eve-olution newsletter November 2004
Contents
- Statistic of the month
- Book of the month
- Jane Campion, eve-olution's strategic coach
- Alliance & Leicester - Women in Business Conference
- Do you need breasts to take a child to the dentist? by Tracey Carr, CEO of eve-olution
Statistic of the month
Women occupy 4% of top management jobs in the US, 3% in Britain, 2% in the European Union, 1% in Japan. Women also make 83% of all consumer purchases.
Book of the month
I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson
A funny, satirical and poignant look at the working life of a high flying City Mother. The book brilliantly addresses difficult issues such as the pull between work and home and the fascinating topic of City politics. As Tom Peters says 'A MUST DAMN WELL READ... NOW'
Jane Campion, eve-olution's strategic coach
Coaching Tip
This month Jane Campion shares an important key to greater charisma and immediate effectiveness - for yourself and for others. It only takes a few moments, call 0870 262 3044 now!
Alliance & Leicester - Women in business forum
Tracey Carr and Patricia Hewitt were invited to be guest speakers at the recent Alliance & Leicester 'Women in business forum'which was supported by the executive team.
90 Senior women attended the event which was a great success. 100% of attendees said they would attend a future event and Paula Ward, management development manager, said 'Our senior women like a balance of information and tips/techniques and I believe that there was a fabulous mix of both available from Tracey Carr and Patricia Hewitt's sessions.
As one delegate said 'Interesting subject matter and encouraged debate.'
Alliance and Leicester have done much to encourage more women into Leadership positions and eve-olution is honoured to be working with them on their strategic objectives.
Do you need breasts to take a child to the dentist?
by Tracey Carr, CEO eve-olution
I have three children, their ages are 9, 12 and 14, who all seem to have in common a rather small jaw-line. Why do I tell you this? Because, I recently worked out that, in the past three years, I have spent a total of 255 hours or approximately 32 working days at the dentist. Admittedly 2 of my children have needed Orthodontist treatment and this figure includes travel time. However, even if they had been born with perfect teeth - dental check-up's x 4 adds up to a significant time commitment.
If I ask the children's Father to share the delights and responsibilities of dental trips/doctors appointments/sports days/nativity plays or school holidays - he simply replies that he 'has a job to do'.
There have always been Mothers but the recent 'idealised' concept of Motherhood was only recently invented. It was during the Victorian era that the concept of 'perfect Mother' emerged. The Victorian Mother was depicted as angelic and serene. This was easy to achieve because Victorian Mothers were not full time Mothers - they had wet nurses and nannies to help out and only saw their children when they were clean and fed. Middle and upper class women hired servants to care for their children whilst working women relied on extended families.
It seems extraordinary, in a society that hyper-values independence that we find ourselves in a unique situation where Mother/child dependence is encouraged and idealised.
Hothouse Mothering began with awareness of 'attachment theory', a set of studies carried out on British children who were separated from their Mothers during World War II. The studies were used to draft an official British Government document that encouraged women to leave work and become full-time care-givers for their children when their husbands returned from war.
Early bonds and attachments do carry over into later adult bonds. However, during the first 6 months a normal infant can form attachment bonds with at least 3/4 secure care-givers.
Our current tendency to see each child as unique and each Mother as solely responsible for developing that potential is a recent development. The notion that a young child should have the exclusive attention of a full-time Mother ironically co-incides with a growing call for equality between women and men.
Until men and women acknowledge that the 'care' for a child is a joint responsibility that includes dental trips - there can never be true equity in the workplace. Culture change in society and at work is a pre-requisite of equal rights and equal responsibilities.
Our new workshop series 'Mars and Venus at Work' has been designed to create new thinking that will bring the 'gender difference' conversation out of the closet and create better understanding between men and women so that they can work more effectively together.