After years of being overlooked, women are catching up in all the professions. Though prejudice still exists, ability is beginning to outweigh gender in hiring and promotions. We now have many female economists, educators, doctors, aviators, and government workers. We have women in the Army, the Navy, and the Coast Guard. Many women are entering blue-collar fields and even more are advancing in business.
One of the nation's most effective economists is Alice Mitchell Revlin, the director of the Congressional Budget office which was created to give objective advice to Congress men on the cost and effectiveness of various government programs, but even she says "Things are better now for women economists but history is hard to break. . . . The ranks are very thin in my age group." Juanita Krebs is the first economist as well as the first woman to become Secretary of Commerce. Nancy Hays Teeters has become the first woman member of the Federal Reserve Board.
In the field of education, women are also achieving important positions. The University of Chicago has named Dr. Hanna Holborn Gray as president. The first woman to head a major School of Business is Norma Loeser, who has been named Dean of the George Washington University School of Government and Business Administration.
Women are hardly new to the field of medicine but seldom have the top jobs gone to women. Recently, however, Dr. Mary Howell was named the first female dean of the Harvard Medical School, indicating that the wave of the future is coming closer.
Women are taking on great responsibilities in the aviation industry, both as pilots and as administrators. Mary Anderson was recently appointed Associate Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, the highest aviation post held by a woman as of 1978. Also in that year, Jill Brown, a black woman, qualified as a pilot for Texas International Airlines. Women are now in the space programs. In December, 1978, there were six women chosen by NASA to be astronauts in the Space Shuttle Program, and 1,500 more women applied for astronaut training.
The Army announced that Brigadier General Mary E. Clark, the last director of the WACS, is to become the first woman to command a major Army base when she is assigned to Fort McLellan, Alabama. The Army also reported that it will begin recruiting women from all the services for the honor guard detachments at the White House in response to "pressure from Rosalynn," who asked why there were no women in the honor guard.
For more than two hundred years the Navy has been dominated by men and now Navy Secretary W. Graham Claytor has approved a plan to assign women full time to fifty-five sea going ships. On November 2, 1978, Mary Pat Carroll and several other Navy women reported for sea duty in Norfolk and in California. They were the first to take assignments on Navy vessels other than hospital ships or transports. They are also the vanguard of 56 women officers and 375 enlisted women who will help operate twenty-one noncombat ships in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets in the next few years. By 1984, the Navy hopes to have 5,130 female officers and enlisted women on ocean-going ships.
At Coast Guard commencement exercises, Brock Adams, Secretary of Transportation, said that women will soon serve aboard previously all-male Coast Guard cutters with long assignments at sea.
Women are even taking on tough blue-collar jobs that were formerly bastions of male employment. In 1978 the Labor Department announced quotas for having blue-collar women on federal and federally related projects. This growing group of female workers is recognized in a recent Sears catalog that introduces a new line of women's work clothes "with heavy thread, rugged fabric, and heavy-duty pockets."
Women are on the rise everywhere but even more so in the business world. The number of female executives and directors is increasing rapidly. It will increase faster as more women gain confidence in their abilities. Almost all the large corporations now have at least one woman on their board.
Today there are 296 women serving on boards whereas in 1969 there were only 46. The Equitable Assurance Society board has 4 women. Women who have become directors have been described as outspoken, provocative in their thinking, and as women of very outstanding achievement.
In a survey of some of these women, they were asked what contributed most to their success. In addition to "hard work and sacrifice" most of them mentioned "luck."
Men always seem to have an "ole boy" or a buddy system that reduces their need for luck in the business world, while women are more likely to be isolated in their jobs. Women are beginning to solve this problem, not by laying siege to locker rooms or male breakfast clubs but by forming their own organizations that will make the buddy system work for them. They can then get to know each other personally, in addition to exchanging job information. Now there are a good many organizations where women can get help. Elinor Guggenheim was responsible for the organizing of the New York Forum, which now has 155 members. Barbara Walters, Carol Bellamy, Shana Alexander, Bella Abzug, and Bess Myerson are all members. Women must excel in their field in order to join this group. There are groups like this in other cities. In San Francisco there is the Professional Woman's Alliance; in Pittsburgh there is the Executive Women's Council; in Philadelphia it is called the Forum of Executive Women. These groups are now trying to band together to form a national forum and this summer the representatives from New York, Colorado, and North Carolina are meeting to decide on criteria for a national board.
The New York City Y.W.C.A. has recently formed the Academy of Women Achievers. They found in their survey that half of the women were from forty-six to fifty-five years old. Half had completed some graduate work or had advanced degrees. Sixty per cent of them said that "on the job" training had been more helpful to them than anything else.
