There is already too much money in politics, and who need women to reproduce that game?!
5
To Susan Chira:
Women, power, money. People succeed or fail regarding money and power for so many reasons that parents, male-dominance at home and at work, success -- may or may not be significant factors --
stories will be similar, they will be different. Some will blame others and not be capable of true introspection. Women do succeed, they have succeeded, and they will continue to succeed (and fail). However, if Money and Power are the sole important goals -- maybe there's more to one's life. Most women, like most men, will never have the Money and Power to ring the Fortune & Forbes Bells (Belles?) of Success. What then? We know plenty about arrogance and greed. What about striving for plain old human decency?
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
1
Workplace fatalities, by gender: 93% men, 07% women.
Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs:
1 Logging workers
2 Fishers and related fishing workers
3 Aircraft pilots and flight engineers
4 Roofers
5 Trash and recycling collectors
6 Iron and steel wokers
7 Truck and sales drivers
8 Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers
9 First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers
10 Grounds maintenance workers
Until women start rushing out the door en masse to apply for all of these jobs, and until every one of these industries is occupied by 50% female workers (and the workplace deaths that come with them), please, kindly, refrain from whining about the obviously mythical gender pay gap and the horrible, unspeakable burden it supposedly puts on women. Women don't occupy disproportionately small numbers of these jobs because "inequality", they don't occupy these jobs because they aren't expected to. "It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it" is not a piece of logic that in any way, shape or form applies cross-gender.
But don't listen to me, I'm just a cisgender white male who's mansplaining and perpetuating the patriarchal agenda. And ignore the aforementioned statistics, because science isn't real, as it was invented by affluent white men to, again, advance the patriarchal agenda. (Fun fact: I'm a social worker who got punched in the face yesterday after being called on to respond to a hostile situation specifically because I'm a man.)
29
Stressing the wrongheadedness of seeking money sounds noble -- it also sounds suspiciously like an older brother who's trying to distract a younger sibling so that there's less competition (simple self-elimination).
If money is so unimportant that we shouldn't be concerning ourselves with its acquisition, then it shouldn't trouble any employer in the slightest to hand over salary adjustments to all those women who have been underpaid for so long. After all, it's just money, right?
9
Until white men "allow" us into the boardroom, we can forget about leadership equality.
How are we kept down in our chosen professions? We're handicapped by deals cut on male only golf courses and meetings where not privy to. Sexual harassment that objectifies us. Far too often we're labeled b*tches rather than applauded for our business savvy. We're told we're "too old" at 40 or that we're a risk at 30 "because she'll want to start a family one day." The list, quiet literally, is endless.
What happens to corporations who don't award equal pay? Absolutely nothing.
The good old boys club, quite pathetically, doesn't have a place for women in it.
11
Women and the men who care about them should remember that in addition to the immediate negative effects of pay inequality on women there are the long-term effects of lower retirement income, which is based on career earnings. Women who want to be financially independent in old age need to fight when they are young for the salaries that will make their future freedom and security possible, especially if they find themselves divorced or widowed.
13
For women, perhaps not so much interested in money and power, I would recommend a career in education. Here is one of the few places where women and men work side by side with equal pay, equal dignity, and equal respect. All, can rise to the top administrative levels and, all, are respected for their own educational achievements as well as for the valuable work they do. It is a role model for the young people served and, while I like to think that this is because of the wonderful people who choose the career, I also would note , it's one of the few places left with varying degrees of union or association leadership to some degree or another.
3
I wish that was my experience in the field. It may be different depending on the state, but I was a teacher and an administrator. In every case, the men I worked with made more than I did, and in almost every interview I was asked about children/marital status (as well as was I “tough enough”). So equal? No way - and school districts are often breeding grounds for professional bullying the higher you go. Certainly one can make an excellent salary as a superintendent - but given the added drama/rat race/politics involved - no way.
4
As a young highly-educated woman, many years ago, I reluctantly learned how to manage what money I earned, and also what then my husband earned, as the one who at least had nominal interest. Now, in "retirement" -- we're fine. My mother's experience rebuilding her life (financial and otherwise) post-divorce after a 20 year marriage was lesson enough.
Be financially independent on my own, as well as collectively.
We saved, lived within our means, and were fortunate to live in low-cost areas, in the academic institutions where we worked.
Neither of us had (or have) interest in the kind of wealth described in this article, but the message is well-taken: financial independence means power, both in the way that one is able to live, but more importantly, how one is able to help and influence good in the world.
9
Yes, there is sexism but there are also fundamental differences between men and women. Steven Pinker and other academics have pointed out that one of the key findings in differences between men and women, that comes out of very well established meta-analyses, is that men are far more likely to have a strong drive to achieve status.
Some say this is entirely a result of socialization. But look at our evolutionary primate relatives, are there among primates more alpha males or alpha females? Look at cultures as different as tribal Africans, modern Manhattan and, say early 20th Century rural communities, are there a lot of alpha males or alpha females? There are far more alpha males, b/c men's inner nature drives far more of us to crave high status, domination of the tribe. That tendency and it's opposite are not necessarily good or bad.
13
Money is power. Power corrupt. A LOT of money -- billions -- can mean absolute power and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Maybe women reject that paradigm? is that all bad? I don't think I want to emulate the very rich men I see in society -- ugly, greedy, manipulative.
That doesn't mean I do not like or want money; I am a realist. It is money that keeps a roof over my head and buys food and heat.
The real problem is that the work I do, while valuable to society and business, is deemed "not worth a good salary or benefits". My employer has told me that, as a woman over 60, I am lucky to have ANY job -- and I could be replaced in a day by any one of the 300 or so people who send him resumes on a regular basis. He has a pile of these in his office. Based on this, he feels no need to offer his employees health insurance, sick days, paid vacation days or any sort of retirement plan.
Believe me, that is more of a direct problem to me and other women, than worrying about being "masters ("mistresses"?) of the universe".
9
I found the idea of this piece extremely interesting.
Money equals power.
I am quite sure our marriage is not unique, but to be honest once our 5 children had completed their educations and gotten their first jobs I got bored with money.
Therefore I let my wife take charge of all that accumulating, and worrying.
It just didn't "turn me on anymore," and besides she had gotten the same kick out of it I once did.
We never thought of who had the money, and therefore who had the power.
And oh did I mention that we are married over 60 years, and have added 14 grandchildren, and 2 great grand children to the mix.
So lighten up a little.
9
Money is Power!!! I agree N. Smith, black women need more of both!! We need to stand up for ourselves and teach our daughters, sisters, aunts and mothers to do the same. We will not succeed until we all speak to the gender and racial inequality that keeps the ceiling firmly on our heads.
5
You know, everything isn’t about race.
6
Women have long pursued money and power via hypergamy. Similar to the way many men won't settle for an average income, many women will not settle for a man of average wealth.
10
I am sure the author would bristle at the suggestion that the biological urge of all humans to reproduce coupled with the female’s long physiologic commitment to that process post conception and birth has absolutely nothing to do with this issue. Face it - women are going to have that drag on their collective potential to accumulate wealth and power. When a women goes on maternity, the sharks of both sexes circle to take her business...that is competition. On the up side, women generally get to control when sex happens as long as they associate with decent (ie, most) men.
3
I am the son of a single black mother who sought neither an education. money nor power. I am the grandson of a married Jim Crow era black grandmother and the great grandson of an enslaved black married woman who both sought an education for themselves and their daughters.
I am the nephew of two black women who successfully sought an education, power and money in the public sphere while also being wives and mothers. I am the father of a black daughter who obtained an education to give her options for money, power, marriage and mothering.
Being black and female in America is not equal to being white and female. I was born and raised respecting and expecting black women needing an education to give them the option of seeking money, power, marriage and mothering.
8
Most people, male or female, have neither much money nor power. This "expression of concern" over gender imbalance among the 1% is a bit off target to me. Will my world be better if half of the top 1% are female or if 32% or 66% are? Will training women to be as grasping, selfish, and greedy as our most obnoxious men improve our world? Think about 2008: would you be happier to foreclosed upon by a man or a women?
Whatever.
14
That's right. I have little sympathy for those interested in just money, power, or both. Those that strive for those things alone, once attained, are not those generally willing to lower barriers which may cause them to lose any of either.
5
if I come across one more article about how
women are falling behind in apparently
everything, my head is going to explode.
women graduate college at higher levels
than men,women have study programs
that if men ever tried to establish
seriously, would get them called sexist.
even as early as grade school, it seems,
boys are seen as a potential problem
needing to be solved.a recent article in
the ny times indicated that parents are
"concerned" about birthing boys on the
absurd grounds that boys may present
difficulties down the road.really!
women are in the catbird seat now ,it seems,
and only the far left feminists in the times
fail to realize that fact.good luck,boys.
17
One of the surest ways for someone with brains to make a lot of money is in the financial industry. I am waiting patiently for the Times to give sexism in finance the same coverage as it gives to sexism in the tech, political and film industries. Where are the female hedge fund managers? Where are the women partners in investment banking? What women are other types of financial wheeler dealers?
55
"Girls as they are growing up are not socialized to feel that it's O.K. to have ambition about creating wealth." Yeahhhhhhh. NYC is a sea of young women who will ONLY date a man who has a "good job" and can provide (a lifestyle), ie banker, lawyer, doctor. They're in a money pursuit alright, they just go about it differently than "boys". (And if that said lifestyle leads to divorce, they sure arent shy about asking for a share.)
10
No evidence that women with money and power behave any better than men with money and power.
18
Why must everything be always about power dynamics?
And why must it always be about accumulating wealth?
This pursuit of dominance & control, wealth & power is a main reason that American society became so disgusting & insufferable.
Wealth & power are not enlightened or humane, or even interesting ideals.
Yuppies are always annoying, selfish people ever since they appeared on the scene & destroyed anything about America that was kind, communal, respectful & egalitarian.
Women as corporate & entrepreneurial yuppies & power-players are absolutely not more enlightened than the male ones. We don't need more greed.
The yuppies that became our era's version of the robber-barons, those NYC real estate & finance magnates, etc. are some of the ugliest Americans that the American cult of greed ever produced. The culture that produced Trump should not be reinforced.
I get the need for revenge against the Patriarchy, and that to some, 'success' is the best revenge.
As a young man I too suffered under the power-dynamic of old-school patriarchs & their self-righteous entitlement. They are & were not good people to be under the thumb of, & should be disobeyed, deconstructed & dismantled.
But we need a better, more egalitarian, less self-obsessed, greedy society, not woman versions of evil, destructively competitive men. There's enough money in the small contributions of real people to successfully run for office.
“We as a Nation Must Undergo a Radical Revolution of Values”
MLK
6
They just have to be rich in brainpower . . .
Obsession over the gathering of more and more money, which, when you stop and think about it, is just a heap of germ-laden, dirty paper, is very short-sighted. Long-distance thinking, coupled with morals is what the world is short on.
4
In this new era of #MeToo, #TimesUp... I truly hope women will shape and lead by example a new conversation about POWER. Although I understand the gist of this piece, the problem begins with the title: Money Is Power. Money isn't power. It's currency. Until we can create and hold a radically new paradigm about power, nothing would change no matter which gender holds power.
8
The Holy Roman Empire is Christian Capitalism. Women will never be free for as long as "The Patriarchy" exists. Wealth has nothing to do with the nihilistim of greed. The love of money is the root of all evil.
3
From a young age girls have to be encouraged to speak up, to pursue their dreams. Encourage them to take risks, fail, get up and do it again. Encourage them to focus. Teach young girls about sex. Not only how it works but they are entitled to have it, initiate it, not feel ashamed of it. Power to be in life. Then what comes of that knowledge will reveal itself. Women's place in culture has largely been a creation of male entitlement and female submission. We've been in that pattern for a long time. Gotta break it from the beginning.
6
Oldest of three daughters, I was stunned when my beautiful parents celebrated the birth 'finally' of a son. They were clearly relieved not to be seen as failures. So I wasn't surprised when Dad pulled me, his only avid student, out of Reed College because I didn't need a degree in physics (I was only going to get married anyway according to him). It has been an uphill battle.
EVERYONE wants power and influence. Money is the enabler. Period.
9
The clear lesson of evolutionary psychology is that many of these differences between men and women are the result of biology (evolution and hormones), not socialization.
