive and electrical tradespeople in Australia are women.
Australia also has a prominent pay gap that affects all women. Australia’s full-time gender pay gap is 14.6%, Women earn on average $244.80 per week less than men (WGEA, 2018).
These statistics display the prevalent issue women face in the workplace and the inequalities women have to fight for.
3.0 Findings
In this section, three women’s lives and careers will be identified and explored. They all have faced these issues and broken through the glass ceiling in their respective areas of expertise. These women are Therese Rein, Madeleine Albright, and Oprah Winfrey.
3.1 Therese Rein
Therese Rein is an Australian entrepreneur who is the founder of Ingeus, an international employment and business psychology services company. She was the first Australian Prime Minister’s wife to remain in the paid workforce while her husband was in office. In 1986 she worked part-time as a rehabilitation counsellor, primarily helping people get back into the workforce. In 1988 she founded Thérèse Rein and Associates, later Ingeus. This international employment services agency assists jobseekers, in particular long-term unemployed people, enter the workforce.
Removing barriers for the disabled is an issue close to Rein’s heart. Her late father, John, was paralysed during World War II and went on and won gold for Australia as an archer in the predecessor of the Paralympics.
“There are lots of ways of being in the world and what I’m interested in doing is ensuring there are not artificial barriers, either of prejudice, or negative expectations, or physical barriers to entry, or, kind of, invisible barriers to participation for people,” she said (Sydney Morning Herald, 2009).
3.2 Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright is a former American politician and diplomat who in more recent years has authored several New York Times best-selling books. She was the first female Secretary of State in U.S. history, having served from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. She is well known for setting the way for women in politics and for her women empowerment stance.
At the time of her appointment, she was the highest-ranking woman in history of the U.S. government. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996. Prior to her post as Secretary of State, she represented the U.S. in the United Nations, and in 2012 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.
‘Even before I went to the UN, I often would want to say something in a meeting – only woman at the table – and I’d think, ‘OK well, I don’t think I’ll say that. It may sound stupid.’ And then some man says it, and everybody thinks it’s completely brilliant, and you are so mad at yourself for not saying something’ (ABC News, 2018).
3.3 Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey’s rise to the top of the media world did not come without struggle and pain. The Oprah Winfrey Show ran between the years of 1986 and 2011. Winfrey has also co-founded a cable broadcasting company, published a magazine, launched a successful book club, and maintains her own media network with Discovery Communications. Winfrey also stays active in a variety of charitable campaigns. Furthermore, she started her own “female-owned business” – a production company – and continued to build on her success and popularity. Oprah is a business woman, an entrepreneur, an activist and journalist.
‘Oprah Winfrey overcame many hurdles during her rise as a television star, Archambeau claims that women are generally ousted from playing big roles in TV news by age 40, while “balding, paunchy men” routinely stay on the air way past their 60th birthdays’ (Forbes, 2006).
4.0 Discussion
This discussion will interpret the findings of the three women and analyse and evaluate the issues and obstacles they have faced in their careers. It will discuss how they dealt with and overcame these difficulties and most importantly broke through the glass ceiling.
4.1 Therese Rein
Therese Rein was heavily influenced by her father and mother. Her father, a former Royal Air Force Navigator suffered severe spinal cord damage during a plane crash in the War, and was a paraplegic as a result. Despite doctors telling him that he would never work again, he became an aeronautical engineer. Her mother was the head of the physiotherapy section. ‘It’s little wonder, then, that the young Rein became interested in rehabilitation and advocacy for people with physical disabilities, nor that she inherited the same determination and ambition that characterised her parents’ (AIB, 2016). From this influence Rein continued to work hard and study.
Her biggest challenges working with the government and welfare sector as a business woman, was the lack of representation of women in business and the conflict of interest with her politician husband, Kevin Rudd.
Despite the statistics in Appendix 1, Rein has succeeded to defy the business industry data for women. As shown in Appendix 1, in all levels of management of a business, woman sit well below the halfway line in relation to males who hold these positions. Only 16.5% of business heads and CEO’s represent females. Rein overcame these statistics by being a successful business entrepreneur.
