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The
administration sees green shoots appearing in the economic data.
We share that optimism. But we're focused on the arrival of a
different color -- we see a pink lining in this recession. In
the midst of all the fiscal gloom, the stress over stress tests,
there is a part of the population which is, in fact, benefiting
from the economic environment. Women. America is on the verge of
the biggest workplace revolution since the Second World War.
Back then, women were ushered into the work force in vast,
unprecedented numbers. And they stayed. Now a different national
crisis is set to remake the labor force. In a new and dramatic
fashion. We call this seismic shift Womenomics:
the emergence of a new workforce dynamic that is giving women
the power to tailor their work lives to better suit their needs.
It is a revolution that will allow us to live and work the way
we've always wanted.
We have enormous professional clout today. Clout that most
women don't even know about. Survey after survey from California
to Norway shows that women are not only good for business, but
that companies that employ more senior women actually make more
money. Call it Pink Profits. The female management style is seen
as distinct -- and even better. We're more inclusive, more
focused on long-term results and more risk-averse. The buzz this
year at Davos? How much better off the economic world would be
right now if there had been more sisters at Lehman Brothers.
Women are no longer employed as a polite nod to office
diversity; we get the jobs because we get the job done - and
bring in the profits.
Moreover, in this downturn men are losing their jobs at a
faster pace than women. Any day now we will make up a majority
in the U.S. labor market. Women are also better educated than
men, with more of the coveted graduate degrees that are key
indicators of professional and managerial success. And we have
the power of our purses. We consume more than men (in 2007, for
the first time women even bought more cars than men) and those
spending dollars give us huge leverage. Who knows how to cater
to our tastes better than we do?
Could it be that it's okay -- finally -- to state the
obvious? We're not men.
We not only don't work the same way -- we don't want the same
things or relish the climb up the corporate ladder with such
testosterone-driven zeal. We have come to realize that the old
career goal of "having it all" really meant "doing it all", that
doesn't work for us. Indeed, those 60-hour work weeks, the
office-meeting-to-day-care-closing dashes, the juggling and
struggling -- they all tend to push us out the corporate door
forever. As Harvard Business School discovered a few years ago,
when women are faced with the agonizing choice between career
and kids, the children tend to win.
But in a Womenomics world, we don't have to make that choice
anymore. We now have so much clout in the marketplace that we're
not prepared to sit meekly at the boardroom table anymore. We're
rebuilding that table and making it more female friendly.
All across America professional women are carving out work
lives that really suit them. Lives where they have time for
children, elderly parents, pets, marathons or just themselves.
Four out of five of us say we want more flexibility at work.
More and more of us want less responsibility. We no longer see
our careers as ladders but as waves. We are asking for -- and
for the first time, in big numbers, we are getting -- the right
to dial our careers down and dial them back up, according to our
needs.
It's not always easy or straightforward -- but we're choosing
to negotiate, to push, for work arrangements that allow us to
keep our careers rather than abandon them. And it's working,
because (who knew?) we're valuable! The mommy-track isn't a
seldom-traveled road to nowhere anymore. It's become a busy
path, often shared by men these days, and one that can still
lead to the upper eschelons. Gen Y, in fact, won't travel any
other way, and employers are rushing to accommodate.
And here's the really exciting thing; the companies that let
us work the way we want are discovering huge benefits.
Businesses like Best Buy, which have thrown out the clocks and
now judge performance entirely on results rather than hours
spent in the cubicle, have seen their productivity increase
enormously -- sometimes by as much as 40%. Why? Because if you
treat women, and men, like adults, it should be little surprise
their performance improves.
Hang on, you're probably thinking. What about the big R word?
Won't the recession just put an end to all of this nutty-crunch,
feel-good stuff? On the contrary. The truth is rocky economic
times are speeding the change. Companies that can no longer
reward employees with hefty bonuses, or even any additional cash
at all, are looking for more creative ways to hang on to
valuable talent. Women, the majority of whom will trade status
and dollars for time, are suddenly finding their employers more
receptive to alternative work schedules than they were during
boom times. And so women are doubly desirable employees now,
because not only is our work valued, but our values make us more
flexible to strapped employers. Since time is our critical
currency, since we're often looking beyond money alone, we can
help employers ride out the crises while reaping benefits
ourselves.
Four-day work weeks, furloughs, working from home to save on
real-estate costs--all of these once exotic arrangements have
become even more commonplace in recent months. And just as with
the arrival of women in factories in the 1940s -- things will
never be the same. Because these moves aren't just a short-term
fix. They will usher in efficiencies and productivity boosts
that so far, only enlightened companies have benefited from, and
that the newcomers won't want to lose.
The world of Womenomics has arrived. Don't let the gloomy
economic headlines frighten you. It's a terrific time to be a
professional woman.
©2009 Claire Shipman & Katty Kay, authors of Womenomics:
Write Your Own Rules for Success
Author Bios Claire Shipman & Katty Kay are co-authors of
Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success.
Claire Shipman is the senior national correspondent
for ABC News' Good Morning America and a regular on This Week
with George Stephanopoulos. Previously, Shipman was the White
House correspondent for NBC news and a reporter for CNN in
Moscow, where she earned multiple awards for her coverage of the
demise of the Soviet Union. She currently lives in Washington,
D.C., with her husband and two children.
Katty Kay is the Washington correspondent and anchor
for BBC World News America. She is also a contributor on Meet
the Press, The Charlie Rose Show, and The Chris Matthews Show,
as well as a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR. Kay grew
up in the middle East and now lives in Washington, D.C., with
her husband and four children. Womenomics
Womenomics Write Your Own Rules for Success
By Claire Shipman and Katty Kay
Published by Harper June 2009;$27.99US/;978-0-06-169718-0May 2009
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