2
Our greatest sin in America is inequality. We're much more capitalistic than anything near 'Christian'; meaning love of each other. We elect a bragging, greedy, vain, bullying billionaire (put their mainly by 'Christian' voters). We love money.
So, when I see you relate more equality to women, I think that's too limiting. Equality to all. I come from Arkansas and there's many, many very poor people with little hope or chance at a life without far too much stress, struggle and desperation. All colors, all sexes, all people.
The rich have stolen our 'dream'. The rest of us have let them and/or voted for it. We've all ruined this place.
Money, wealth, income, property is power. Power must be distributed more equally than this plutocracy. Billionaires are not good for us. Not.
We need to become better citizens and better human beings. We need to love the community more, and love property and wealth less. We can.
4
I'm coming up on 64. I grew up in a white, middle-classed, suburban neighborhood. When I was growing up, the term "working girl" basically meant that the "girl" in question was a prostitute, which, to be frank, was just about the only really decent-paying job a woman could get. In the ideal, no other job allowed a woman to make enough money to live independently since women's pay was considered "pin money" and was geared toward supplementing but not supplanting her husband's income. "Nice girls" didn't make much money, but "bad girls" almost always did.
Likewise, when I was growing up, to call someone a "career woman" meant that she might as well quit dating and instead concentrate on her career because she was considered too unattractive, unpleasant and undesirable for a man to want to marry and support her.
As for having a "job" vs. having a "career or bonafide profession?" When I was growing, young women were expected to work (at low-paying crummy jobs with no benefits) only until they found a man willing to marry them, at which point, they would finally be free to quit, stay home, raise kids, take care of their husbands and suburban houses and never have to hold a job again.
It wasn't idyllic, but nobody was allowed to complain about it, and woe to the ambitious, assertive and independent-minded woman who bucked the system and was, more often than not, called degrading names that are unfit to print in the New York Times.
31
We currently live in a society of, by, and for the oligarchs (and now more so than ever). What should we do now--hope that women ("girls") find money more attractive, so they can get into politics, be "powerful," and somehow turn our culture away from its cult of wealth, and toward more egalitarian values? Oh. please...
2
"Susan Chira is interested in hearing from women..."
I think this is the problem with the women's "movement." It sees all gender issues through a 'us against them' prism. It can't fathom why 52% of white women voted for Trump. Nearly 100 years after the right to vote women in politics still haven't delivered on social, economic, and political comparative worth.
Lean in, aggressive deficiency, consent>affirmitive consent>enthusiastic consent>a signed affidavit of consent >????
Is it possible that the majority of women would love to have all the benefits and power of men (they actually do and then some) but still want to cling to the protective status of a societal and legal system that still treats them as children?
If you want to swim in the deep end you have to let go of the ladder. For the vast majority of women and even those wealthy, upper middle class, highly educated and successful women, who are the core of the feminist movement, that's just a bridge too far. Talk the talk but walk the walk, right?. Ask women if they really want to be held to the same standards as men? Your answer is the crux of this article.
3
Women can acquire more money and power but keep their good ethics and kind hearts. Both are doable.
3
"Money is Power. And Women Need More of Both."
If that is the case, then Black Women need even more of both. Because in this highly divided and divisive society it's hard to deny there's not only gender inequality, but racial inequality as well.
And that's a battle women of colour continue to face on both fronts.
6
Born into a house full of feminists, I have proudly taken on the roll myself and will continue to advocate for equal pay as long as it is still an issue. My first lemonade stand was a competition for who received the most money between me and my brother's self-righteous friends. My mom warned me that I may be disappointed by the outcome, and to ignore all demeaning comments. Leaving the stand empty-handed, I tried to remind myself that Ms. Lane thought I was “adorable”, and that Mr. Jo said I had “good taste in advertising”. However, one comment haunted me the whole walk home. “This is not a job for girls, sweetie, you should go help your mom with Sunday dinner.” I may live in the south, but I still don’t understand the importance of dinner on Sunday’s. I also don’t understand what possesses men to think women are the weaker gender and that their success could never amount up to that of a self-made businessman. Ms. Britt’s belief that women who boast their money are in turn deflecting interest from men surprises me. My dad was attracted to my mom because of her knowledge, influence, and determination in the workforce. He acknowledges her success every day, just like every man should. I plan to be a doctor in the future, and no man will ever tell me I can’t. Looks like those Sunday dinners will just have to wait.
31
I know it's un-PC to say (doing so cost Larry Summers his Harvard presidency) but dispersion of intelligence is greater among males than females. That means, if you teach 1000 boys and 1000 girls to play chess, the average chess rating between the two groups will be the same, but of the very best 10 players, and of the very worst 10, 9 will be boys. So it's unsurprising that we see mostly men at both the very top, and the very bottom of society.
4
Sorry Susan but I am a man and will stand up anyway on behalf of all the women I've known in my extended family and through my work as a psychologist and career counselor.
This article is an extremely important heads up for the plight of women at the beginning of a new century.
My two older sisters were not sent specific messages from their parents regarding their futures and instead were largely ignored and left free to make up their own minds. The 1950s cultural influence on them in Ohio was largely that they would lead traditional women's lives. Despite this, both of my sisters pursued graduate work in nursing and social work, high level educations for women but still tied to traditional female dominated careers.
Both sisters followed traditional paths to marriage and children, one very happy with her parenting and the other feeling that she failed as a mother and should not have had children.
My maternal grandmother was mentally ill as was my mother, both having their lives curtailed by these chronic illnesses.
Here we are in 2018 and, despite supposedly advancing in women's lives, the dirty little secret is that women are discriminated against in almost every area of their lives including, career choice, hiring, salaries, promotions, maternity leave, and retirement. The messages and narratives given to females from parents and society are still limited and restricted from what is given to males.
The world for women is essentially the same as in the past!
30
I’ve never been convinced that manipulative billionaires really enjoy life that much. And finally that’s all we get: one life.
2
Some women may agree with this: I can name women, some I've known and experienced in positions of power, who are definitely NOT What The World Needs Now.
Whether "Power corrupts" men more easily and in greater numbers than women -- maybe time will tell.
It's unfashionable to hope for more human beings (no matter the gender) who are humane, compassionate, capable -- whether in or out of the money, in or out of the catbird seats.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
6
The author unfortunately confuses and conflates wealth and money.
Too many women spend money on short-term items rather than thinking long term of the power that comes from saving, investing and building wealth.
Whether that’s something forced on women by society or an individual decision made by each woman is up for debate.
1
Maybe, just maybe, part of the problem with the world today is that it's run by rich men getting rich just to have a ton of money. When you're running a lemonade stand yeah you're just trying to earn a few bucks, but when you make a career your decisions for yourself, your work, and if applicable your company will be tarnished if you're running any of those purely to increase your capital. It's better to enjoy what you're doing more, to want financial stability but be more interested by what your company actually does or produces than by the scale of profits it creates.
Teaching girls about building very strong financial bases with savings accounts and spending accounts and retirement accounts and learning how to research market salaries and when it's appropriate (at least yearly) to request a pay increase is great. Trying to make women into the greedy men who have often been responsible for destructive growth in the name of endless profits for profits' sake won't do anybody any good.
35
I was born in the 60's to a mother who was very active in the feminist movement. She impressed upon my sister and me the importance of financial independence and believed we could be anything we wanted to be. Both of us went on to become successful in our respective fields. My field was financial services. What I soon discovered was that society and my industry did not hold the same beliefs as my mother. Every step of the way I was paid less, not given the same promotion as peers even when I had performed better and was assumed to be happy as the woman behind the man so often made to work for people who were not as knowledgeable or strong as I. Recently I had lunch with a friend who worked in another industry and she had very similar stories to mine. What is sad is both of us have left our fields as at a certain point fighting for equal treatment wasn't worth it. We are both well off enough to no longer work. However we did not stay to get to the top wrung in our industries. I feel badly for not sticking to it so that younger women would see more women in senior roles. However I am much happier. Instead I try to mentor women by giving them the confidence to reach for challenging jobs, ask for more money, and ask for the title.
8
I am a 35 yr old female who grew up with the understanding that going to college was a given, yet graduated without knowing what compound interest was, or without even a basic understanding of personal finance management. I have struggled since entering the work force to make sound financial decisions or to plan ahead financially, and feel I was shortchanged not having ever learned more about money than how to balance a checkbook--in 5th grade. Personal finance management should be mandatory education in public schools.
5
While I often writing scathingly about the "purity monster" or Berniebusters (not true followers of Bernie, mind you), there's a kernel of truth there, which is that if we wish to survive on our planet, we are going to have to let go of the idea that money defines us.
Money has become the end rather than the means. If women could remind us that money is *not* life, and move us away from the abuse of money to divide and conquer, now *that* would be an accomplishment!
I realize as we are now, women need more money and power. But if they buy into that model, we will not survive.
Our planetary and civilizational emergency is such that we must, somehow, move away from more consumption and more concentration of wealth at the top as a possible way to survive.
I mean this.
We cannot survive if we continue to regard money as an end in itself, and as the means to achieve.
We need vitality and caring and collaboration. If we don't learn to work together, respecting every human being, we will not survive.
13
The roles of men and women in any society have been well defined for millions of years. The men go out to secure the food, fight the wars and protect the home. Women make the nest, raise and protect the children. That is why the males of our species tend to be larger and stronger. Certainly all those years of playing our roles must have hardwired us to have instinctual tendencies along those lines. Now, with physical strength no longer needed for protection or for fighting wars, the roles are blurring, but you can’t substantially alter what nature has given us by wishing it away.
And why would you want to? The flux in our role requirements have given us the freedom to pursue wisdom on a much larger scale. That, as the wise men and women of all the generations have told us, is the thing worth having. Let the Susan Chiras of the world pursue money and power, and that is fine—for them. With our new freedoms anyone can be anything. But let us not try to indoctrinate our daughters, as this column seeks to do. Let them discover their own fulfillment and if that is as mother and home maker, that is more than fine. We need lots of people in that role as well.
8
I graduated from college a few years ago. My female friends and I completely agree with the author of this piece. We've been working hard to educate ourself about personal finance, because we know how important it is for women to be financially independent. To the other young women reading these comments: don't listen to the people who are trying to persuade you money isn't important. Money doesn't buy you happiness, but it does buy you options.
16
Most religious traditions teach girls to be nice rather than competitive and/or forthright. Does this mean that girls and women don't like money and power? Absolutely not. Girls are often raised to become women who gain money and power through the men with whom they are affiliated and it is best to be affiliated to a good provider with power. Many of us Baby Boomer women were raised to compete for good grades, compete for good boyfriends and spouses and then to compete at work all while claiming not to care about money or power. I would love to live in a world where money was not the only path to power. No one, women included, have ever lived in such a world.
8
Nothing new about this money and power business. As a boomer, you know power is all women have been talking about since the 60s, and women already hold big advantages when it comes to education and seeking better jobs. If anybody needs assistance in those areas now days, it’s boys and young men.
5
Boys and men have never NOT been free to pursue education and better jobs. They competed with each other and now compete with girls and women also. Further, women have always had babies and so, it is women who have had to make tough life altering "family" decisions within limited time frames. Men have never had to do that in quite the same way. And, there are now fewer good jobs for everyone. The power women have sought has often not been the same sort of power traditionally sought by men. Baby boomer women have sought pay equity, respect and autonomy over their own bodies.
When I was a little girl (in the 60s), I was on holiday somewhere with my parents. I remember we were all on a beach. The opportunity to go parasailing was offered to our family. My parents paid for my brothers to do so. When I asked, "can I go up now?" they told me "no." When I asked them "why not?" they just looked confused, and quite literally the only response they gave me was, "because you're a girl." And that was that.
I remember very clearly how I interpreted that message going forward: I must be careful with myself and not do anything that might hurt me in any way.
I suppose this is all throw-back to the days when it was important to populate tribes. Women were the breeders, and could only have one or two babies every few years. One man, on the other hand, could have many, many babies. So, it was okay for men to be risk-takers, but absolutely not for women. Keep them home, and away from any danger. If they try nonconforming or venturing beyond the village (literally or metaphorically), bring them back in immediately!
Cultures take--not decades, but centuries, or even millennia, to change.
Unless, that is, people take affirmative action to raise awareness, to educate, and to demand fairness. Thank goodness for all the women today saying, heck no, we aren't going to do that to our daughters! Send the kid up on the parasail, please, parents. She'll be fine.