One of the biggest issues she has faced was her husband, Kevin Rudd’s political career. ‘Kevin Rudd’s leap in the opinion polls brought mounting speculation about the consequences of a possible Labor win on the business interests of the Opposition leader’s wife.’ (AIB, 2016). This is because Therese Rein owns and runs the third biggest provider of services to the Canberra Job Network. Her company employed 1,300 people and it brought in $175 million in revenue, for the most part, directly from the Federal Government. ‘The question her husband would have to ponder at that point is what to do about her business – a business that relies almost exclusively on the Federal Government for its $175 million in annual revenue’ (AIB, 2016). After the 2007 Australian Federal Election, Rudd became Prime Minister of Australia. It was apparent that Rudd would win the election from pre-election polling. Hence, to avoid the conflict of interest, Rein sold the Australian arm of Ingeus. Therefore, Rein had to sell most of her business for her husband’s career.
Despite the sacrifices she made for her husband’s political career, she still was successful in continuing her business overseas and under other management in Australia. Rein continued at the helm until 2012, when she sold the company to US firm Providence Service Corporation in a deal that catapulted her onto the BRW Rich List with a personal payday of $220 million. Rein agreed to stay on as managing director for five years as part of an ‘earn out’ package.
Furthermore, in 2012, Rein entered the BRW Rich List with a personal net worth of $210 million, which was notable both because she is a woman – only 16 of the 200 people on the list were female in 2012 – and because her wealth doesn’t come from an inheritance. Even rarer, Rein has found success within the welfare sector, which is heavily regulated and not known for its riches. ‘Rein is the original self-made woman, a ‘super mum’ who has headed a multi-million dollar international company, raised a family and still found time for passionate advocacy of the many causes dear to her heart’ (AIB, 2016).
In conclusion, for Therese Rein the ‘glass ceiling’, was breaking into a male dominated industry and dealing with her personal life, and accepting her husband’s career over her own.
4.2 Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright made history as America’s first female Secretary of State. But like many women, she has at times struggled to speak out confidently, especially in meetings where she’s been surrounded entirely by men.
The US government and politics is heavily dominated by men and always has been. From research in 2015, only 19.4 percent of women held the total 535 seats in Congress. This is below the international average of 21.9 percent of women in national legislatures, and puts the U.S. at 75th out of 189 elected governments in the world for female representation in parliament (Moss, 2015).
Madeleine Albright was born in 1937 in Prague. As a child, she moved with her family to the United States. After studying at Wellesley College and Columbia University, Albright entered politics at the urging of a former professor. In 1993, Albright became the American ambassador to the United Nations, and three years later she was appointed Secretary of State in the Clinton administration, making her the first woman to have ever held the position. Albright served in that capacity for several years before leaving in 2001 to pursue other projects (Biography, 2018).
Albright was married and a mother of twins, this was a big issue she had to face in her career. She commented in a TED women interview, ‘there were other women who criticized me: “Why aren’t you in the carpool line?” or “Aren’t your children suffering because you’re not there all the time?” And I think we have a tendency to make each other feel guilty’ (TED, 2014). Despite the traditional role of women being heavily reinforced to Albright, she continued to strive high in her career, which she certainly succeeded in doing.
Another key issue for Albright was struggling in a male dominated industry. A long quote from Albright expresses being the only woman in a room of men. This is pictured in Appendix 3.
‘I went to my first meeting, first at the U.N., and that’s when this all started, because that is a very male organization. And I’m sitting there — there are 15 members of the Security Council — so 14 men sat there staring at me, and I thought — well you know how we all are. You want to get the feeling of the room, and “do people like me?” and “will I really say something intelligent?” And all of a sudden I thought, “Well, wait a minute. I am sitting behind a sign that says ‘The United States,’ and if I don’t speak today then the voice of the United States will not be heard,” and it was the first time that I had that feeling that I had to step out of myself in my normal, reluctant female mode and decide that I had to speak on behalf of our country. And so that happened more at various times, but I really think that there was a great advantage in many ways to being a woman. I think we are a lot better at personal relationships, and then have the capability obviously of telling it like it is when it’s necessary’ (TED, 2014).
Madeleine Albright overcame the male dominated industry (US government and international governments) and spoke up to break the glass ceiling, proving to everyone women have a voice and are capable at fulfilling the positions that are only visible for men. To show her achievements and her overcoming of the glass ceiling, Albright has a famous pin that is ‘breaking the glass ceiling’, this is shown in Appendix 2.
4.3 Oprah Winfrey
Oprah is an image of female strength. Growing up poor and raise by a single mother was a challenge Oprah had to overcome. She was a victim of assault and sexual abuse as a child and fell pregnant at the very young age of 14, although she lost her baby when it was conceived. She overcame this adversity and threw herself into her studies and continued to work hard despite these difficulties.
