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For decades, women have been making strides in the tricky arena of office politics, but most would agree the rules are still set by top, predominantly male executives. So after all these years, is there still gender bias in the workplace—an old boys’ club, if you will—or is the only issue how well women play the corporate game? When a woman decided to work in a professional environment in the early 1960s, she could face questions such as, “Are you trying to escape your kids and housework?” or “Why doesn’t your husband make enough to support his family?” One of the more egregious inquiries was “How could you dare take a job away from a man?” Back then, most women chose to ignore those attitudes and to work in an effort to help give their families a better life. One issue women didn’t need to debate was whether the boys’ club existed: The workplace back then was the boys’ club.
Female leaders say the club is largely a thing of the past, but challenges still exist? For decades, women have been making strides in the tricky arena of office politics, but most would agree the rules are still set by top, predominantly male executives. So after all these years, is there still gender bias in the workplace—an old boys’ club, if you will—or is the only issue how well women play the corporate game? When a woman decided to work in a professional environment in the early 1960s, she could face questions such as, “Are you trying to escape your kids and housework?” or “Why doesn’t your husband make enough to support his family?” One of the more egregious inquiries was “How could you dare take a job away from a man?” Back then, most women chose to ignore those attitudes and to work in an effort to help give their families a better life. One issue women didn’t need to debate was whether the boys’ club existed: The workplace back then was the boys’ club. Today, more than four decades later, many insist the boys’ club is a thing of the past. But is it? In 2007, the median weekly earnings of women who were full-time wage and salary workers was $614, which was 80 percent of the $766 median weekly income for men, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics. While the gap has narrowed since 1979, when women earned 63 percent as much as men, the 2007 figure is down slightly from the previous year, when the median weekly income for women was 81 percent of their male counterparts’. Nationally, women’s involvement in leadership positions essentially is staying flat, according to a survey by Catalyst, a nonprofit advocacy organization for women and business that is not affiliated with this magazine. Across the board, women still account for a small percentage of such positions compared with men. The 2007 Catalyst survey shows that 14.8 percent of board-of-directors positions were held by women, up from 14.6 percent the previous year. The number of Fortune 500 companies with three or more female directors fell by one in year-to-year comparisons, but the number of companies with two or more directors increased by four. In the Inland Northwest, the experience and outlook of female business executives and leaders vary. Some acknowledge the existence of a boys’ club—or permutations of such a club—while others dismiss the notion outright. “I don’t think the boys’ club, as in men-only, is still alive,” says Paulette Burgess, an attorney who works at the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office. “But the club is alive and well.” Cliques and factions knowingly or unknowingly leave women out, Burgess says, and women in the workplace need to be mindful of that. Spokane Mayor Mary Verner says she doesn’t distinguish between genders, but she feels some men do. When she took office late last year, she says she didn’t approach the job any differently than a man would, other than perhaps working collaboratively rather than with conflict. “There were some men in the Spokane community, however, who thought I’d approach my job differently than had my male predecessors,” Verner says. “I believe they have realized over these past few months this is just not the case.” Some women say the boys’ club isn’t a force in Spokane’s business community today. “I don’t acknowledge the men’s club,” says Marty Dickinson, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership. “There’s a challenge no matter what setting, whether it comes from females or males. If you’re an executive leader, it’s your responsibility to read people and navigate the waters depending on what type of personalities you’re leading or networking with.” Lori Isenberg, a professional facilitator and owner of Coeur d’Alene-based Northwest Dynamics Inc., concurs.
“I haven’t seen the boys’ club myself,” Isenberg says. “When I do employee evaluations at my clients’ companies, there is occasionally a man not treating a woman right, but he’s probably not treating men right either.” Regardless of whether such a club exists, some say that in the current climate, competency rules. “I’m a believer in making sure the candidate is qualified,” says Dr. Nancy Stowell, superintendent of Spokane Public Schools. “Find the people who are the best and the brightest. Gender plays out in the world, but skills transcend this. Sometimes it may appear more men or women are being hired at once, but it’s just how the numbers play out—it’s really about who’s most talented.” Of course, this doesn’t mean that challenges don’t exist for women in the business world. Tami Badinger, president of Cena Franchising Inc., a meal-preparation chain based in Spokane, says most entrepreneurs are strong-willed, and sometimes a strong-willed woman is hard for men to accept. “Sometimes it’s difficult for men to view women as business owners,” she says. In a start-up business, there are no boundaries or corporate rules to follow, though it is not without its own political arena. When she encounters those types, she merely moves on to male colleagues and vendors who don’t have that problem. Mary Runcorn, president of the Inland Northwest chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, owns Independent Services Corp., a home-care company based in Spokane Valley. Runcorn encounters some tough competition when going after state contracts, and the stakes are high. Additionally, in many instances, every company representative vying for a contract is in the room at the same time, and competing in this way is not for the faint of heart. “I speak up when a competitor presents an incomplete or inaccurate idea to the client,” Runcorn says. “We have to establish credibility by showing men don’t have all the answers, even if it appears so. The potential client needs to buy into me as a businesswoman who does her homework. Because I do this, I have always thought that if I lost, it was on fair footing.” Along similar lines, Badinger says, “Speak out for what you believe in. Don’t risk being overlooked because you think you’ll be viewed as too assertive. We need to be heard at the risk of not being what co-workers want us to be.” If we move away from the idea of the boys’ club and toward the idea that power is in an individual’s hands should we choose to embrace it, what are women doing wrong in the workplace? Erin Dorsey, a Spokane-based corporate coach with the Dede Henley Group, of Seattle, cites the book “The Secret of Sovereignty” by Dede Henley. The book includes what are called the seven deadly traps for women leaders. They include: being one of the boys, trying to do it all yourself, having no voice, waiting for rescue, wanting peace at any price, doing too much, and not being able to endure. Marty Dickinson feels women could do a better job at helping other women with the corporate ladder. “We should lead by example and be good to women we work with,” she says. “Sometimes women tend to be more adversarial. They make it more difficult for one another. Opportunities at the executive levels are few for women, and we are by nature driven, so when the playing field is not broad, it forces us to become too competitive with one another.” In addition to watching out for such pitfalls, most women seem to agree that they need to network more with both women and men and groom future female leaders. “Women seem to sometimes work in a vacuum,” Erin Dorsey says. “Men have better professional relationships and networks. Women aren’t as great at that.” Also, women need to try to help emerging female professionals develop into executives. Dorsey says that when she asks male executives who they would like to bring along and promote, they almost always have a person in mind. Female executives, on the other hand, have to think about it. “When a female executive works from 5 a.m. to midnight, she may not even be willing to take on the development of a woman,” Dorsey says. Stowell recognizes that while women established in the workforce are doing well, they have a responsibility to mentor young people. “It continues to build our organization and keeps talent pools full,” Stowell says. “Any time is a good time to provide mentoring, help navigate the system and share opportunities.”
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