11
Fairness for both sexes. Why should women be favored? Isn’t it time that women give up posturing as victims? Consider, for example, the flip side of your argument and some of the obvious advantages women have long had.
4
Randall, cite even one thing in my comment--or indeed in the article--that says women should be favored?
Why is it that some men feel that equality for women means inequality for men?
And, women "posture as victims"? Really? Have you studied history? Women weren't even allowed an education, or to join any of the professions, until fairly recently. You say women have had "obvious advantages." For a women with a sharp brain and who would have loved a profession in, say, 1850, do you actually think it was an "advantage" to her to be told she has to stay home and be pregnant or childrearing?
You've got a lot of reading and studying to do, Randall.
6
The boys tend to participate in team sports.The girls tend to cheerleading.So goes it in high school as it does in life.It has nothing to do with pursuit of money.Women love it just as much as men and spend it at least as freely, particularly if they earned it in a supporting role.I have worked with many very senior women who valued money as a proxy for success and recognition, much as I did.I am in my 60s and have numerous friends who made sure they brought up daughters to be fully financially independent.By all means fight for equal recognition and opportunity.Understand that one makes choices in life and that both men and women sacrifice some aspects of home life when building a career or business.Rebekah Mercer is no example, her father made the money.Similarly,HRC is not an example, she capitalized on her husband's success.But Karen Finerman, Sallie Krawcheck, Sheryl Sandberg and many lesser known women are.They make and donate, just like men do.They also start companies and run for office.The desire for wealth is variable but gender neutral.Hopefully one day soon more women will have the courage and conviction to drop out of Harvard or Stanford to start disruptive businesses......just like their bosses did.
1
Finally, a sensible response.
Does anybody NEED to be rich and powerful? that may be a strong desire, but need is having a secure place to live, clothing to cover you and food to eat. Too often media plays to the mythology perpetuated by those who profit from both the sales and acceptance of unreal standards. (They do, after all, pay the media bills and are therefore the controllers of what is published).
9
Men and women are fundamentally equal when it comes to power and money. Everyone wants more of both.
However, the paths to money and power differ, for most men and women. That is where gender, societal norms and practices come into play.
Men have to prove to the world that they have money and power. That way he wins, over both his peers and his conquests. That may include a woman that he wants to attract.
Women have a need for money and power, to secure themselves and their children, if they choose to have them. However, they have much less need to prove their money or power to the world, more often mostly to themselves.
Just look around, and view the difference between men and women, in your daily life. How many women brag about their cars, the money, their house, their wealth?
And then look at the men, how many show off their beards, their muscles, their cars, their houses, their income and their wealth. It’s ingrained in their genes, and their training.
5
Women have far more financial power than the narrow measure/metrics in this article. Do they wield it? That's another matter altogether.
Women control up to 85% (by $$ spent) of all consumer purchases. Do they wield it?
How about... instead of complaining why the pink bike helmet or razor costs more than the blue one... just not buying the pink one?
How about... instead of complaining about pay disparity in sports + entertainment, attend more WTA, WNBA, NWSL... events and movies/plays... with women producers/directors/actresses?
How about... eating out at restaurants owned by women or have women executive chefs?
I could go on and on. Net... women have the bulk of the financial power.
9
It isn't the hand that rocks the cradle that rules the world. It's the hand that holds the checkbook that does.
Women need to grow up and be brought up understanding that they need a career, an education towards that career and the maintenance of it, even if only part time - just in case.
Depending on someone else's largesse or good will doesn't always pan out and it hands over power completely.
Money IS power. Maintaining at least some financial independence is crucial. I saw too many women having to "request" household money from spouses for basic needs or having to go to court again and again for child support payments, to not think otherwise.
My father sent me and my brother to medical school but he never begrudged it to me as a girl. He flat out told me that if all I did was just get married then I was only "one man away from the poorhouse". Shows how long ago it was that he didn't say welfare which didn't yet exist.
Women need to revamp their mindset for themselves and their children and keep an oar in the water careerwise, even if at home with kids. Hard to do I agree and men should help but who knows about that.
Making money doesn't have to be only about greed, but about self sufficiency. Even self preservation.
10
Part of the problem in America is that we are socialized to think career success means success. It brings financial rewards but does it really bring personal fulfillment or even happiness? I've lived long enough to know financial success does not necessarily mean you are happy.
This article is written as if women must emulate the way men chase after success. More corporate boards, bending others to your will whether they like it or not. By all means if that is fulfilling, go ahead. After a certain amount of financial success, women are more likely to look around and try to figure out what makes them happy and pursue those goals as well.
There is a choice people make on fundamental levels as to which pond they choose to play in. After financial success, the choice is all yours.
6
The old adage that money doesn't buy happiness is baloney and it's about time women realized it. Be especially skeptical of rich and powerful people who tell you that money doesn't buy happiness. The more money you have, the more freedom you have to define your own happiness and to decide each and every day how to live your best life. The more money you have, the less you have to work, the more time you have to nurture relationships with the significant people in your life. What if you have enough money not to have to work at all, or only work a job that you love? That would make many of us happy. If you also define happiness as giving your children the best education, giving back to causes you care about, living in comfortable or even luxurious surroundings, traveling the world, never worrying about buying that designer handbag, let alone wondering where you next meal is coming from, then I'll take money. Money is power and the more women have of it the more powerful we will be.
9
Another, unfortunate but understandable, example of women seeking equality by being more like men.
As a man who has intentionally chosen not to make money my main aim, I regret this development. If there is to be hope for the world, it is that men become more like women (recognizing the silliness of this generalization). We need fewer people chasing money and power and more people leaning toward empathy, compassion and selflessness.
Our future depends on a social contract that limits the accumulation of wealth through progressive taxation and a collective responsibility to our neighbors.
7
Well I’m glad you don’t have problems to pay for food, health, and housing. There is a difference between accumulation and being rich to just have a life.
1
Yes, they do need to be rich to be powerful.
And so do men.
1
Many of us, with one foot in the 50's, and one foot in the present, were raised the way our parents were raised. Don't encourage, don't allow complaining, don't hug and kiss, and say I Love You, keep quiet, Never Indulge, and do as you're told. Nobody cares what you think. These are the messages I received from my parents.
2
This article confuses several issues. Pay equity and the realization that money is needed to affect political and social change is one thing. But the idea that women need to equally embrace the motto “greed is good”—that they should also pursue wealth at all costs, at the expense of their family, of society, and of the Earth itself—is absurd. Once again, why are men (Alpha Males in this case) the default standard? Why are we always asking women why they aren’t acting more like men? Why don’t we ever ask men why they can’t act more like women, especially when that might benefit everyone?
3
It was my father who encouraged his daughters to make money. "Don't marry rich. Make your own." He was a world renowned economist pulling in decent wealth, but ironically couldn't manage his own checkbook. He liked making money, but despised saving it. It was that attitude that bankrupted my parents. My mother knew the finances were shot decades before they went on welfare, but took no responsibility. "I don't have a mind for money. That was his job." It's what got me into financial services as I would NEVER let that happen again. I must confess, I'm obsessed with making money and keeping it. Most of my girlfriends are the primary or sole breadwinners. Many of us make a decent salary. Now that we're all in our middle age, I've noticed a stark difference between these women's career trajectories and those of the men I went to college with. The women work for someone else, usually at the mid-executive level, often for a large company or nonprofit. Nearly all the men are either senior executives or have started their own firms. It's this that frustrates me---very competent women and not one is running a company or started her own gig. It blows my mind. I thought it would happen for me and I don't have much time. So I tell my daughter to build her wealth herself to be her own master.
8
There is no freedom/power without economic equality.
4
Left leaning families, such as my own, did not do itself many favors by instilling such a strong aversion to anything money related. Many family members (male and female) grew up with few financial skills or appreciation of what financial stability can provide to one's family and ability to help the community at large. While denying the importance of money may deeply satisfy our moral outrage over corporate excesses, it can be counter productive and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like it or not, power and influence in America is directly tied to wealth. To point women in a different direction is a fool's errand.
2
It is depressing to read a column that has so given up on the idea of representational democracy. Ms. Chira accepts, without a hint of lament, the premise that money should equal power. The problem isn't that there are too few women billionaires. The problem is that there are billionaires. Moreover, there is no reason to believe that if more women were given larger political prominence derived from wealth that they would do anything different than the men who currently drive a politics of scarcity and cruelty. The rich acting in their self interest will not alter course if the roster changes. A rainbow oligarchy is still an oligarchy.
7
Another essay about how there is something wrong with women if we don't have the same goals and values as men. The same old tired meme: Women have different goals and priorities than men because we have been brainwashed by "society". No, actually, we have our own minds. Many women are disgusted by the greed and ruthless ambition that we see in men. We want to pursue prosocial goals, but want to protect ourselves against injustice and exploitation. But according to essays like this, women will only be truly empowered when we behave like Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli, putting money above everything.
6
Do women need to be rich to be powerful? Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth" answers that question!
2
"Nice girls don't talk about money". That was repeated over and over by my mom. But that was another generation. What surprises me is the reaction from men today. They don't want to date women who are powerful, more "alpha male" than they are. They want women with money, but they prefer that you have inherited wealth or obtained it from your first husband.
6
Interesting, But. The greatest threat to Most Women is getting derailed by
Staying home to care for Children, AND stopping paid work to care for elderly or disabled relatives. Sure, it may be the " right " thing to do, but just wait until it's time to retire and you are poverty stricken. My favorite Aunt is in her seventies. Her Husband died several years ago, after being disabled by diabetes and heart disease for many years. In brief, her income is now 500 dollars monthly, from Social Security. Think about THAT. Of course, I send her money, because I can. But many elderly Women don't have that comfort. Women : Take care of yourself FIRST, because things will only get worse. Just saying.
8
The inherent obstacles that women face is representative of so many of the comments here: that women should not be after power and money they should be after more societal cooperation for the good of all. Say what? That just keeps women in a much lower position. We live in a world where money is power. If women want to change that, women must gain money. Men of course know that and that is exactly why they have and continue to keep half the population from gaining it and strive for themselves to get the most. The majority of these comments reflect the sexism that women face.
6
Perhaps the problem is not that we don't have enough women driven by money and power but that we have too many men driven by money and power.
4
In the upper echelons, true influence comes by giving money to the right places and going after the board seats. If women down the ladder don't have the same pay, it could be because these women are not perceived to have the same downstream networking power as a man. As a result, women must disprove those assumptions to get the equal pay. Pay is related as much to potential as the money you bring right now. A future leader is clearly going to make more, and people want to network with that person.
Power starts with having to decide what happens with our own bodies; touch or sex or none, with whom, pregnant or not. No, women are not free to pursue power and wealth as long their bodies are not their own guaranteed. I always wished my mother would have been a powerful person with self-esteem it could learn from. The next step would be, if a woman lives with a man plus has children to share recreation work equally, so a woman could be free to pursue a career. This would also require affordable childcare for every child. If a woman manages to get through these hurdles and has a good education, this is still not a guarantee for success, because men are usually assigned more competence, even if they don't have it. Yes, women need to approach power and money differently, because of these hurdles. They have to be aware of them and develop strategies for counteractions.
3
"Women are increasingly fed up with persistent pay gaps and are demanding that hey be paid as much as men for the same work." And I'll add I'm fed up that men are paid more than women for similarly complicated work.
Why are bus drivers in my local school district paid $17 / hr starting wage whereas the paraprofessionals are only paid $12 or $13 / hr starting wage? I'd argue because most of the bus drivers are men and the paraprofessionals are almost exclusively women. The jobs are equally challenging. It's just sexism and we need to stop viewing mechanical jobs as worthy of more money than care taking ones. Because they're equally important and should be compensated equally.
3
My son has always been actively interested in money, since he was four years old. My daughter cared far less. So yes, everyone ends up talking more to my son about money but it’s not because we’re sexist, it’s because he came that way!
I have seen the destruction that untrammelled ambition brings to life — to men’s and women’s. But men at least seem to enjoy the competition in and of itself. The women I know who have lives devoted to money are often overweight and look exhausted. They don’t look like they are having fun. Of course, there are always exceptions.
I was talking to my mom about this and she named several girls I’d gone to school with who work and are happy and alive with life and beautiful. I burst out laughing. Everyone of the women she named, those women’s work was little more than a hobby (even when clocking at 40 hours a week) supported by a husband or father in the wings. Their work ranged from very cool small businesses to careers that didn’t pay enough for the nanny.
