Happy Monday:
I am sure you have all seen the article on The Utter Uselessness of Job Interviews from last week. Well it seems that there is an added edge against women trying to get ahead. In addition to the confidence bias that employers take into unstructured interviews, it seems that affinity bias doubly harms women – namely that people seek out candidates who share their backgrounds, group membership or experiences. This plays out in both male dominated professions and as the funnel narrows as women move up the ladder. The full article can be found here.
The other major headlines last week had to do with the widespread sexual harassment scandal at Fox News. As always, when one story came out the floodgates opened furthering my theory that women keep quiet because they think it is only happening to them. The next story details more reasons why women prefer not to say anything, and the statistics are shocking. Only one quarter to one third of people who have been harassed at work report it and only 2-13% file a formal complaint. The full article can be found here.
And if you ask yourself why any of this matters, it is all about results. A recent Market Watch article noted that women-led funds trade less and have better returns. The article also noted that women are far more likely to have earned a chartered financial analyst credential than their male counterparts and yet they are still a rarity in the industry. The full article can be found here.
When it comes to stock reports, apparently male analysts write more favorable about public companies run by men than one run by women – another example of why having a diverse opinion is important when making investment decisions. The full article can be found here.
One of my favorite articles this week was a great example of what can be achieved when women stick together. In one Indian town, women took matters into their own hands when it came to combatting the rampant alcoholism in their town. The story makes for great reading.
And finally, from the world of sports, attached is a video detailing Katherine Switzer’s path to becoming the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon 50 years ago and her story is nothing less than inspirational. You may watch it here.
We have some terrific events lined up for you this year and look forward to seeing you all at an event in 2017! To learn more about our 2017 events, please visit www.txwsw.com
Kind regards
Christine