NetworkingNetworking
Corporate life can be stressful for a woman. Taking over half a dozen companies, closing a $2 million deal, retrenching a few thousand "unproductive" workers — all on top of having to think of the menu for the next dinner party, trying to fit in an appointment to get your nails manicured and spending "quality" time with the kids — can make life difficult.
No wonder the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article recently which said that women are discriminated against in "corporate culture", and women's business groups need to lobby for more women in the boardrooms. It's about time that we realised the plight of these women who make up, well, nearly 0.002% of the female population.
But it's all right. The Australian Council of Businesswomen has a solution. This organisation of "sisters in suits" has come up with a proposal for a national register of 100 women who will be allocated a mentor — a CEO or MD of a leading company — and there you have it. As the article states, "Women need to network with people in positions with the power of appointment".
This smacks of the "women's club" idea advocated by Naomi Wolf in Fire with Fire, where she argues that women are oppressed because they don't have access to the right networks — in particular the corporate variety.
However, I doubt that Jane, a single mother with three kids and a mortgage, or Maria, a young secretary, or Brenda, an unemployed artist, or Angela, a migrant woman employed in outwork, or even Lorraine, a part-time teacher, would agree.
Economic indicators all point to continuation of a trend which is making women's lives more precarious: the rise of part-time and casual work. The latest jobs figures showed a marked decline in female full-time employment. The reason is that women are still concentrated in lower paying jobs such as banking, hospitality and other service jobs — all of which are undergoing restructuring. Increasingly, if women find work, under the guise of "flexibility" they have to accept a less secure tenure and income, and no sick pay, maternity leave or holiday pay.
In addition, women's status as casual and less skilled workers makes them more vulnerable to sexual harassment. High rates of unemployment make them less likely to appeal to sexual discrimination laws for fear of losing their jobs. Despite anti-discrimination legislation, men are still chosen over women in many occupations.
These work patterns are even more common among Aboriginal women, women of non English speaking background, migrant women and women with disabilities. Sweatshops and factories exploit their cheap labour, while the increase in outwork means that these women have little access to union representation and no award protection.
A couple more women managing to climb the corporate ladder and vie with the men for more positions at the "top" means nothing for the majority of women. "Networking", corporate style, will do nothing to promote them out of unrewarding, low paying and casual jobs. We know how much remains to be fought for.
By Sujatha Fernandes