Let women want what we want. Don’t go destroying young girls’ lives schooling them to think they desire something that they don’t. At heart I believe most women want to be beautiful, to be beloved by a man, to have fun in life. I think a lot of men genuinely want to lock horns with other men as if they were stags — they are energized by this. But I have seen at least one woman’s life absolutely destroyed when she let her father guide her based on what he would have wanted.
1
Strongly agree that we should let girls and boys and men and women want what they want--and not let our own ideologies or our regrets and desires override their own hopes and loves and longing and ambitions. They are each individuals. We are more likely to trip them up than help them when we try to force align them with whatever gender ideal is the trend du jour.
1
My upbringing actively discouraged pursuing money, power, fame or anything that might make me stand out from the crowd. At the time, cultural/social influencea and advertising/media pushed the narrative that, to a woman, money = shopping = making yourself attractive to men. Whatever I learned about money, power or how to define myself as "successful" came well after I left home so here's my 2 cents worth:
Money =/= power. Money is a tool to be used toward gaining a goal. Power is not the ultimate goal, but many believe it is.
Both money and power are neutral, neither good nor bad -- what you do with money and/or power is what ultimately matters in determining whether you are successful or not.
The terms "power" and "success" are determined by society/culture but your individual participation or agreement with those are what you decide.
Some money is necessary to achieve a measure of independence and self- determination in this current culture. More is not necessarily better. As with "success" and "power", it's up to you to decide for yourself and chart your course -- otherwise you'll drift with the cultural currents.
Discussing these matters with the 12-30year old women I know and seeing the current cultural messages (media & advertising) tells me not enough has changed since I was a girl -- money =/= power but money => shopping for appearances by which you might attract someone with power/success.
24
I am amazed by the assumption behind many of these comments that money and / or power is evil, dirty, corrupting, etc. Money is NECESSARY for survival. It certainly is important to achieve power. The idea that women are more pure than men is a trap designed to keep women at home. The second wave feminists (I am one) wanted true equality -- in every aspect of life, including marriage. Women must demand equal work from their husbands at home, in childcare and housework, and that means a lot more than washing the dishes. "We should all be feminists," is true. If you want to be married to a man or a woman, be sure he or she is a feminist. But first ask yourself, why marry? Why not live with the person you love without the expense and potential terrible cost of divorce? You can have a big party and celebrate your love and happiness and stay independent. The challenge of money and power will not be resoled until women embrace their freedom and take full responsibility for their lives. Both money and power can be abused. But women will be trapped in victimhood and passivity unless they embrace both and use it to empower their ability, passion, talent and intelligence.
2
It may be worth noting that every citation in this article, written by a woman and about women, was provided by a woman. This is just preaching to the choir in reverse. I expected more.
Do men need political power or status? Does life have any meaning? Does choice exist?
Perhaps these answers would become clear if there were appropriately representative political rule in the world.
Women need equal pay for equal work, but please don't socialize them to care only about money! One reason we need more women in positions of power is to ameliorate the cutthroat desire for power and money that is never enough for men who have been acculturated to believe that is their only worth. Getting more women into the 1% will not heal this society's winner-take-all mentality that gave us President Trump and a highly unequal society. This kind of thinking also leads to more economic instability and certainly less general happiness in the society. Compare our ratings to other industrialized nations. If women think money is less important than being a caring human, leave them alone! We need some people who think that way!
1
Intelligence is Power. A person may have a lot of money, but they do not have intelligence: therefore, they do not have power. IQ Scores increase as Standardized Test Scores increase. Standardize Test Scores increase as the amount of Education increases. So, while a lot of men described in this article are considered to be powerful, they really aren't. They are still a part of the Lower Class. And, there are more women a part of the Upper Class, than Susan Chira knows about. I invite Susan Chira to interview people with very high IQs, who are Brilliant. It is important to know what is at The Top. Susan Chira describes a part of the population that has "too many uneducated, low IQ men" in the position of Leader. Currently, there are plans for additions to the School Curriculum, to help people escape from this horrible environment. Students will receive more support, so they can focus on their Standardized Test Scores, and becoming more Literate.
This is a textbook, fairly grotesque case of identity politics finding a way to be utterly inimical to progressive politics.
Women have been historically disadvantaged. Let's find a way for women to make up a larger proportion of the world's 2,043 billionaires.
Progressivism and identity politics don't have to be incompatible.
But a world dominated by billionaires loves nothing more than using identity politics to perpetuate mass acceptance, even celebration of wealth inequality.
2
It wasn't so much what was said to me by my parents, as what I witnessed. After the divorce, Dad remarried a few times, always middle class, stay at home wife and comfortable life. With my mother, we were poor as she returned to law school as a single mother. By poor, I mean food stamps, no food, power turned off, shoes from St. Vicent de Paul poor. Even entering into practice, money was tight, so she remarried, a few times, for security and not love. Who was I to emulate?
Because I make enough to be financially independent, my husband knows I am with him for love, and have been for 25 years. And for my daughter, I point out our neighbor, whose husband left for a younger woman when their oldest child graduated. She's never held a job outside the home, so has no work experience, and was granted only 6 years spousal support, and not enough to keep her home. She will add to the statistic of a growing poor unemployed older female population living in poverty.
To my daughter, gain your education and work so that you can support yourself and your family. Be married because you want to be, and to whom you want to be. And if he should leave, your heart may hurt, but you will not be poor, and vulnerable to bad decisions. Your children will then not have to suffer.
62
I would urge the writer and readers of this article to read the story of Brenda Barnes. She was a wealthy and powerful exec at Pepsi in the 1990's. She quit her job in 1997 to spend more time with her family. She returned to the workforce in 2004 after her kids were older and became president and then CEO at Sara Lee. She had a massive stroke in 2010 when only in her mid-50's and spent 2 years in rehab. She died from a stroke in January 2017. Her daughter, Erin who had just graduated from college at the time of her moms first stroke declined a job at Campbell's soup to help her mother recover.
Regardless of what Ms. Barnes left her children as an inheritance financially, I think the time she took to spend with them during their formative years was of much greater value. Rich, poor, or somewhere in between, it's always possible to make more money. But no one, no matter how much money they have, can make more time.
Why don't we consider that perhaps real power is the freedom and ability to choose the life you want and to live that to the fullest?
2
The things this article describes as men's successes are mostly turn-offs for me (as a woman). For numerous environmental and social reasons, perhaps we should be socializing everyone, men included, to value money, power, and prestige less, and kindness to others much more. Once again, men have much to learn from women.
4
Note three things: the evidence is either anecdotal or mere assertion, she thinks women only exercise power and wealth by being politicians and bosses, and Ms. Chira totally ignores biology in her analysis. For those of us interested in facts rather than ideological indoctrination, we will have to look elsewhere.
12
But what about personal fulfilment?. Several years ago I realize that devoting my energies to my career, with modest but uncertain increases in salary and professional promotion, was making me miserable. I literally dreaded every day. Then I made a decision to pull back, and fortunately was able to utilize my skills and now work for the same company as a freelance legal writer. The pay is decent and I can pay my bills. what I've gained has so much greater value. Freedom, flexibility, the ability to have time to travel, spend with family, write a book I may never finish but enjoy writing, and even have a garden. In fact, I've experienced greater pride and accomplishment being able to grow my own food than I ever did in any job. I would hate to think the value of my life should be reduced to my financial net worth.
That said, when I worked in traditional jobs, I found that men were often more helpful to me in my career then women. I think the limitations of women in the workplace create an unhealthy competitive environment. Especially if there are only one or two women executives or managers.
13
I think a lot of men feel the same way about money and power, but many men/fathers do not feel they have the option of "dialing back" because they are scared of being viewed as a failure.
My dad spent 30 years going to a job he despised but that paid well, but it was only after he died and I had gone through his computer and belongings did I discover thousands of pages of fiction he had written throughout his life - stories and plots he had dreamed up but had never been told.
My one regret now is that I had never talked with my father about what his true dreams and ambitions really were. Surely it couldn't have been slaving away inside a cubicle crunching financial numbers for ever more greedy corporations? If I could have been wiser as a child, I think I would have liked to give up my christmas presents and nice clothes and instead told my father not to work so hard, and to follow his dreams.
4
I agree. I'm having a similar experience with my husband now. He's convinced his entire worth as a man, a husband, and a father is based upon how much money he makes. I've tried to convince him that we should move somewhere with a lower cost of living in order to have a higher quality of life. Being constantly stressed about money is no way to live. I fear he's going to work himself into an early grave, but he cannot detach himself from the social and cultural expectations of manhood. It's even harder, because we're African-American. He grew up without his father, as did I, and being the head of the family is of great importance to him. He he provides financial assistance to his mother and other relatives when needed. He has been generous to a fault with his ex-wife because of his children. But outside of work he's become withdrawn from life because the focus is always on making money to afford a lifestyle that he hates. After a lifetime of taking care of others, he feels it selfish to even consider what he wants for himself as an individual.
3
Interesting article that left me feeling uneasy:
1. Unfortunate that Diana Taylor was mentioned in the context of Michael Bloomberg. Somewhat undercuts the point of the article by depicting Ms. Taylor on the arm of a powerful man.
2. Not a bad thing that women are dedicating their funds, power and prestige to helping others.
3. Rather than an either/or test (do well or do good), why not do both?
6
Growing up in the 1960s I was definitely treated differently than my older brother and younger brother which definitely influenced my career and life choices, however, I "woke up" considerably after a divorce in my early thirties. Henceforth I have to balance my desire for financial autonomy, a career identity, and values -- which often created internal conflicts. I pursued a career in academia and the nonprofit world (a career that allows me to serve others) but learned to save and invest which has brought me (and my spouse) financial liberty.
3
Also relevant is that I handle most financial decisions: prepare taxes, manage investments and I'm the one who set up our charitable trust and do make and will make most of the decisions about how much $$ we donate. As others have pointed out in these comments the issue is more complex than simply what women do or what men do.
As a mature single woman I’m not working to be “rich”- the trappings of that life do not interest me. I work to survive and enjoy the days of my life. That means work that’s satisfying and a safe and comfortable home. Like my dad, I couldn’t see myself continuing to claw my way to the top in corporate, but shifted to a philosophy of time well spent.
That’s my personal choice; women of ambition certainly deserve the path to authority - the more women that make decisions in our culture, the better we all will thrive, and move toward our American ideal of Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.
14
Ms. Chira writes: "There's a longstanding rift in the women's movement and beyond: Does the path to power require acting more like men, or can women world influence in way that are different but just as effective?" You left out a third way which was very prominent in the 60's and 70's: that women bring cooperative methods to work that are more successful than men's competitive methods therefore we need to CHANGE the way men work not women. Unfortunately, this goal of the women's movement got lost as, instead of men becoming more like women, women became more like men. The movement lost its way when it gave up on this goal.
16
Completely agree. This article eludes to that without explicitly stating it. Many of the most influential people have to look back in time to recall how it started for them. Sure there are lots of powerful men but I'd say that a large chunk of them started from the desire/pressures to obtain that level of supposed 'greatness'. Women generally have a better way of doing things and therefore 'success'will look different. The now infamous 'Google memo' actually eludes to this as well, for those out there who can see and recognize it.
1
99% of men throughout history had no wealth or real power.
The one percent had it, all the rules and laws of the past were tilted to favor the rich (or those born on third base just like today), and of course for millennia that 1% were men. Women had zilch.
Today women are free to strive to join that 1%, but most women like most men will never have the kind of power or influence described in this article. A few will but not most.
Each of course has to decide what one's values and priorities are.
Many today as pointed out in the column don't believe endless greed and selfishness is best for the individual or society. The collective good really does matter.
So yes, finally now you do have the power to shape your life as you see fit, or at least to try.
But most of us also have to adjust to the realities of the world as it is, rather than the world bending to our whims. But we are all free to try. Good luck.
21
How are we going to be better off if the top 1% is 50% female but still holds most of the country's (and world's) wealth? And why should regular working women and men care? What we need is less income inequality, not a more diverse ultra rich ruling class that uses its power to enrich itself even more at the expense of all of us. I agree that women need more money and power - let's have higher minimum wages, equal pay for equal work, high quality affordable child care, better education, and more women running for and winning electoral office to promote fairness and equality.
