In this episode of The Business Woman TV, author, journalist and speaker Catherine Fox discusses why we need to stop giving women “advice” and instead examining workplaces, what we expect of mothers and how we model success. Enough with the advice for women, she says!
“It’s not a case of what women are doing right and wrong in the corporate world,” Fox says. “It’s time we stopped asking whats wrong with women and started asking what’s wrong with our organisations. Because what we’re talking about here is systemic discrimination.
“It’s not about the personal it’s about the political. Women have been told particulaly in the last couple of decades that its their choices that end up being the problems for their careers — that it’s something that they’ve done. ‘Oh darn if I just didn’t have those children and fulfilled my biological impulse…’
Advice for women in workplace and business
“I think it’s time we took that burden off them. I was reading something the other day on Forbes — in the wake of Sheryl Sandberg, the Facebook COO’s book Leaning In — and the article essentially said “enough with the advice to women”.
“We just constantly are hammering them with so much confusing advice, which is looking in the wrong direction. We should be looking at our workplaces, the way we model success, what we expect of moter particularly but also parents generally, the norms and stereotypes in our society.
“It’s a big agenda, but that’s where we should be looking.”
Catherine Fox is a leading voice for women and the workforce in Australia. An award-winning journalist and presenter. She authored several books presenting insights for practical use on how a business should be handled, save time, save money and handle a workplace. She is often invited to guest in forums and to the media.
Catherine Fox spoke with Businesswomanmedia Founder and CEO, Amanda Rose.