As a poor black woman, any career was hard for Oprah to attain. From research conducted in 2014 in America, statistics have been made in the form of graphs to display the spread of different groups in the media industry. From looking at appendix 4, women in the media and television industry represent a percentage much less than men. Roughly a ratio of 60% men and 30% women. Also shown in appendix 5, for an African-American in the media industry they represent only 20%, whereas, white Americans represent 60% (Statistics portal, 2014).
Oprah overcame these statistics that stacked her career against her, just before leaving for college, aged 17, she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant, and was hired by a local radio station, WVOL, to read the news part-time while still at high school. And at 19, she dropped out of her degree when she was offered a job as the youngest, and the first black, female news anchor at Nashville’s WLAC-TV. She is quoted saying, ‘My thing is: do it. You want to see the changes? Then get out there and make them yourself’ (Mulkerrins, 2017).
From this moment on Oprah struggled landing jobs, often being rejected and fired from local news companies purely based off her race and gender. But these difficulties did not deter Oprah from her goal of being successful in this male dominated industry (film and media). This is apparent in her success in the following years and the present day.
Oprah Winfrey’s career has spanned every form of media and beyond. She has had a turn in being an actress, talk show host, producer, and philanthropist. Among Oprah Winfrey’s greatest accomplishments are being Chairwoman and CEO of both Harpo Productions and The Oprah Winfrey Network. She has co-authored five books, and has started The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, a school designed to educate and develop the leadership skills of young women in South Africa. And as if that’s not enough, Winfrey has been featured in TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people on an impressive 10 occasions.
‘Some have deemed Oprah the most influential woman in the world’ (Ganchrow, 2015). She has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, as well as an honorary doctorate degree from Harvard. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and is one of few black billionaires in North America.
Though Oprah Winfrey’s greatest accomplishments are never ending, as she refuses to rest on her laurels, her goals have always been to inspire and motivate others. She continues to set examples for the world to see and, hopefully, follow (Ganchrow, 2015). Despite all of the hardships and difficulties she has had to overcome in her career being an African- American woman in a male dominated industry.
‘Dubbed the “Queen of All Media,” through hard work and determination, Oprah left behind the poverty and pain of her childhood to become a billionaire, and not just any billionaire – the first black woman billionaire in world history, and one of the most influential people in the world.’ (Mulkerrins, 2017).
5.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, women face a myriad of issues in every workplace, across every job and industry. Although consciousness for workplace equality is becoming more and more realised and achieved, statistics of women in high ranking positions across businesses, politics, science and medicine are still shocking. In 2018, women only hold 13.7% of chair positions and 24.9% of directorships, and represent 16.5% of CEOs and 29.7% of key management personnel (WEGA, 2018). The three women discussed in this report have all faced many diverse issues in their respected areas. Therese Rein, Madeleine Albright and Oprah Winfrey have all broken through their own glass ceilings and paved the way for women after them. Organisations all around the world should implement more positions to educated females for a better future for everyone. As Madeleine Albright once said, ‘societies are more stable if women are politically and economically empowered (ABC, 2018).
6.0 Reference List
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Allen, T. (2017). Six Hard Truths For Women Regarding The Glass Ceiling. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/terinaallen/2018/08/25/six-6-hard-truths-for-women-regarding-that-glass-ceiling/ [Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].
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Lewis, J. (2017). Glass Ceiling: What Is It? Does One Exist?. [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/glass-ceiling-for-women-definition-3530823 [Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].
Moss, H. (2015). 26 Stats about Women in Government | GovLoop. [online] GovLoop. Available at: https://www.govloop.com/26-stats-women-goverment/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2018].
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TED Women – Madeleine Albright. (2014). On being a woman and a diplomat. [online] Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/madeleine_albright_on_being_a_woman_and_a_diplomat?language=en [Accessed 30 Oct. 2018].
The Sydney Morning Herald. (2009). The lady of The Lodge: demystifying the PM’s wife. [online] Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-lady-of-the-lodge-demystifying-the-pms-wife-20090717-do8j.html [Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].
7.0 Appendix
Appendix 1: Business industry Australian statistics
(WEGA, 2018).
Appendix 2: Madeleine Albright ‘breaking the glass ceiling’ brooch.
Appendix 3: Madeleine Albright being the only woman in the room.
Appendix 4: Graph displaying the percentage of female to males working in the media and television industry.
Dark blue: Female
Light blue: Male
Appendix 5: Graph displaying the ethnicity of women working in the media and television industry.