32
For many years, in my late 20's and my through my 30's I, worked in Corporate America. I was an RN by training, but worked hard and worked my way up the old fashioned way. I made good money, stock options, etc. until I became pregnant with my daughter. We all see the changes in attitude toward us then. The mommy track derails us. That is still true to this day.
I left my job and stayed home with my daughter, the best investment. But went back to work as an RN part-time when she went to school. Having a technical skill is handy. I tell my now college age daughter that. I tell her to make sure she can always provide for herself, not to rely on anyone else. Sure, her dad is very successful, and we have a great life. But I work in hospice and share how things can turn on a dime.
Being able to provide for yourself as a woman provides great freedom.
In my book, money is not power, it is freedom. And freedom can be powerful.
And by the way, when I was climbing that corporate ladder years ago, I sought respect, not power. Power without respect is meaningless.
Just ask our President.
80
RNs in our society have that luck -- NOW -- of a skill so desired you can work anywhere, full or part time -- opt out and then back into the marketplace.
Don't count on that forever. They are bringing nurses from overseas and paying them less. Aides are taking over work once done by nurses. And don't forget about robotics and artificial intelligence.
So you are in the catbird seat TODAY. I remember when my skills gave me some of these benefits -- then technology obsoleted much of what i did, or let it be done by software and apps. I earn less today in actual dollars (not inflation adjusted dollars!) than I did in 1999.
Lawyers used to be well paid and a law degree was touted in the 80s as a golden ticket to the upper middle class. Today, unless you graduated at the top of your Harvard law classes....most lawyers cannot find good full time jobs.
1
Dear Concerned Citizen: You are wrong about nurses. There is a shortage of experienced nurses. I have been a nurse since 1980. I am now 58 and still I can find jobs. It is one job that does not age discriminate.
I also know lawyers and others who cannot find employment. But not nurses. And, with the Baby Boomers aging, they will only need us more.
This commentary gets it wrong. In most cases, when people have money and power, they abuse it. I have seen numerous cases of wealthy, powerful women who have cheated other people, including both men and women, to obtain that wealth and power.
The present distribution of wealth and power in this country is preventing us from fixing our problems. The wealthy and powerful are not compassionate and do not want to help other people. This is the reason we are not making progress on employment, education, health care, consumer protections, and environment.
56
Unless things have changed a lot in the last twenty years, women do have a lot of money. In fact they have gazillions of it. The problem is they turn the management over to men who then do not represent their interests. What to do?
5
you give away your own weakness and bias:
not BUT differently, but AND differently - how women can be effective. And, not just to bankroll candidates but to become them. Semantics matter here. Language inhibits our actions. Other than that, it was ok.
3
I was never encouraged to pursue wealth but not because I was female. Both my parents were intellectuals and they emphasized academic and professional success above money. I have done pretty well for myself in my chosen field but I now regret that I was not more forward in pursuing money for money’s sake. But the comments on this article are just jaw- dropping. Women are less aggressive than men? Women care more for their kids than for personal power and autonomy? Women don’t like hierarchies? What is this, the Victorian age? With such attitudes, it’s a miracle we are not all chained to cradles and stoves, wearing a chador.
20
I care more for my kids than for personal power and autonomy. And I'm living right here in the 21st century. My guess is that a lot of women are the same way.
"Women are less aggressive, women care more for their kids,,,,"
Perhaps the problem is that we've let people with those traits take over. In my humble opinion, one of the main tasks of civilization is to control its leaders, and compel them to do the right things for everyone else. In that regard, we seem to be failing miserably. People who focus on excellence and caring should have more power and influence than those who simply accumulate money.
I'm in my mid-50s, & have always been free to pursue wealth & wield the power it may bring. I just didn't want it. Yes, when I was younger, there were some outside obstacles--a common sort of sexism. But it was never enough to prevent me from doing what I was determined to do. Btw social pressure exists for everyone, not just women.
This leads me to my main point--the world is far bigger than 'wealth & power.' As an artist, I value the arts, hardly a money-enriching goal. Where does that fit in with the titans of industry here? Why is money the goal? Why not purpose, meaning & autonomy? Freedom for women to do what we want, including raising our kids without someone being told that makes us victims of some nebulous scheme against us as opposed to our own choice & values? Maybe meaning & purpose should be the yardstick, not money. I found meaning as a mother. So do millions of women. That choice, however, meant that my earning power was lessened. I could have worked but didn't.
When I returned to work, I became a teacher, for the same reason--purpose. I'm not rich or powerful; but it is not a truth universally recognized that I must want money & power. It's interesting that this is the assumption here.
Women who want money & power only must be willing to forego family just as the men who want this do. If they want to, they are free to do so. They may end up without purpose though. Or they may not. But they must have the freedom to choose, like me.
17
The difference I think is that a man can forgo family and a personal life, for decades while he builds power and wealth -- then marry in his 40s or 50s, to a much younger woman and still have a family. Men -- even poor men -- know they have this option, to postpone childbearing into their 50s and beyond.
Women do not have this ability. We have a narrow window of fertility -- and advanced educations eat up a big chunk of our best years. If you go to graduate school or get PhD or do internships or residencies -- you only emerge around 28 or 30, and THEN you are just starting out, and must concentrate on work for 5-10 years. By then you are 35 to 40 and most of your eggs are ancient history.
Egg freezing isn't all that effective and that leaves few solutions -- not if you want your own DNA reproduced. It also makes it hard to find a mate in a culture that celebrates female youth, and denigrates female wisdom and age.
It is a conundrum.
1
When humans realized that men play a role in human creation, about 15,000 years ago, the institutions of husbandry of women and animals began in earnest. Hence the social memes of aggression and ownership replaced the mob love leadership style of the beings who appeared to create life, ie. females. As Carol Gilligan pointed out in the seventies, women have naturally higher values and when the world is seen and "possessed" if you will -through the eyes of fully empowered female scientists and leaders (ie. not carrying the internalized patriarchy messages)- then we will realize Eden once again.
3
This whole article seems wrongheaded. We should be trying to reduce the power of money, not asking women to emulate wealthy men who use money for power. I admire her daughter.
25
I suspect that is why there is such hostility against teachers, mostly women, these days.
They are seen as selfish when they go on strike. If all teachers were men, I suspect the public may still be angry (who will take care of their children for them?!!!!), but there would not be such hostility.
The historic mindset is that women exist to support others, not themselves---it has been this way for thousands of years, and I continue to see this play out among even younger couples, especially if they have kids.
I hope it doesn't take that long to change.
19
We need a new type of leadership that combines the best of female and male stereotypes. Lord help us if the women who get to the top behave like the men who are there.
I am so sick of me me me, power and greed, and all the misery and destruction it has caused.
Let's face it, men have been a huge disappointment when it comes to leadership. Time for a different model.
24
Wow, the author has hit a nerve. The comments are full of people arguing that money doesn't really matter, and it shouldn't really matter to women.
Money matters a lot and it's disturbing that the idea that women should claim their due is being equated with being rapacious and evil. Money IS power and to pretend it doesn't matter, or shouldn't matter for women, or that it's just a matter of the pay gap, is to deny women a crucial route to power.
Like it or not, money represents freedom. There's a reason for the universal lotto fantasy, where people imagine the first thing they would do after claiming their winning is go and tell bad bosses and bullying co-workers to shove it.
42
It is important to make a distinction between the top echelons of power and money, and the rest of us. In the normal world, women are making great strides, and closing in on economic equality in many areas. In the top echelons, they are not even serious contenders, and it is those top echelons that control the lives of countless other people. Given the current paradigm, to get there, they need to become like the men who are there, many of whom are rapacious and evil. (Some, but not all. Some get there by doing something useful and good. Oprah and Steve Jobs come to mind).
That’s a nice straw man. No one has written that money should not matter to women. It’s good to be financially comfortable and independent. The author is writing about wealth and power, which can only be obtained by a small percentage of the population. People earning six figure salaries are not wealthy or powerful, unless they’re directly involved in politics and public policy. The drive to obtain power usually comes with personality characteristics that result in harm to others.
1
I fell into the "money doesn't matter" trap. Well, yeah, it does. It matters when you don't have a washer or dryer and you have to schlep your laundry to a laundromat or use a toilet plunger. a bathtub and a clothesline outside. It matters when you don't have the money for the bus and have to walk to and from work, rain or shine. It matters when you can't afford to rent a place in a crime-free neighborhood or to replace the things that are stolen. It matters when you have no choice but to buy clothes at a thrift store. It matters when you have to dumpster-dive for old abandoned furniture. It matters when you have to suffer the humiliation of signing up for food stamps even though you are working as hard as you can to put food on the table. It matters when your doctor looks you up and down and figures that you're not worth saving, and it really matters when your kid asks you for something reasonable, like a pair of shoes that fit, and you have to answer "No, I'm sorry, we can't afford it." Money doesn't just represent freedom. It means living like a human being and being treated with at least a minimum of respect. You could be the wisest, classiest, nicest, most polite and best-educated person in the world, but unless you have at least some money to back that up, I hate to say this but nothing you say or do will make any difference.
2
Biological differences between men and woman may be more important than culture in determining their individual pursuit of great wealth, and you cannot repair a broken leg by putting a cast on your arm.
This article starts off with an absolute presumption that parents can inspire their daughters to achieve a lust for extreme wealth and power- I say, show me the proof.
Research by evolutionary psychologists suggests that personalities and career performance are formed by biology and peer influence much more than parental influence. However, there is so much money to be made in telling parents how to raise their kids and so much desire for parents to believe in their special powers because they love their kids so much, we continue to deal with these issues out of emotion rather than careful study.
Let's do all we can to assure that girls achieve their greatest possible success by following the research. Maybe changes in teacher training and curriculum in the early grades are really the answer- that may be where the peer pressure issue can best be dealt with.
This is a very difficult issue politically and otherwise, let us proceed with caution and clarity. Fund the research and follow it.
7
Evolutionary psychology is to a particular kind of doctrinaire cultural feminism as the theory of evolution is to fundamentalist Christians. It just can't be accepted. I agree that this is a difficult issue and hard to speak about clearly and openly.
Liberal feminism has no trouble with biological realism. A certain kind of cultural feminism does. This is why Shulamith Firestone is an icon for some cultural feminists. She believed that biology was the problem and had to be overcome by technology. For me, there's too much faith in technology in that outlook, and something that looks too much like female self-hatred as well. But as a liberal feminist, I would say that each woman has her own decisions to make.
I do believe that the choices will be clearer, though, if feminism and science stay in a little closer alignment with each other.
1
Are you saying our schools should be training kids to aspire to be oligarchs? I don't want to live in that America.
1
Money may be power in our present culture, but people don't need to let these values take over their lives. Susan starts with an assumption that "women want the same things as men", which fails to consider that not all men are motivated by money and the power it brokers. Feminism is not about wearing a suit and tie and wading into a scrum of successful men. I like to think it capitalizes on women's abilities and competencies at nurturing, to build a more loving and peaceful world.
6
And this whole time, where men and women have become adversaries, not once do we ask why? The economy brings out the worst in us and clearly cannot allow us to live harmoniously together. Why has nobody asked if we should change the economic model we live by? Why look to worsen the problem by making women rich and vicious animals too? What a sad day when females aspire to be like a man: in a struggle for power and money. Women are the saving grace of humanity, they remind us there is something left of our souls, but yet, they too wish to play the silly game that costs us all. This article, like many others, is just another sad attempt to press for a socialist-type regime of forcing things to happen that naturally cannot occur by themselves. Farewell humanity.
5
Sheesh. I would be thrilled to make enough money for my own financial independence and long range security. Even that was impossible for most of the moms who stayed home to raise kids.
11
Money soon come, data shows. As the education scales have tipped towards women in every category of graduation rates and academic excellence, men woefully lag. Men are failing at everything, employment, moral courage and social sophistication. The day is near when there will be no men physicians, lawyers or investment bankers.
1
Good grief! The Lean-In type of feminism that this article comes from oppresses women as a category of people who are still treated unfairly in the current economic system, even as it empowers those few women who are aggressive and play the boys' game to make it to the top. My university has a powerful female Provost who has established her authority with the people on top (white men) by closing the Dean of Women's Affairs Office and subsequently the childcare cooperative that so many women grad. students depended on. Under her leadership, we no longer get reports about gender inequality in terms of wages and faculty ranks, so people can only understand the extent of gender inequality by doing individual research and more unremunerated work. And for those of us watching, we have observed growing inequities in these areas. The leadership instead wants to talk about "satisfaction" surveys.
