Female Employees Hurt by Gender Power Imbalance
According to Forbes, smart career leaders should be striving for power balance in the workplace now more than ever.
Forbes feels, “that if executives and business leaders want to thrive and drive their organizations forward — they must find ways to create level playing fields where respectful communications, open discussion forums and a general lack of status allow people to create and win.”
Power imbalance occurs in the workplace every single day. There is not a single industry that is immune.
Here, some of those who have witnessed or lived that imbalance talk on their experiences:
Mickey Grace is a female football coach who coaches at the high school, collegiate and NFL level. She is the only female coach on her high school team, a skills trainer and head coach of the Philly Phantomz. In her interview, Grace talks about the conversations that happen in the world of sports when a female speaks.
Joanne Trindel is a liaison officer at The United States Department of Defense. In her interview, Trindel gives examples of power imbalance that she has personally witnessed.
Raffaella D’ariano is an Italian professor and mother of two. D’ariano grew up in a small town in Italy called San Marco de Benevento. She talks about how she was able to break the mold of power imbalance in her native country of Italy.
“I am a professor at high school. I have from 14-18 years, students. I decided to be a teacher from when I was 15,16 because I like very much to explain how can you play with a game, how can you use these machines. How can you study math or physics? But I like very much. I am a lucky person because I am a lot woman didn’t do the work they wanted to do. I like very much to stay between students to see there eyes brighten when they understand something more, it’s the best work I can do. I have a lot of friends in university, they studied like me math or physics or engineer. They started to work to farms but they discovered this work was not what they think. When they arrive to have a family or have children. They were having much difficulty. In Italy there is not attention for women who are pregnant or having a child or have small children. There are a lot of women now(the young mothers) that must leave work and stay at home with the children.”
Rep. Brian Sims is a State Representative for the 182nd District of Pennsylvania. Sims has witnessed women in his field struggle.
Mary-Kay Burke is the CEO of White Horse Village in Newtown Square, Pa. In her interview, Burke breaks down the systemic causes and lack of opportunities for women in the workforce.
Aide Cuenca is an International Graduate Assistant at Cabrini University. Cuenca was born and raised in Ecuador. In this interview, she paints a picture of society’s preconceived notions of what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl.”
By Emily Janny
