Generation Y/Millennials have herald forth a new mindset in which gender roles are no longer the focus of who brings home a living and who cares for the children or home. They have a broad environmental range of the world and its happenings. The internet has raised acceptance more than it has generated porn and hate. It is just where you focus your view. This Generation is a “doer” era, but it is “do it ‘their’ way.” They are the masters of current and future technology – and they know it.
This generation has experienced the onslaught of the ability to work remotely. Flexibility in work/life balance is key to this generation’s mantra. Young professionals I have surveyed in this age range have expressed either men or woman can choose to stay at home with children. Many young engineers, who are surrounded by young female engineers, are clear their spouse might make more than them. They are very flexible in their mindset – as I have heard some call themselves the 9/11 babies, giving them a sense of zeal for life in the now. They say 9/11 and the world that unfolded after gave them the sense there might not be a tomorrow. What is urgent to a Baby Boomer might not be for Generation X’ers. They don’t “do” stress. They grew up around stress. They also don’t know how to be with “stress”.
They are in the forefront of the Fourth Wave of Feminism as the women in this generation just entering their thirties are themselves experiencing the subtle remnants of discrimination that still linger, as man after man is promoted to management over them – by Baby Boomer bosses. As well the men in this generation would like access to paternity leave, time to be with family, and to enjoy life beyond being just providers. They too would like to see more work/life balance.
All of these mindsets play into where we find ourselves today. Some are still hearing the reverberation of the “War on Women” cry from some political arenas that choose to use it as a tool to gain popularity and votes, but is it really still a war? Or a lack of coming to the negotiation table and hearing what all sides are truly experiencing?
Embrace Diversity or Go Hungry
For the Traditional Generation the statement “embrace diversity or go hungry” could have been very true if the majority of those who prepared food in their day – walked off the job as short order cooks, moms and waitresses. A bit of an exaggerated scenario but one that is used to give measure to where women were seen as “useful” during this time in partnering with social and economic growth. Although automated devices such as the washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher were invented prior to this generation, the economics of the average single income family did not afford such luxuries for the masses. Due to the war there was a ban placed on the manufacturing and purchasing of such items as the resources were needed to equip the war. From an objective stance one could view the role of women in society, home life and the workplace as “practical” in partnership nature during this era. It was also “practically” oppressive – yet somehow, possibly needed.
Women in this generation experienced a welcomed shift in being “trusted” to be the providers and support for the American family and manufacturing of the time. Not because they were trusted, but because they were needed to step out of their role as just the homemaker to support the manufacturing employment needs due to the lack of men available during World War II. I say “not because they were trusted” because there wasn’t time for the men in society to consider what the outcome would be if they filled their homeland rolls with women. They were busy going to war and staying alive.
It isn’t that throughout time women have not played a huge role in agriculture, production, and society, it is that each time before World War II when the men returned from war, or jobs were lost in one industry and shifted to another where women were once dominant– they took over and women were back in the home. A women’s pay was seen as a secondary, discretionary income. But after World War II many women stayed in the workforce – thanks to all the work done for personal independence for centuries before them.
This boost, along with the government’s push of baby formula over breastfeeding, gave women a new taste of freedom. Self-awareness grew as society, mostly women, embraced their greater capabilities to contribute in larger ways to their world through more than just raising the next generation of male workers. The women’s career bug was now becoming epidemic.
But it wasn’t until the late 60’s, early 70’s with the broader distribution and acceptance of birth control and with colleges being flooded with female enrollees who wanted to attend for a career and not (just) a husband – did this new era see a huge upsurge in the number of women in professional roles. Women were now 48.7% of the workforce and these weren’t in roles replacing men that were at war. These were permanent decisions to be more than just a homemaker. Or to not be a homemaker at all as the overall American family size dropped during this era.
Thanks to the invent of “instant” meals – the family and the males in America eventually did not need to fear going hungry – if their female partners chose to have a career – beyond a short order cook. But this era did not truly shift the mindset of diversity to keep from going hungry, as it never really addressed embracing the new workforce mainstay – the woman. Although I applaud and am grateful to the social ramifications brought on by the movement of our sisters throughout the 60’s and 70’s – their message was one of forced inclusion. Which I am sure was what they felt was needed at the time.
Today’s young woman finds herself still faced with adversity in the workplace and they are far from the remnants of sentiment left lingering from the prior era. Today’s young woman through surveying conversations isn’t as in tune with how their workplace was molded over time to embrace their ambitions no matter what their gender – but they are in tune with what is still lingering in the air.
A young woman growing up in the Generation Y/Millennial age is surrounded by diversity. The minority ethnic cultural upsurge of the U.S. is being accepted and embraced as natural and normal by today’s youth. Inter-racial, inter-cultural, inter-religious, inter-gender relationships are on a rise. This current generation is not as concerned with where you were born, what you practice, what you worship or who you love to accept you as their predecessors. They are more laid back while able to absorb new and ever changing information at speeds older generations marvel at. Give a twenty year old a piece of new technology and they will have it mastered before the forty year old has even opened the box. (Now this is not to say there isn’t value in inter-generational sharing of knowledge – let’s face it, the kids have most of us over 40 beat around technology.)