The way forward for women to upend the gender power difference that seems to be of concern here is to look at the systemic, fundamental ways in which institutions, through both male and female misogyny, are perpetuating and in some cases accentuating economic inequality along gender lines. Any other palliative is fantasy at best, or implicit misogyny at worse.
25
Too many women still revolve their lives around men. As long as women give birth they cannot be on equal tier with men in the workplace. Most leave the workplace and the changes the equation.
3
More power for wealthy people? No thanks. The whole premise of this piece is wrong. What we need is more power coming from the bottom up and not the top down.
The writer doesn't seem to understand just how close to the rocks the ship has been steered by those very same people and their lackeys in Washington. Changing the gender of the captains isn't going to change the course. There's nothing magical about women that makes them immune from the corrupting forces of power. Let's please stop pretending otherwise.
People who strive for money and power do it out of self-interest. It's what you get when you elect a businessman your president. Self-interest is the one thing we need less of in America.
22
I think that society (at least the more liberal elements of it) holds a deep and pervasive belief--that women with money and power will on average use it better than men will. I know that there is data that concludes that gender diversity is good for the long term performance of a company, and it stands to reason that this would apply if women were CEOs.
What is troubling about this article is the implication, therefore, that society's problems will be solved by more money for women. To the degree that money equals power, we should all remember Lord Acton's old dictum about power corrupting. Women too can be corrupted (and will be if they are given power).
Instead of focusing on pay equalization across genders we should be focusing on the income inequality that affects ALL genders. Yes, focus on raising wages, but don't do it, or seem to do it, at the expense of men.
10
Sad to say but many women don't promote and support their female peers, prefer male bosses, and when they feel stuck and
feel sorry for themselves, try their hardest to tear other women down.
I grew up with both male and female feminist bosses and professors as well as sexist men and frustrated women who wouldn't or couldn't support a woman who wanted better
pay, and acknowledgment of wonderful work.
I tried to support the women who were stuck, but their mindset
often led them to produce and stew in group toxicity that was beyond belief.
Also, it was my experience that HR departments preferred male bosses in many places.
I could stand up to (most) men more easily, but I was luckier than most in doing so. (And a risk taker--even when I became a single mom--I would get an "in-between job" until
I found another, better one).
Work environments can be extremely unhealthy for women (and men) but part of being a mature person is to not make it worse! Deal with the complexities of male and female roles, unfair work environments, try as hard as possible to be a change agent and also try as hard as possible to get out if it's not working.
Easier said than done and of course, there are many women (and men) stuck in jobs because of the limitations that low pay can cause, including racism, lack of support and childcare.
Women used to ask me how did You get that job? I would say "because I applied for it!"
Believe in yourself, and hopefully, you will find women and men who will too.
10
My oldest daughter at university (and loving it) was talking with her friends about what they might be interested in doing once their studies come to an end.
The other girls around the table were adamant that they would be heading towards caring jobs in social care or education, but went further in suggesting that to look for a job that paid a lot of money, would somehow be morally wrong or repugnant.
When my girl asked whether this was all based on the idea that someday a man would come along to support these grand "moral" choices, there was a vast uncomfortable silence.
14
Why should we encourage women to pursue wealth and power? Pursuing money and personal wealth is simple greed. However, the desire to create wealth is a noble endeavor which benefits society in general. Many people who create wealth end up very wealthy themselves. Whether male or female we should all seek to create wealth. Build something that produces goods or seek knowledge that will eventually create goods or make them more efficiently. Don't just pursue wealth for its own sake - it is a hollow endeavor.
1
Lost in the obsession to obtain money is this simple question: What is money?
Everyone knows they want it, but who can say what it really is. I think primarily it should be remembered that money is imaginary. This is not to say it does not exist, but rather that it is not a thing unto itself, like say a tree or a fork. It is a mental construct of the human mind. It is a symbolic totem whose value is wholly dependent on convincing everyone else that its value is what it is purported to be. Once faith is lost, value is lost as well.
Look at a country like Greece. Once faith was lost in their ability to repay their debt, the value of their money plummeted.
Take Bitcoin. Its value fluctuates wildly. It is a more accurately a commodity, not a currency. But once again, faith determines value.
Though it is an imperfect analogy, I would say, money most closely resembles a religion. If women want wealth and influence, they need to create a new belief system. I think we have seen some nascent demonstrations of this in a social context, but now it must extend itself into the political and economic arenas. Currently, women are playing by someone else's rules, on someone else's field, with someone else's ball.
You want money and the power that comes with it? Then it's time to start your own game. Those that simply ask for equality, rarely, if ever, get it. One must either seize power or create it. It is never given freely.
5
I agree, there is nothing wrong with wanting money, whether it be a man or a woman. But often when men play the game for money, it's all about making money for themselves: their actions are often value-enhancing for themselves, but value-destructive for everyone else who's in it for the long-term, like employees and consumers. Just think of many of the disgraced former CEOs out there. How is that a good model for women to be following?
5
This article sheds a harsh, disturbing and clarifying light on the social (or should one say anti-social) interests and anti-democratic aspirations that find expression in contemporary identity politics. It is apparent that Ms. Chira is oblivious to the blatantly anti-democratic character of her glorification of wealth as a weapon of political. In contrast to the civil rights movements of an earlier (pre-1980) era, which involved mass struggles for universal democratic rights and which was focused on achieving a far greater level of social equality, identity politics is a struggle within different segments of the upper middle class "affluencia' for access to a greater share of the vast pools of money sloshing about at the top of society (the richest 5 percent or so). Ms. Chira might not like hearing this, but more rich women will not make the world a better place. One the other hand, depriving the rich -- whatever their gender (or their ethnic background) -- of their political power is an essential component of any genuinely democratic program.
7
I grew up poor but was always interested in money. I had to keep this interest secret as my family regarded an interest in finances to be an unfeminine and thus undesirable characteristic. It amazes me that so many people I know still share my family's views on women and money. I'm now moderately wealthy but keep that a secret too because I'm afraid of the hostility it might provoke. Women in the entertainment industries are expected to be wealthy, but women who have wealth they accumulated through investing and saving are suspect.
4
"Susan Chira is interested in hearing from women...- what messages were sent... by your parents"
Perhaps Susan should extend some interest towards research of personality formation, which seems to discredit the notion of supreme parental influence regarding career outcomes of their children, unless you are referring to genetic inheritance. This research stems largely from studying outcomes of identical twins and siblings raised by different parents because of separation from biological parents and placement in separate homes.
For a woman's opinion on this subject go to Judith Rich Harris' book, "The Nurture Assumption, in which she exhaustively analyzes research on this subject. She concludes that the influence of parenting methods over child outcomes is extremely exaggerated by the industrial parenting advice complex that is a multi-billion dollar industry. The profiteers (most of whom probably believe in their wares) include book writers, child psychologists and many others who presume to provide the best formula for raising successful children.
We love our children so much, we want to believe we have the power to assure their success in the world with "proper parenting", but this is an emotional construct. If we want our girls to to fulfill their potential and create greater gender equality in our society, the effective path may not be guided by our hearts alone. Let's fund and follow actual research to achieve this goal.
6
What about the imbalance in gender homelessness, suicide rates, age of death, workplace deathrates etc. Both tails of the distribution should be considered, not just the success side.
5
More women need to make more than men, then it can move to equal women, equal pay upon moving to equilibrium! The pendulum has to swing past, then stabilize.
1
Money rules and it is naive to suggest otherwise. It is incumbent upon parents to encourage daughters, from birth, to carefully consider the importance of money in determining their lifelong freedom. Poverty is akin to slavery, a pitiful existence for anyone, but women always suffer most, exactly because of their biology. Let’s also not forget the importance of power that money provides. It’s women’s turn to rule. Prejudicing the outcome of having women in power is just another example of seeding doubt and setting up roadblocks for women to succeed with the same wild abandon men have exercised since the Big Bang.
2
Women and men need equal amount of power and money. Poor people need more money and power to make our society more just and equitable. We all need to live with less money.
How about finding another way to leverage power besides money and guns to leverage power.
2
Unfortunately, many of the financial/tech positions that pay high salaries add nothing to the betterment of society. We need to compensate professions like teaching and social work, traditionally "women's work," more generously so that the best and brightest don't go into fields where the only goal is to make money, not to add to the social good. I left business school (Northwestern) incredibly discouraged by the fact that I had to push product and/or often bogus "consulting" to make a healthy salary. The industries that have the highest returns financially often add the least to the general good.
14
So now they we know the wage gap was imaginary, and completely based on a woman's choice of childbirth - as currently being overproven in Scandinavian countries - all we have left is the top jobs.
Yet those are probably the most affected by a woman's choice
6
This is all getting tiresome. Woman need to stop blaming and complaining and just do. I have daughters, they have or are accomplishing what they want. Rough patches, sure, but successful people don't quit and whine or not even start and still whine.
12
Ms. Glen's daughter should take a good look at B Corporations, which are designed not only to be profitable, but to do good for the public and the planet. Supporting these types of corporations can go a lot further than just supporting non-profits. They are perhaps the only way to combat the greed, hypocrisy and corruption in our global financial world.
http://www.bcorporation.net/
3
Surely the goal is not equality in avarice, but rather that rich men should learn greater compassion.
12
Financially successful women are stuck between a rock and a hard place in their relationships with men. I was married to a man with a professional, but unstable job history, partly due to his field. He could take and keep jobs, or not, as he liked, as I was foolish enough to let him. I always made at least twice what he did (which was fine and something I knew would be the case when we married), but I also had to be cheerleader. It was a celebration when he would keep a job for a year, or manage to find one that had benefits. I encouraged him to max out his 401K, so at least one year, I contributed more to charity than he did to the joint account that we used to pay the mortgage and joint expenses. I felt that I could not complain about his lack of contribution to the household as I made more than enough money (and made dinner most nights, but at least he did the dishes). When I finally did complain, he told me that I was all about money. I never said anything again.
When we got divorced, I was again stuck. I was proud of my financial success (neither of my parents went to college), but my success meant that he would walk away with a large stack of money in addition to his 401K and his masters degree that had been paid for out of the joint account, i.e., that I had paid for. My attorney said to me that a judge had told a woman in my situation that "he might be lazy, but he is your lazy." My now ex-husband is managing to thrive in his job.
55
This points out one of the many things feminism misses about men. While women think about whether to be like men or not, to prioritize a career, or not, to be the primary earner, or not, men have only half those options, or they are not desirable. There are men who make these choices, but they are in a minority, and frankly leading with the desire to be less career and earnings oriented for men is almost always a non-starter. Try a little experiment. Look at a dating site and see how many women insist that men be financially independent. Then look to see how often that is something men say. The tacit understanding is that for men to be attractive, regardless of what hey really end up doing, have to demonstrate the willingness and capability of being the competitive careerist/provider. We talk a lot now about male behavior but we really haven't talked about if they have many other options. This comment demonstrates that. Whatever other issues the marriage had, the subtext clearly reads that he lacked as a workplace competitor and in self-sufficiency. I sense resentment at giving support that men have to give without question.
3
Paying alimony or a generous settlement to an ex spouse is something divorced men have had to deal with for for centuries. The fact that successful women now face this same situation is an unforeseen consequence of gender equality.
6
Imagine this story with the genders reversed. (Even if all she did was do the dishes.) We would be cheering on the woman with tales of "You Go Girl." Female selfishness has become a virtue.
1
If you simply count the dollars when you discuss the current and future disparity of wealth, you miss an important part of the puzzle. The current winners, who you accurately say are mostly men, are accumulating more than money; they are accumulating control of the things other people need to live. History shows us that they will use that control to extract more money and control from the people who need those things, and that's everybody else, men and women.
They are close to gaining control of the political system, and once that control is locked in, they will gain control of everything else. You could call this an economic singularity, and when it is done, they will write the rules about who gets to advance, and how far.
I'd like to think that if women were equally represented at this level of power, that they would do things differently, but I don't believe that they will get there. The right wing has given ground on the social agenda and tightened its grip on the economy, and they're not about to share their power and influence with anyone else. A few women might be able to claw their way up into their ranks, but it won't change anything for the rest of us.