Forty-one per cent of them acknowledged that they earned more than their husbands but that the wage gap was no problem. Eleven per cent had salaries between $16,000 and $30,000, 32 per cent earned between $31,000 and $50,000, 18 per cent made $75,000 to $100,000, and 7 per cent earned more than $100,000 a year. When asked what advice they would give women on the way up, they stressed the fact that to get ahead a woman must plan for the next step, work hard and long, and not shirk responsibility. They must be assertive but not aggressive.
Another great help for women is a non-profit organization started by Felice Schwartz called Catalyst. For seventeen years, it has been helping women choose, launch, and advance their careers. It offers counseling through a national network of women's resource centers. In addition to helping women launch their careers, Catalyst is committed to working with the business community. In her letter to me, Jeanine Green, the vice-president, says, 'Corporations have expressed time and time again to us the difficulty of finding qualified women for managerial and executive positions." The real problem, she says, is that women are unsure about searching for the top positions, or how to present their credentials. The annual report observes, in view of the fact that 72 per cent of career opportunities are in business and industry, it is imperative that women be encouraged to understand that business and industry offer creative, challenging rewarding jobs of an immense variety." Their Corporate Board Resource has on file the dossiers of 746 top-level women candidates, for corporations searching for women board members.
Another Catalyst service is directed at women currently serving on corporate boards. A symposium of women directors of Fortune's 1,300 companies is being held this year. Here the women can discuss topics pertaining to board service. Of these 1,300 companies with 17,000 director's positions, only 296 are held by women.
The Catalyst Information Center in this last year has answered 18,000 inquiries. For further information, contact National Headquarters, Catalyst, 14 East 6oth Street, New York, New York 10022; 212-759-9700.
Your First Job
In order to get on the payroll of a company, a bank, an advertising agency, a publishing house, a non-profit organization, or any other business, you must have a starting position. Many have gained a foothold by graduating from special schools or getting M.B.A.'s from business schools. Others get into the flow by starting as secretaries, bookkeepers, stenographers, or cashiers.
Whatever your starting position, be sure that once you are established, you start preparing yourself for the next higher job. When you have thoroughly mastered your present job, look for opportunities for expanding. Work overtime occasionally, volunteer extra work when someone is ill or on vacation. Think of ways to improve things and when the time seems right, discuss your ideas with your superior. At the same time, discuss your job with her so she can help you formulate meaningful goals. She will be delighted to do this, for whatever progress you make, makes her look better too.
Ask her if there are certain courses that would be helpful to you in your job or whether she can suggest any reading material for you that would be helpful. Your boss will rightly gather from all this that you are ambitious and are taking your work seriously. Then, when there is an opening higher up and you feel you have developed the necessary skills to handle it, ask to be considered for the job. Do NOT expect that it will be handed to you. ASK for it.
If you cannot get a better job in your present company, there are plenty of others who will need you. You will simply have to go through the same job-getting procedures described in the rest of the book. This means the route of resumes and broadcast letters.
The Resume
Your resume should be a complete list of your accomplishments and skills. It is from this list that you pick out the outstanding ones for your broadcast letter. Many women will say at this point, "I don't have the kind of accomplishments I can write about." Forget it. Everyone can list accomplishments if they try hard enough. Even the woman who hasn't yet worked for pay has accomplishments to report. Sit down, start a list, put it aside for a few days, and you will find that you can add to it as you recall certain incidents. Take your time and you will gradually have a good list. Now try to put in measurements for what you have done. For instance, if you are a housewife, tell how much you saved by purchasing children's clothing at sales and at certain times of the year. If you have done volunteer work, report how many hours you worked how many people you helped, and so on. Tell exactly what responsibilities you carried. Remember, as Henry Ford once said, "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do, but on what you have done."
Once you have a starting position, be sure to keep track of how you have improved results so you can include these statistics in the resume you use for getting your next position. If you want a better position in retailing, for instance, keep track of how you have increased turnover, increased profits, and reduced costs. Find out what the volume of business was before you came into the picture, and by what percentage you increased it. Determine whether you accomplished this with the same amount of capital invested in inventory. These figures may seem small and unimpressive to you, but when you give them to your superior or to your future boss they become quite meaningful. They help you to stand out as one who has a positive impact on retailing. Reread Chapter 2 for further information on composing resumes.
The Broadcast Letter
Though resumes sometimes serve a purpose, I recommend using them sparingly. In my experience, broadcast letters are far more effective. Resumes are so often tossed into the waste-basket. I like to refer to their mailing as the “kiss of death." I know a woman who had been requested four times to mail in a resume. Each time she mailed instead her first broadcast letter. Finally she was invited to Boston with her expenses paid. She got the best paying job she has ever had.
