Andie & Al, Author at Andie & Al

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Equality & Diversity, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Office Politics

Gender Stereotypes and the Biases They Foster Against Women in the Workplace

We all use stereotypes in our daily lives. They allow us to immediately “know” a whole host of things about particular sorts of people because of some other of their attributes. For example, we might classify someone as strong/weak, friend/foe, competent/incompetent, or skilled/not skilled simply because she or he is a woman or a man, black or white, old or young, rich or poor, and so forth. When we use stereotypes in this way, we can behave toward particular sorts of...

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by Andie & Al

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Advocating for Yourself, Compensation & Promotion, Equality & Diversity, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Gender Communication Techniques, Leadership & Management, Office Politics

How to Get Ahead at Work With Attuned Gender Communication

It is unlikely any of us will see workplaces that are completely free of gender bias in the foreseeable future. No matter how well-intentioned an organization may be, there are inescapable gender roles and expectations that are established by our society from the time we are born. We believe, however, that career opportunities for all employees (both women and men) can be drastically improved if everyone — managers, entry-level employees, women, and men — became more attuned to gender communication. Whether...

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by Andie & Al

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Equality & Diversity, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Gender Communication Techniques, Office Politics

How to Increase Gender Diversity in Law Firms and Legal Departments

In January, a U.S. Magistrate Judge sanctioned an attorney for telling opposing counsel it wasn’t “becoming of a woman” to raise her voice during a contentious deposition. In imposing the sanction, the judge wrote, “A sexist remark is not just a professional discourtesy, although that in itself is regrettable and all too common. The bigger issue is that comments like [this attorney’s] reflect and reinforce the male-dominated attitude of our profession.” Indeed, as a 2015 report by the American Bar Foundation and...

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by Andie & Al

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Advocating for Yourself, Compensation & Promotion, Equality & Diversity, Leadership & Management

Former ABA president Laurel Bellows said it well: “Women are often labeled as greedy and aggressive.”

Commenting on the latest salary statistics for lawyers, former American Bar Association president Laurel Bellows said it well: "women are often labeled as greedy and aggressive and not team driven when asking for a well-deserved raise and bonus." In contrast, "men who ask are viewed as strong and good negotiators hard workers worthy of consideration for an increase." We couldn't agree more, and refer to this as the "Goldilocks dilemma:" a woman frequently gets punished for being aggressive, yet she is ignored...

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by Andie & Al

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Advocating for Yourself, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Gender Communication Techniques, Office Politics

Stepping into Avery’s Journey and Breaking Through Bias

In this column, we welcome our first guest columnist, Bethany Whittles Harris. Ms. Harris is an associate at Mossing & Navarre, LLC, where her practice includes prosecuting medical malpractice, complex personal injury, and nursing home negligence cases. I recently agreed to participate in GlassCeiling.com’s professional development seminar “Avery’s Journey” as a walk-on, though I had no idea into what, exactly, I was walking. All I knew was that the program would count for continuing legal education credits (CLE’s) and would involve skits based on...

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by Andie & Al

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Advocating for Yourself, Gender Communication Techniques, Leadership & Management

The Disparity in Women’s and Men’s Career Achievements

Women’s and men’s careers have starkly different outcomes. Although women make up 45 percent of entry-level white-collar jobs in the United States, they are only 37 percent of managers, 32 percent of senior managers, 27 percent of vice presidents, 23 percent of senior vice presidents, 17 percent of C-suite executives, and 5 percent of CEOs at S&P 500 companies. The two principal reasons for this gender gap at work are gender bias and women’s own self-limiting beliefs about themselves and...

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by Andie & Al

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Equality & Diversity, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Leadership & Management, Office Politics

Misogynists Among Us

Many of the men who identify themselves as “men’s rights activists” are aggressively misogynistic. You may never have encountered such men or even have been aware of their existence, but they are organized and appear to be growing in number. They typically characterize men as subject to widespread discrimination and lacking the power, privileges, and advantages women have. Given the irrationality and factual inaccuracy of this sort of anti-female rhetoric, if you do become aware of men voicing views of...

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by Andie & Al

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Equality & Diversity, Life Balance & Positive Mindsets, Motherhood bias, Office Politics, Sexism

Gloria Feldt Hates the Phrase “Having It All.”

And we think she is spot on! Take a moment to read what the former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the co-founder of Take The Lead Women, thinks about women "having it all." For starters, she says, “it’s done more damage than almost any phrase in the English language to women’s self-esteem.” http://fortune.com/2016/03/03/gloria-feldt-planned-parenthood/...

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by Andie & Al

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Advocating for Yourself, Equality & Diversity, Leadership & Management, Life Balance & Positive Mindsets

Gender Bias is a Key Reason Women Suffer More Depression than Men

Women in the United States are about twice as likely as men to suffer from depression. This mental health disparity begins in early adolescence and persists throughout life. Common explanations of this disparity include biological differences between men and women; normal hormonal changes associated with puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, post-partum depression, and menopause; and so-called “role overload” from having careers that are just as demanding as men’s but domestic responsibilities that are far greater. In our view, however, a key reason...

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by Andie & Al

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Advocating for Yourself, Compensation & Promotion, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Gender Communication Techniques, Office Politics, Sexism

Managing the Impressions You Make

How you act, move, and gesture (your nonverbal behavior), the ways in which you speak (your verbal behavior), and how you dress and present yourself (your appearance) control other people’s impressions of you. That’s right: What you signal to others by the image you convey is far more important in shaping their impressions of you than is the substance of your comments, your actual productivity, or the insightfulness of your ideas. Of course, your substantive performance — what you actually...

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by Andie & Al