12
Gender pay inequality is rife in healthcare, even when one looks at the study referenced by PDS of Seattle. Women comprise the majority of Nurses, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists and other healthcare professionals and all of these professions have a significant and persistent gender wage-gap.
I am a male Physical Therapist and have seen this in practice for over 20 years.
Frustrated with the gross exploitation in the healthcare labor marketplace, I created an internet platform https://freelanceclinician.com/ to allow clinicians to anonymously bid on temporary medical service contracts to allow them to earn more and avoid the persistent and wide-spread gender pay gap.
The temporary medical staffing industry (think travel Nurses and Doctors) employs these (mostly female) clinicians and keeps 50% or more of their money from these short-term contracts.
With the Freelance Clinician platform, medical professionals work as independent contractors and earn more, yet still charge the healthcare facility less. Freelance Clinician takes a small (5.99%) fee from every paid invoice.
The women currently using the platform earn more now, and report feeling more self-empowered and self-confident than ever.
The gender pay-gap in healthcare is real, persistent, and reversible.
6
Women need to stop asking "permission" to be successful and wealthy. One way is to develop a separate financial track. Women who are successful and rich, like Oprah Winfrey, should invest only in women owned-run financial institutions and should fund health research only for women by women-owned/run projects with no man behind pulling the strings or sitting at the top.
Average women actually control most of the household money. The time for asking for "household and personal allowances" is over.
A woman's place is anywhere she wants it to be. Women - collectively - must use their strength as over one-half the population to pick/push each other up and live fully and freely in their individual creativity and genius.
NOW is the time.
1
Lets eliminate the double standard. Or is that just too much to ask? How about I start an online petition that suggest white males invest only in white male owned businesses? Wouldn't go over very well, would it?
I agree 100% that a woman's place is anywhere she wants it to be. So is a mans. This constant identification into groups and tribes is going to result in things remaining exactly like they are now. Which is exactly what the plutocrats desire.
When I asked my niece what she wanted to do with her life she replied that she wanted to be rich. I thought of Obama's reply when he learned that most of the students going to Harvard wanted to go into the financial sector to reap the huge rewards: "The poverty of ambition." I tell both my nephews and nieces to find something that helps people, that's what makes people happy. Too many young people think they need to be rich to be happy.
9
An important reminder: it isn’t illegal under both federal and New York State law firm an employer to discourage an employee from disclosing salary information. Share your salary and bonus info freely and casually, without expectation that anyone else share theirs with you - there’s no shame in it; just get used to it. I’ve found many people will also share their info with me without asking. This put some me in a good position to negotiate my Own salary and know whether I am being lowballed. As a society we need to overcome our social reticence in discussing finance. In Other places (china comes to mind) people share what they (or their relatives) make all the time, often within a few minutes of meeting.
6
Sorry, the above should read: it *IS* illegal to discourage employees from sharing salary info.
My father was a first generation American and he always told his daughters (there were 5 of us) that education and having a good job were important for us because husbands could run off (this made me think they were like dogs) and we should be able to support ourselves and our children. We listened to him and we paid for our education ourselves (with the help of government grants and loans) and we have been successful in our careers.
I don't like that wealth equates to power in politics. In a democracy, all people should have equal power in government. I know that is idealism, but isn't that what we are striving for, a more perfect union?
The actor's name in Equity is Anna Gunn, not Anita Gunn. If you are going to write about women and power, at least get the women's names right.
59
I grew up in a dysfunctional household with a mean, critical, unloving mother and a father who, while loving, was largely absent because he couldn't bear to be around her and he had more of a choice. It taught me to pursue academic success since that was the only personal validation I ever received, and at least as importantly, it taught me to seek financial independence since even as a preschooler I knew the only person I could count on to take care of me was me.
I am now in my 70s, married to the most wonderful man on the planet, someone I would literally entrust with my life. But although we jointly own real estate and hold other significant assets as "ours," I still have substantial wealth in my own name (as does he), assets I have accumulated and separately maintained my whole life. Having those assets, knowing I do not have to be financially dependent, has given me personal strength, power and independence to be who I want to be, to choose who I want to be with. And even now, when I am so joined at the hip with my husband it's sometimes hard to say where "me" ends and "we" begins, I wouldn't give that up for the world.
To my mind, that's the real importance of money to women--the power of independence, the power to choose and the personal strength that comes with that. I hope more women accumulate enough "big money" to bankroll more women who support women's issues. But I urge all women to accumulate enough to establish their independence to make that choice.
109
It's unfortunate in our society that having significant wealth is the only way people can feel they're independent. For the majority of the middle class, strength and independence come from the ability to support themselves with job skills but in the absence of societal systems, health care for example, that is no longer enough. It's sad to think that we need wealth to feel strength and independence.
10
Just curious---how long have you been married to "the most wonderful man on the planet"? That is a critical factor that you omitted.
I have been married to the" most wonderful woman on the planet" for nigh on 30 years. Nether of us would have tolerated for one minute the concept of his, hers, or mine. Everything is ours. Everything. We do not even refer to your truck or my truck. It's the black truck or the grey truck.
Perhaps the difference is that we grew together. Had one or the other acquired substantial wealth before getting married, we might view things differently. Then again, perhaps we would not have gotten married.
1
@Cocernicus: I wish I had met my husband when we were young and poor, but as it turns out we were middle-aged and established. Now we're old and blessed with "our" children, "our" grandchildren and enough assets from whatever the source to tide us through. But for whatever it's worth, I would have married this man if either or both of us had been poor as church mice, and I truly believe we would be just as happy.
1
The writer appears to miss the point. Womens' gains of equal wealth and power haven't been worked for so that men's often ego-centric approaches can be copied and reinforced. Rather, by applying wealth and power to more shared and wholistic endeavors, the goal has long been to find a new and more equitable way to build society. At least this is the way we saw it in the early days of feminism. I hope it's still true.
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Many feminists did and do see it this way. Unfortunately, many women are not feminists but rather women succeeding according to hierarchical patriarchal standards.
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I think it is changing. When I look at my circle, almost everyone's wife is arguably a 50/50 financial equal. Especially with teachers, government workers and nurses, they are making 80-100k with security and pensions/benefits their husbands don't have. The husbands have plateaued many years ago and 9/11 to the financial crisis have flattened pay in IT, engineering, finance while woman have advanced. A simple example, the largest individual job category in the US now is elementary school teacher(according to BLS). The avg teacher in Conn made 74k last year and the avg HOUSEHOLD income in Conn is also 74. The numbers change state to state but the ratios are the same
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THANK YOU. The lefty media still talks about teachers as if they were underpaid, when in fact they enjoy high salaries and luxe benefits so generous that the Swedes would gasp in amazement!
Teachers earn more on a per hour worked basis than most other professionals with the same educational level -- PLUS can never be fired, and can retire 15 years before everyone else. What is the VALUE of 15 extra years, at 90% of final salary --- while everyone else must work until 67? What is the VALUE of having every summer off with pay, in the nicest part of the year?
If you added that up, teachers are paid VASTLY more than everyone else.
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you are correct and the underfunded pension bill is not 5 trillion or more nationally as nobody could afford to fund the pensions AND pay the high pay. Parents making 30k bring Starbuck gift cards to teachers making 90. I could add as a person with a masters degree in IT who teaches part time is that the undergrad teachiers curriculum is far less rigorous than most
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There are ample and compelling reasons for more diverse economic power sharing by interest groups be they be defined by gender, race, regions and the like. But human nature being what it is, I am highly skeptical that any group including women will prove less corruptible, more generous, or more benign despite the anecdotes of outstanding virtue which the column cites. Money alone bears power not virtue especially in our materialistic culture. It would be naive and simplistic to assume otherwise.
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Women who are running this year for elective office are overwhelmingly Democratic – when almost all serious current analyses, including those published in the NYT, suggest that not only will Republicans retain their majorities in the upcoming election at federal and state levels, but could increase them.
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
Where they could benefit is by creating name-awareness for times perhaps more propitious for dramatic change, such as 2020 and beyond. But 2018? Unless Trump fails at something big (North Korea, trade, etc.), fuhgettaboutit. At this remove, it’s too early even for Dems lost in fanciful dreams to speculate about Republican failure with a roaring economy lifting all boats.
But this is an interesting argument for Susan to make, and one that I suspect won’t be popular with the commentariat, which regards the accumulation of great wealth as inherently evil – Marx, Engels and Lenin (but not Putin) would have loved this crowd of aging hipsters. It’s also completely unexpected, given the venue; and sufficiently realistic that Susan might consider either making a serious pile or getting Michael, her husband, to make one, in order to toss her OWN hat into the political ring. I know that I’m always open to hard-headed pragmatism in candidates.
Then again, just about all the women we know who have made serious money, other than Oprah or as the result of marrying money or inheriting it, are … Republicans. Don’t quite think that’s what Susan meant.
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It's not the accumulation of wealth that's evil, but the accumulation in the hands of the few that leads to evil - specifically to oligarchies and banana republics. Where we are now definitely headed.
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Pete:
Oh ... so you're for EVERYONE becoming a billionaire. NOW I understand this forum.
After adjusting for years of training and hours worked, women surgeons make 79-82% of what men make- losing a dollar for every five that men who have worked no harder than their women colleagues earn. If we truly want to make positive change for women, time to solve the problem of gender pay inequality.
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That's not the data I've run across. They are paid less, but it's because they do work fewer hours: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/665536
"We find that the median female (but not male) primary-care physician
would have been financially better off becoming a physician assistant. This result is partially due to a gender-wage gap in medicine. However, it is mostly driven by the fact that the median female physician simply doesn’t work enough hours to amortize her upfront investment in medical school. In contrast, the median male physician work many more hours, easily enough to amortize his up-front investment. "
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Who should make "positive change for women"? The men? Why not the women themselves as they claim that they have "woman power"? The men have made it on their own. Why are the women begging the men to hand out to them money and power, while they claim that "men are not necessary" (Maureen Dawd) for their success?
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@ns, cite your study. I have not seen this assertion supported by fact but would be happy to change my mind if I see the research.
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My peers and I (women born in the 1980s who have attained higher education) are certainly "free" to pursue wealth and the corresponding power Ms. Chira discusses here, and we're free to go after it in traditional or nontraditional ways.
But our biology hasn't changed. We're more likely than men to want kids, to suffer postpartum and ongoing depression, and to feel guilty for leaving our little ones. We tend to to leave the workforce for periods and lose out on pay advances, and we desire flexible work arrangement options that remain the exception. Institutional barriers, not our motivation or intelligence, prevent middle/upper-middle class women from attaining serious wealth.
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Except for the need for quality childcare, such as available in Europe, I take exception to all of your claims about “us”. These are stereotypes that marginalize women like me. I have never felt the slightest guilt about leaving my kids and going to work. I have never suffered from depression, postpartum or not. I love my job. I found attitudes, such as yours, to be more of a hindrance in my career than any overt misogyny.
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Your last paragraph seems contradictory. What institutional barriers would keep women from leaving the work force to care for children? Do you suggest companies paying women even when they are leave and promoting them even though they have less experience and work fewer hours than those who don't?
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My biology's the same as yours, and I didn't want to be a mom or accumulate gobs of money. But because the template is that men get more than women for doing the same jobs, I still got paid less, got harassed for the job I wanted to do, and put my heart into.
Men don't distinguish between moms and not-moms. That's the institutional barrier you're really talking about.
I'm writing more checks to female candidates.
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My mom taught me I would definitely have to work but never gave me an inkling that I could have career. She seemed almost upset when I couldn't let go of that idea. Sexual power - prettiest women in the room - was the only power she really allowed herself. Having kids held her back too - that was a message I got. To this day, I wonder about women who "have it all." Can you really? I think it's really difficult. Men aren't asked if they are going to have children. For women, it's still this defining element and that is not just about love or family. That is also about money and power.
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No, men are not asked if they are going to have children, but they often still feel the pressure of being the highest paid breadwinner--especially if women take off time for kids. Both sexes have double binds and get mixed messages from US culture.
A more equitable system is government (or private) subsidized, guaranteed education as well as paid leave for both parents--for several months--and if needed, subsidized part-time work for each for a year (or whatever) might help to balance create more equally. Other countries have woven policies like these into the fabric of their culture.
These types of cultural shifts won't work if our main goals are to get filthy rich rather than be comfortable financially, educated and have more time for enjoyment.