You should use the broadcast letter as bait in order to get interviews. This letter must not dwell on the hopes you have for getting the job but only on things you have accomplished. Use paragraphs from your resume to compose your broadcast letter. If you are applying for specific kinds of jobs, use only those paragraphs that have to do with that particular job.
These letters must be short and concise and direct the reader to the kind of job you want. They must give some measurement of what you have accomplished in that particular field. Remember, a list of functions alone is like "salt without savor." It is the numerical recital of figures with your performances that makes you the outstanding woman-that one in a hundred. Here is a letter which shows that this procedure is applicable to ANY kind of job. This young friend of mine desperately wanted a teaching position in spite of the fact that there is a surplus of teachers wanting jobs. The letter netted her six interviews and the job.
I am a 1975 graduate of Bay Path Junior College with a degree in Child Study. My curriculum included one year practice teaching a class of 16 four-year-old children.
If you are looking for a nursery school or prekindergarten teacher, you may be interested in some additional details of my experience.
I was entrusted with the care and feeding and transportation of a boy and girl (12 and 10 years old) intermittently over a two-year period as a "Mother's Helper" for a working mother. Previously, as manager of a refreshment stand for a 500 family country club, I was personally accountable for sales receipts in excess of $100 per day.
I was also responsible for maintaining an inventory record of more than 50 items and ordering replenishment stock weekly. As a telephone solicitor for a daily newspaper I have averaged over 5 subscriptions per day during college vacations for the past year.
I have my Red Cross Senior Life Saving and Water Safety In structure certificate.
I will be happy to discuss your needs and additional relevant details of my experience, including personal references, with you in a personal interview. Very truly yours, Margaret T.
Here is another good broadcast letter that worked.
If your company is in need of a marketing manager, you may be interested in what I have accomplished. As marketing manager of a consumer products company
- I initiated a design change which helped raise production by 25%. This lifted my division's sales beyond the $5,000,000 mark.
- I made a design suggestion which corrected a fault. This saved thousands of dollars and eliminated former complaints.
- I set up a new sales organization which by my inspiration and management increased sales from 80 to 100%.
- I standardized the construction of some of our products.
- I suggested innovations in our products and this broadened our scope, thus making it possible for us to enter two new markets. I have an M.B.A. from New York State University and also an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.
- I shall be happy to discuss any employment possibilities with you in a personal interview.
Yours truly, Janet P.
The following broadcast letter also led to a job for the writer:
Mr. John Jones, President Hanover Prestige Merchandise, Inc. New York, New York
Dear Mr. Jones:
As a buyer for the women's ready-to-wear department in a well-known store, I increased the sales volume from $250,000 to $500,000 a year. This increased the profits by 25%. As the only woman buyer, I developed the sale of higher margined exclusive merchandise.
If your organization is in need of someone for your specialty ready-to-wear department, you might be interested in what I have done.
- Made the store known for its exclusive selections. -Provided a higher markup and profit margin each season. -Got a Swiss fabric manufacturer to sell our store selected pat terns for our exclusive use.
- Persuaded and made agreements with two manufacturers to produce certain specified styles for our store only. We furnished the fabrics.
I am a graduate of a well-known designer's school. I shall be glad to discuss my experience with you in a personal interview. Yours truly, Shirley S. Address
Telephone number
The Interview
If you have written good broadcast letters, you will have appointments for your first interviews. Be calm and do not panic. There is a job waiting for you around the corner. It is the unknown present that causes your flutters. You will eventually look back on interviews as exhilarating experiences. Take all the interviews you can get.
Dress for an interview in an attractive suit or a pants suit. Very high heeled shoes, too tight a sweater, too flamboyant a hairdo, have no place in an office. Do not try to be unusual in your manner of dress. You will do better to appear depend able and agreeable.
Do not use your femininity as a way to get attention from men. There is a vast difference in the way men treat women in an office and in the social world. Remember, you are here to do a job and not to call attention to yourself as a woman. Before you go into your first interview, be prepared. Please reread the chapter in this book on "How to Conduct an Interview.'' Many people have written to me saying that this was the most valuable advice in their job campaign.
Take every interview you can get even though the job may not be quite what you are looking for. Practice will sharpen your interviewing technique and give you ease in handling it. Go in with at least five pertinent questions in a small loose-leaf notebook, questions that show that you have researched the company, questions that reveal that you are aware of the fact that the company must make a profit or it will cease to exist.
Do NOT ask questions about salary, working time, length of vacations and coffee breaks. Such self-serving questions may be of importance to you, but nothing will turn the inter viewer off faster. Ask instead questions about the job requirements.
