How Women Are Our Own Worst Enemies
And why sisterhood is so important.
When I re-entered the workforce at 49 years old, I was excited to be working for a woman. She was the CEO, and I would be reporting directly to her.
I had left the workforce 19 years earlier to be a stay-at-home Mom. Before that, I worked for men who paid me less than men in similar positions, and sexual harassment was an ever-present part of the job.
But 19 years later, in this brand-new world of equal rights, I was ready to enjoy equal pay and equal status.
I was totally unprepared for the blatant bias my female boss showed towards men. Not only did she pay them more. She deferred to them on every issue, even when it involved my department.
I was a good manager, and sales skyrocketed under my leadership. But if a man who headed another department made a decision that adversely affected my department, our CEO always listened to him.
This wasn’t my imagination. One man even told me, “You know she likes men better, and she will always listen to me rather than you.”
I had to enlist his help to get along and excel in that organization. If he approached our CEO with my ideas, she always listened.
