Some people have interpreted the success of the female candidates in the last MEP elections as a sign that ‘women can do it for themselves’. Fellow blogger and friend Ramona Depares for instance interpreted this political success as a sign that positive discrimination is not required for women to get to positions of power, even in the business/working world.

Ramona and I agree on most things, especially on the absolute and vital importance of coffee, but I absolutely cannot agree with her on this one. Here’s why:

CHOICE

Historically, women have stayed away from politics. Up to a few years ago female candidates were always few and far between. Parliamentary life is so family unfriendly that political parties have always struggled to get women interested in political life at all.

So, whilst in politics the electorate used to have a very small choice of women to choose from (when compared to men) in these elections, they were ‘spoilt’ for choice, and va va voom, four women got elected.

This is not the case in the business world where women have been forever present and making it as far as they can, for a long time. And yet, their presence in the boardroom is still close to insignificant.

The difference is that in the business world people don’t get elected into positions of power. Like men, women are chosen, hand-picked and put into those positions or promoted from lower positions, by a powerful few, usually men.

In business, women need to convince a handful of people, (sometimes even just one person) and have their entire career path depend on them opening that one door. This is a completely different ball game to an election where your peers can choose to vote for you depending on whether you convince them of your abilities or not.

PAY

The way things stand at the moment, even when women do make it to the higher echelons of the business world, they are still paid less than their male counterparts. This is a fact that’s been shown over and over again all over the world, proving that not only is there a glass ceiling, but also that, when we finally break through it, we are paid less.

There’s usually nothing much women can do about this primarily because in the business world, salary packages are usually kept under wraps, and secondly because once again, job descriptions and responsibility worth, are decided upon by the powerful few, again, usually men. This is not the case with politics where salary brackets are public and streamlined and can be contested should there be any discrepancy.

APPEARANCES

Women are still judged by their looks. A very recent study by Dartmouth College found that "…female politicians with more feminine features tend to win elections, while those with more masculine features tend to lose. The study found that “whether a female politician was going to win or lose an election could be predicted within just 380 milliseconds after participants were exposed to her face. And, the more conservative the participant's ideological leanings, the more likely they were to prefer a woman candidate with very traditional feminine features.” 

In other words - males are more likely to be judged by their abilities or rather their ability to convince us about their abilities, whilst females are more likely to be judged by their ability to appeal to the eye.

You might be shaking your head in disagreement but have a look at the Maltese female candidates who made it through to the European Parliament, especially the two who made it on their own steam. They are highly qualified, highly experienced, very capable, and yes extremely feminine. Oh! and the last time I checked neither one of them wore a wig.

DOORS THAT DON’T OPEN

Ramona Depares rightly argues that if you “open a door a crack for a smart woman she will turn it into a full blow opportunity”. The problem is that in most cases the proverbial crack is sealed shut either because the woman in question still has a functioning uterus, or because the all-knowing CEO doesn’t want any ‘distractions’ or sexual tension, in the boardroom. Sometimes it even boils down to the old boys’ club and the female’s resistance to attend Friday night drinks for some over-the-bar negotiations.

CHILDREN

Women will always be the ones bearing children, and no matter how modern we get and how hands-on fathers become, in the majority of cases, women will always be the main caregivers, to their children and to their elderly parents. There’s nothing we can ever do that’s going to change this. This means that the chances that a woman will take a career break to do one of these things is ten thousand times higher than it is for a man. So even we were to believe that male managers are not intrinsically sexist, they would still feel that investing in men more than they invest in women is for the ‘good’ of their business.

One last word for Ramona - like divorce and civil unions, I wish I were wrong about this, but I honestly believe that had we to wait for the gender imbalance to correct itself, our generation would not be around to see it.

 

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