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When my 17-year-old daughter told me that she wanted to be rich, I advised her to start an employee-owned company with some girlfriends. The fact is women don’t flourish in inequitable hierarchies; we relish collaborative enterprises that offer multiple routes to success and without dramatic pay differentials. I predict women will create new organizational structures which will reward employees in less linear ways.
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Yes, because male executives are on the path to destroying long-term company value, for short-term gains that boost their stock option values.
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My daughter is nine. She wants a store. I ask her, "Ok. What do want to the store to do?"
"Sell stuff. Chairs that I will carve. Scarves that I will sew (she pronounces it sue), shirts that I will knit and coffee."
I tried to explain to her she needs one message and needs to learn how money works.
End of story and off to something else.
And women wonder why they have neither power nor momey?
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Nice. Make fun of your child as a supposed illustration of women being unable to work their way up.
If you sampled nine-year-old boys on what they wanted to do in life, their responses would not be any more coherent nor would they be more ambitious about following through. So why is this girl being treated like her life's case is closed?
Chances are, she will change her career plans from this eclectic store. So how about trying to encourage some more immediate things that she likes? Confidence from a parent plays no small part of how one's life is shaped.
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Wait, you tried to explain economics to a nine year old and she wasn't interested, and on the basis of that you conclude women are inherently bad with money?
THIS is the real problem women have. Any time an individual woman makes a choice, it's seen as being driven by her biology, and representative of how all women behave and choose.
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Pilot, You are making the author's point exactly. The problem in your cute story isn't a nine year old girl with the short attention span and lack of interest in parental advice typical for most kids (of any gender). The problem is a parent who shrugs and says "well that's women for you" after trying to explain once to an entreprenuerial young girl how capitalism works. If giving up, with a sexist jab for good measure, is the approach to teaching girls about money and earning potential, then you're absolutely right -- we don't need to wonder why girls grow up with less power and money. Good for you for trying to teach your daughter something about sales and marketing -- I hope you keep it up and resist the impulse to blame it on her gender when she's not glued to what you have to say.
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It may seem strange to Susan Chira, but there are many people in this country who think in terms of household wealth and household income as being jointly owned by spouses.
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@donald surr: I am and have always been in a spousal relationship where property is jointly owned. Having said that: investmenets and retirement savings are usually individual, sometimes by nature of law ( RRSP here, not sure what the american equivalent is) and the spouse who stays home longer to raise kids has limited contribution room. When, as often happens, the couple separates later on in life, the husband often has a cushy retirement savings and the wife (usual child raiser) doesn't and suffers for it although she contributed equally (in kind) to permit the husband to raise those savings. Until a couple has provided equally for the independent future of both spouses, including reasonably equal amounts as a total in the sum of their individually held savings and investments, it is not truly joint ownership of household wealth and income. (Similar concept to doing jiontly household and childcare duties - if you both end up having roughly equal leisure time then you are sharing, if not - one of you is "helping").
My point is that while many couples (fewer in America than Europe, definitely) seem to own their wealth jointly, that is by far not the same thing as equally.
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Absolutely, in our family, wealth is owned by the family . The word "we" permeates all discussions surrounding money. We have an income, We have debt, we have a retirement. As long as the family is making progress financially, what we makes individually is much less important. This has been the case in the past, when either of us have been un/under employed, or who stays at home to raise the children.
Suffice to say, with such a cohesive view of our lives, divorce is not a word that ever comes to mind.
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Anyone, male or female, who would make everything that they had jointly owned when they got married is not living in reality. Catastrophic events occur-- car accidents, illness-- and assets get tied up or may be inaccessible. Even in the best marriage, people are still individuals.
Also, if a woman enters a marriage with significant financial assets, why should she not be allowed to keep them? Why should she be made to feel bad for wanting to do so?
1
Food for thought. Of course women must fight for equal pay, and recognition by their peers, but must find novel ways to do so, more sensible and less crass, assertive rather than aggressive; cooperative rather than too competitively vicious; money is power alright but it is not an end in itself, as we see too often in a male-dominated world. As it stands, and unfortunately with a number of women having helped to elect the most misogynous and vulgar bully in U.S. history, part of the strategy must consist in becoming politically active and go to the voting booth, and secure legislative power for true change; ousting the most unrepresentative politicians in today's white-male pluto-kleptocracy may be a good start.
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We still have a way to go in distancing ourselves from the idea of men as breadwinners.
Still, it doesn't seem right to conclude that women should be encouraged to exalt money and be cutthroat competitive in its pursuit.
How about offering daughters the same educational opportunities as sons, supporting the career paths which appeal to them, and emphasizing that they should be financially independent?
Pay equity and self-reliance are worth championing, but greed is not. Heaven knows there is already an abundance of moneylust, and it's not making society any better.
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great sentence- "Pay equity and self-reliance are worth championing, but greed is not." in my quotable quotes journal now...thx
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OK, but we DO let women have equal educational opportunity -- most students enrolled in college ARE WOMEN (60%!) -- most doctors and lawyers are now women. Most teachers are still women.
It is men who are not getting an equal break at the educational level.
Sweet Jesus, women should use their wealth to "advance their influence such as naming a building or donating to a college" rather than "to help other people"? Pro tip: Donations to colleges DO help other people. Giving a gift of sufficient size to have a building named after you is a gift of major impact for any capital campaign. It's possible to achieve both goals as a donor in the nonprofit sector- to help other people, and to be recognized for the size and impact of your assistance. Local giving to "smaller organizations that don't offer the flashiest rewards" also means being able to monitor the real impact of your donations, so women can track ROI and make transformative gifts. While men's philanthropic motivations may or may not be different than women's, there are a LOT of helpful men out there who gave as much to help others as to have their name on bricks and mortar. There's no point in denigrating men here so that women can rise up.
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I am a woman who has always pursued money. I never wanted to be totally dependent on a man for my livelihood. I have always had to fight the patriarchal perception that women should not be outspoken, technical or aggressive to hold my own to make money. I am definitely the black sheep woman in the family. Despite that I made money, still do when I see something worth pursuing. Its a good feeling but it sure gets tiring having to navigate the patriarchy, constantly.
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I'm a guy who lost his dad at age 9, and absorbed attitudes about money and power from my mom, who was in the position of surviving on VA widow's benefits and going to University of Michigan while raising 3 kids. Distilling her ideas: Power is earned and not appointed. Wealth should be created by happy people. It's not how much you make but how much you save. Take out your aggressions by eliminating parasitic debt. Kindness is more important than intelligence. Avoid talking about finance with immediate family and relatives...etc, etc. When Ross Perot was in charge at EDS, speaking with coworkers about salary levels could get you fired; this undoubtedly chilled women's chances to increase their income. It's all secrecy and no privacy, in the world of human resource and compensation administration. To my mom's cautions, I add, Don't sign any employment contracts demanding arbitration instead of jurisdiction by civil court; if you feel you must, buy enough time to get a trustworthy lawyer to look at it.
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What messages did my parents send to me when I was a young girl?
Well, they both wanted me to give school my best and to attend college. We were comfortably middle class, but my father was born into considerable poverty and education was the key to his success. Money was not really talked about as an end so much as school was emphasized for opening doors.
I did reasonably well as a student and got a BA, but wasn't that driven or careerist. I have worked at the same not-for-profit agency for 14 and 1/2 years (my first real job was with them) and I am okay with a mediocre salary and the satisfaction of working for a place that helps others. I don't want for anything, my needs are met, and I have enough to take care of my pets. I have the work/life balance I want and that means more to me than extra income.
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We should be looking to make the world fairer rather than create opportunity for women and/or encourage women to behave as badly as men.
Most people who have huge incomes make it because of a rigged system or through outright cheating. Let's find a way to dismantle the inefficiencies and share the wealth.
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I was going to submit my own comment but I think Not Drinking the Kool-Aid said it pretty well. How are we going to be better off if the top 1% is 50% female but still holds most of the country's (and world's) wealth? And why should regular working women and men care? What we need is less income inequality, not a more diverse ultra rich ruling class that uses its power to enrich itself even more at the expense of all of us. I agree that women need more money and power - let's have higher minimum wages, equal pay for equal work, high quality affordable child care, better education, and more women running for and winning electoral office to promote fairness and equality.
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It is a mistake to equate power with force, and money with success. Women can certainly join in the endless competition to dominate and advance, financially and in status. But woman (and men) could also choose another way of influence: by choosing cooperation, relationship, and sacrifice for the common good as the real source of satisfaction and measure of a life well-lived, a healthier system of values might emerge.
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Women, when they are girls, need to have their talents recognized rather than squelched. It's distressing to see or read that so little has changed since I was a girl in the 60s and 70s. I wanted to be a doctor, a surgeon to be specific. I was told that no one would want to see a female surgeon. I wanted to learn how to run the film projector in school. But the only ones that were taught how were the boys. My mother didn't like me playing with the boys. The girls didn't want to play with me because they felt I was too rough.
As a young adult I was never encouraged by anyone to go for an advanced degree. My parents told me that they wouldn't offer me any help at all. I was never encouraged in anything I did. When you don't receive any positive feedback from people around you it's very hard to believe in yourself. When there isn't any person who wholeheartedly encouraged you as a child to go for it even if it was hard work, who didn't provide you with a safe place to be, it's hard to feel that you are good enough to earn as much as possible.
The real issues are that males often feel neglected if women take over 20% of the conversation or don't allow them to interrupt what they are saying. It starts at home, in grade school, and that's where we need to change things. It's too late to do anything once a woman is older and has been paid less, given less opportunity than a man even though she's worked just as hard. Women aren't poor because they want to be.
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There is one simple path to running a company and earning well above average salaries and that is to pursue a technical education - probably engineering - and specifically chemical engineering. Despite this simple decades long fact - few women graduate with engineering degrees despite all manner of outreach. Women now share medical and legal degrees but have shown no interest in Engineering.
You want your daughter to run a company, start her own? Steer her into a technical degree.
You can't fake technical subjects such as math and physics.
7
SteveRR, this is SO wrong headed I'm not sure where to begin.
First of all, studies have shown that when women enter a field en masse (see: teaching, nursing, etc.) the pay for the entire field drops dramatically. It is because few women are engineers that the pay is good, not because women choose not to be engineers.
Furthermore, even beyond young women being discouraged in STEM fields in school while male peers are praised and mentored, women who enter STEM fields face harassment, are overlooked, and even if they somehow make it through unscathed are still paid shockingly less than their male coworkers for the same work. You mention medical degrees, for instance: female DOCTORS, who had to go through the same schools and subjects, make 74 cents on the dollar compared to male doctors.
I am very tired of men acting like women earn less money because they're just too lazy/stupid/ignorant for it to occur to them to make more.
9
Centrist, I'm a woman. I made choices that ought not to have limited my earnings. But, since I can't hide my gender, it didn't matter what choices I made. I was still treated as a less worthwhile employee than my male coworkers.
3
This article is all over the place. For example, the article compares how and why wealthy men and women donate to charities, but the author then mentions Rebekah Mercer, who funds Breitbart. She also could have mentioned Betsy Devos. Great examples of women who donate their wealth, huh?
I think men should be encouraged to have more empathy and donate their wealth to actually help people, not to gain influence. Encouraging more people to focus on wealth and power is a race to the bottom. The guys that do that are sociopaths. So we want more women to think similarly? Furthermore, I don’t think many people are going to have sympathy for someone who is earning six figures, instead of seven or eight. I don’t like bringing politics into this discussion, but this sort of thinking split the Democratic Party in 2016.
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It appears Ms. Chira has identified a problem that doesn't exist.
From various reputable sources:
More women are taking the reins on their finances, holding 60 percent of all personal wealth and 51 percent of all stocks in the U.S., according to Virginia Tech.
Women are expected to control two-thirds of private wealth in just three years.
Women now drive the world economy.
Globally, women control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion in the next five years. Their $13 trillion in total yearly earnings could reach $18 trillion in the same period. In aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined—more than twice as big, in fact.
Women hold slightly more than half of all management, professional and related occupations.
17
I don't know whether your numbers are accurate. What I do know is women hold about 6% of Fortune 500 CEO positions. They hold 19% of House seats and 22% of the Senate. That's what she's talking about.
7
What are these “reputable sources” for the figures you’ve mentioned? What was the study at Virginia Tech about? Please tell us so we can see for ourselves.
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