The introduction of the internet during this generation’s time has created a generation of knowledge at their fingertips. The internet does not care if you are male or female when using it to research, learn, and expand. This removes any barriers that might have been imposed in the early years of men running the academic access holding women back from educating themselves.
When women are educated and self-sustaining, they technically are freed from economic prison that in the past caused oppression. The young woman of today does not “need” a man for financial support. Her opportunities for growth can reach beyond and around any old mindset or obstacle. But for the woman of today to find greater success through obtaining leadership roles, as women now make up 60% of the workforce but only 14.6 %[iv] are in managerial roles and 4.6% in Fortune 500 CEO roles[v], a fresh conversation must be started.
If Men aren’t intentionally holding women back anymore – Who is?
We hear it, say it, and create it – “It is a Man’s World”. What makes it a man’s world? Leverage of power positions? Use of discrimination? Smarter? Stronger? Dominating? What are our cries of oppression pointing to? If we are blaming men, who I am not, what is it we are blaming them for doing? Or Not doing?
Are there still areas where men, with full conscious intent, slice a woman out of an opportunity? Sure, I bet there is. I also bet there are men now sliced out of opportunities for just being male, as there are more female owned small and medium size businesses than ever. From 1997 – 2013, the number of women owned businesses increased 59%.[vi] As stated in the article by Chris Farrell “The Paradox of Women Business Owners” – women are growing in business, but in industries that are “feminine” in nature: retail, healthcare, service oriented businesses, etc. Yet the studies also show that females who are in predominately male perceived industries – earn toe to toe with their male counter parts.
Why would women in a seemingly open realm of capitalist opportunity flock to the very vocations that ring out “feminine”? Why do men migrate to “masculine” endeavors? What is a “feminine” or “masculine” endeavor? Are we trying to put the definitions in a box? Or have we taken them so far out of the box we have lost sight of our own biological nature.
Thanks to the waves of feminist voices over the last century or so we have come full circle in denying our differences – to needing to learn about our differences. Neither side has really done a great job at this. Just like a marriage of many years – the partners can come to believe they know all they need to know about the other.
What is this Conversation that needs to be had?
So why aren’t more women in positions of power? Dominating an industry? Using their numbers as a platform? With the workforce comprising 60% of women, the economic shift and hardships of many middle management men being laid off in their 50’s in 2008 and beyond, there should be an open door to a mutual talent and merit based conversation to be had – at a table made for two (genders).
The workforce’s talent pool has been swirled with a tidal wave of differences in; generational mindsets, cultural, environmental, educational, technological, racial, gender, sexual preferences and even our very beliefs – washed ashore. To attract the talent of the diverse tsunami of workers currently available and those in the foreseeable future – employers in the U.S. might want to have a sit down. It isn’t about women coming to the table anymore – we are there. It isn’t about leaning in, or leaning out – unless it is to listen.
Embracing the diversity conversation will take those at the table utilizing the highest levels of emotional intelligence, separating out their beliefs, reactions, past perceptions, and feelings from the hardcore needs of the diverse workforce we have currently and unfolding every day. Supporting the goals and working together on the challenges will take empathy from all.
We have only been told it is a “Man’s World” and we have adopted that mantra as our obstacle. But in reality it is a world of many. For without us all – there would be no “Man’s World”.
It is time to use our voices in numbers, yes, but is it to scream out or talk? Share or force? Compromise or demand? Teach or belittle? Both genders have tons to learn about the other – even after thousands of years of existing together.
Our differences and needs have evolved. The majority voice(s) are changing. Their demographics are comprised of women of all races and minority men.
It is time to come to a different table. One that is round and inclusive of all experience, knowledge, expertise, background, and flexibility – not blind to the differences but wealthy in choices. For the value of the future is in the differences – in those differences lies the innovative path to a successful future.
Works Cited
Catalyst. (n.d.). Catalyst Quick Take: Generations in the Workplace in the United States & Canada. New York: Catalyst, 2012. Retrieved from
Catalyst. (n.d.). Statistical Overview of Women in the Workplace. Retrieved from http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workplace
Catalyst. (n.d.). Women CEO's of the Fortune 1000. Retrieved from http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-fortune-1000
Farrell, C. (n.d.). The Paradox Of Women Business Owners. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/06/18/the-paradox-of-women-business-owners/
Hais, M. W. (2013, October 25). Race? No, Millennials Care Most About Gender Equality. Retrieved from National Journal: http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/perspectives/race-no-millennials-care-most-about-gender-equality-20131025
Tossi, M. (n.d.). Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/05/art2full.pdf
Women's Rights National Historical Park. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm