Featured In This Issue / Women Working with Women

Women Working with Women
by Bergetta Scavelli, Salem County's One Stop Career Center

Take a few moments and consider your relationships with women at work. Despite the statistics that tell us we’ve made it, fully integrated, into the world of work, women still face unique interpersonal challenges in the workplace. Are we, like those we railed against to get here, guilty of harboring a different expectation of women then we do of our male bosses and peers? Let’s take a look at those perceptions that lie beneath the surface that may make us look at ourselves and our own tendencies towards our gender in the workplace, a little differently. 

Authority is accepted differently from males in leadership roles then from females. You may observe a situation where a female leader does what is expected of them in their role - holds a subordinate accountable - and their actions are not accepted or well received. I’m not saying that if a male leader did the same thing, subordinates may not react, but I would be willing to bet, they’d get over it quicker and less name calling would ensue. Are we witnessing a continuing double standard where underneath it all, women are still expected to “walk softly?” We have to learn to accept female authority. Our female leaders have earned their right.

When we look at female peer relationships, another troubling phenomenon is sometimes seen. I can personally say, in my working life, the most nightmarish run-ins that I have had in prior jobs have been with other women. Have you ever been given dirty looks, ignored, treated disrespectfully, or had rumors spread about you by another female in the workplace? Not all bullies in the workplace are men. Don’t be the woman who stands in front of the proverbial glass ceiling so no other women may break through. I think we, above anyone else, should understand how phenomenally difficult each others’ journeys and have been. Don’t be another obstacle for someone who already has too many. Have mercy.

Here’s the other side of this coin - when female relationships in the workplace are healthy, there is nothing better. I am grateful today, to have learned to value and foster these types of relationships. Female co-workers share similar roles and identity simply because we are women, can make going to work a pleasure, provide a special system of checks and balances, and help you grow through honest support and feedback. Reach out to your sisters in the workplace. Develop some “vital friends.”  Enjoy the fellowship of each other. Talk to other women in the workplace, form networks and groups to support one another. 

It’s time for us to model a heightened level of support and encouragement. And for those females who do come into work everyday and stand at the helm, reach out a manicured hand and help another woman along. Your encouragement will mean a lot. Invest in making time for other women and in the end, you’ll see you’ve also invested in yourself in ways that you would not have thought you had time for. 

59.5% of the United States’ 121 million women over the age of 16 are labor force participants - working or looking for work. By 2016, it is projected that women will comprise 47% of the total labor force. 75% of employed women work full-time. 51% of all highly paid workers are women. Our rate of unemployment is lower then that of our male counterparts. 

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, 2008 Annual Averages and the Monthly Labor Review, November 2007.

Bergetta Scavelli, Job Developer
Salem Community College/Salem County One Stop Career Center
bscavelli@salemcc.edu
856-351-2206