You will learn to keep control of most interviews by asking questions. Remember that most interviewers know as little about interviewing as you do and are just as hesitant about the situation as you are. So you make it easier for them by asking questions about their products, about other companies doing the same things, etc. Keep throwing the ball to the inter viewer.
Avoid an interview over the telephone. Just say, "It is impossible for me to talk to you right now. I'll drop in to see you. Will Tuesday be all right or shall I try Wednesday or Thursday?"
Never say that salary is unimportant, even though it is. Never mention that you have independent means. Even when you do get to discussing salary, keep your other sources of income out of the discussion. Employers want hungry people. Some interviewers take advantage of unknowledgeable women by asking questions that are unallowable.
The Human Rights Division of New York State has made it known that there are definite rulings on questions that may be asked of applicants. Last year the State Legislature amended the Human Rights Law to make it illegal for inter viewers to ask dozens of personal questions commonly asked in the past. They point out that it is illegal for a prospective employer or landlord to inquire about marital status, either directly or indirectly through such questions as "Do you want to be addressed as Miss or Mrs.?" There are other blanket prohibitions such as questions about birth control or future plans for having children. They may not ask the applicant's place of birth, whether the applicant is a native-born or naturalized American citizen, national background, or religion. Neither may they ask an applicant to "list all clubs and societies to which you belong." They cannot require or even suggest that the applicant enclose a photograph.
Below are listed some legal and illegal questions an inter viewer might ask about age, arrest record, and health.
AGE. Legal question: Are you between eighteen and sixty-five years of age? If not, state your age.
Illegal question: "How old are you?" or "What is your date of birth?"
ARREST RECORD. Legal question: "Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Give details."
Illegal question: "Have you ever been arrested?" HEALTH. Legal question: "Do you have any impairment that would interfere with your ability to perform the job for which you have applied?" Illegal question: "Do you have a disability?" or "Have you ever been treated for any of the following diseases . . . ?"
The penalties for illegal inquiries range from a reprimand to a 1500 fine. The Human Rights Commissioner urges anyone who has been asked an illegal question to file a complaint. If you are asked any of the illegal questions, simply say very calmly, "I don't believe that question is allowable."
Women in the Changing World of Business
What new attitudes don't change, laws do. Forty states and the federal government prohibit sex discrimination in employment. Thirty-seven states and the federal government ban sex discrimination in pay.
Go into your job expecting equal treatment and you will be much more likely to get it. People usually treat you in the manner, in which you expect to be treated,
Many employers contend that one of their biggest problems is in convincing women to take advantage of the Equal Rights Employment laws and the opportunities that they are offering. Women have for years been conditioned not to try too hard, so it is often difficult to convince them to try for a higher position.
Another hazard for women is in correctly handling sexual harassment. In a survey by a national magazine in response to a questionnaire answered by 9,000 women, 90 per cent of them admitted that they had been harassed. The Working Women's United Institute is one of several groups formed to help women who are facing this problem. As more women become aware of the fact that there is help, they are becoming more willing to talk about it. The W.W.U.I. is preparing a hand book to give these women moral support. Very few companies have a procedure for registering complaints, but in April 1979 the New York State Senate Minority Task Force on Women's Issues proposed legislation that would permit workers to collect unemployment compensation if they can prove that they had quit their jobs on account of sexual or verbal harassment.
Sexual harassment can start in many subtle ways. The first step in stopping it is to react immediately. If you do not stop the advances at once, they will get worse. If they do get worse, go right to the supervisor. When a woman feels her job is in jeopardy if she doesn't cooperate, she is being harassed. This is very different from an innocent flirtation or an affair between two equals. These unwanted advances destroy a woman's confidence in her ability. If they persist, there is always Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She might, if she is fired, take the company to court. This is, however, a very last resort since it is expensive and the emotional pressure can be enormous. If this becomes public knowledge, it may prove to be a handicap in getting the next job.
Some women executives have a problem about delegating authority. The president of one of New York's top com-panics says that this is the single most difficult mistake that he sees women make. Most women have been used to doing things themselves if they want them well done. They are anxious about trusting subordinates with any real responsibility, so they allow their desks to be piled high, take all the telephone calls, try to type their own letters-and finally they are completely bogged down with petty details. Do not allow yourself to fall into this trap.
Every office has pockets of politics and intrigues. The most important piece of advice I can give you is that you stay aloof from them. Also stay away from the gossips. Neither should you allow yourself to be drawn into a clique. If pressed too hard simply say, "I am new here and want very much to consider you and everyone else here a friend." Do not get involved with those who make disparaging remarks about your bosses or about the company. If you do have opinions about them, keep them to yourself.
Finally, even though opportunities are getting better for women, do not expect favored treatment in your office because of your sex. The bottom line in business is PROFITS. Profits are sexless.
