Women in the business world

We all know the image of the hard-faced businesswoman we have come to know on television and film but is being tough the only way for a woman to survive and thrive in the business world. I decided what find out what it really means to be a businesswoman in 2020.

In a perfect world gender equality would be a given in every part of life, however corporate boards are still heavily dominated by men all over the world and the stereotypes of the women who are in the boardroom are rarely positive. In this article I will look at the reality of being a woman within the world of business.

Having more women in organisations has been shown to improve financial performance, on average while also increasing group performance and innovation, this is according to research done by Catalyst – a non-profit organisation which has a mission to expand opportunities for women. So, with research results like this surely more business would be hiring more women further up the chain.

In today’s world there are women who are leaders in business, sports and even politics. These are the women pushing boundaries and changing stereotypes, but this does not mean the stereotypes do not still exist and there isn’t still a long way to go to level the playing field.

Most stereotypes of women in business come from the media. Television and film that look at women who have climbed the corporate ladder and by doing so are now cold hearted and often must be ‘mean’ to stay where they are.

The Devil Wear Parada is a film showing just this. The film about the running of a high-end fashion magazine is unique in a way as many of the main protagonists all are career women. The film is also good for show casing a woman in a senior role of the company, able to show influence as well as holding a vast amount of power and control. The editor of the magazine (Miranda Priestly played by Meryl Streep) is someone who is easily able to show her power as a woman. And while the film successfully promotes women in a position of authority. The Tone of which Miranda is portrayed shows a negative perception of women within high power roles.

This film reinforces multiple wrongly placed stereotypes about women in business. The editor is cold, ruthless and often demands perfection. Many see her as self-obsessed and willing to betray her closest friends in order to advance her career. Her attitude reflects on that such as an ‘ice queen’. In her private life her family is falling apart only supporting the notion that women cannot have a successful full-time career while managing a happy family life.

All these stereotypes have influenced the reality of the business world today and where women stand. I spoke to Bernice Saltzer, the owner of a successful PR company, and she had this to say, “It is about instinct, that is what you need to be successful. If you are good at what you do and servicing a need then gender doesn’t matter”.

I wondered how women in business were viewed in other parts of the world with so many large companies now being international. Nagyezsda Nagy-Loginovszkaja has worked for large international companies since 2006, she believes working for large companies gave her more opportunities and dynamic career development.

We spoke about how she had gotten where she was today working for such a large multinational company and if she thought that any of her struggles had come from being a woman her response was “I would say it was rather interrupted, by the fact that at certain point I (or rather we) decided to focus on family and children. I spend 6 years in total being on maternity leave and working between 2 kids. I believe it is always something to do with the values, the business environment and the cultural values of the country, where you live. In my case, Hungary is a very masculine country with the business environment affected by difficult past. Here they try to promote family values often in a “cloudy” way.”

So, thinking about this, is its western society that has forced this preconception that businesswomen are the ice queen?  Women in this industry have time and time again come across roadblocks due to their gender. Mrs Saltzer told us of a business meeting she had once attended where she had been asked where her husband was, and while situations like these are becoming more and more rare as playing field levels, there are still many struggles that women face.

The issues and prejudice women face change depending on sector, the individual themselves and cultural background. Some women around the world face more of a struggle to succeed in the business world purely because within their culture they are possibly just not meant to. Nagyezsda Nagy-Loginovszkaja commented on this saying,

 “As for stereotypes and biased opinion, I believe it varies by country and the cultural background. Moving more to the East, the stereotyping is stronger, comparing that to the West business and culture. I would say there is not a truth behind stereotypes, but culture behind it. Compare, in the Russian culture a woman is supposed “to be married, cook, clean, take care of the family and look pretty”. If we look at the Dutch or Scandinavian culture, a woman is much stronger and dominant there: male and female are partners with equal opportunities and responsibilities. On my experience culture is projected onto business.”

 Most women I spoke to agreed that in recent years however, there has been a change in the way women are seen within the business world and it is slowly becoming a more equal environment with more women rising to higher positions within businesses. Bernice Slatzer spoke of the changes she has seen in the favour over women over the past 10 years how it can be difficult to be a woman in a man’s world but with ambition and the right drive and focus you can still achieve greatly as a woman in the business world.

Danielle Jackson works in Network marketing which is one of the few sectors that is female dominated. When speaking about how she got where she is and barriers she may of faced she made this comment which I saw as very hopeful and positive for the world of business and its inclusion of women “I 100% believe that actually being a woman in business is even more powerful right now. There is an incredible female community at the moment.”

Hopefully this is right, and we can begin to change those stereotypes knowing a woman can be exactly who they are no ice queens or hard faces needed and still succeed in the business world.