Starting in Earnest

Global salon is the start of what I have dubbed my year in writing.

Mostly, I intend to blog about my work around 'women and technology' which has and continues to occupy my thinking and take me to many interesting places around the globe - more about that later.

I was listening to the radio last night and noted that suddenly discussions on women's contribution to the workforce, to the economy and to company boards are cropping up everywhere. A trend for sure, but perhaps this time it's no mere passing fad, because women's contributions can now be measured in real GDP $$ and that captures the interest of the big boys. The Australian Stock Exchange it even talking about listed companies reporting on the number of women on their boards. This is not yet mandatory, mind you,like in Scandinavia, but a suggestion. With implementation and monitoring at least another five years away, it remains mere lip service, but it's a start and we do have to start somewhere in this conservative neck of the woods.

But let's not despair.. I, for one, believe we can each do our bit towards mainstreaming women in the knowledge society and believe we can use technology as an enabler to do just that, so part of what I will be blogging about is how we can leapfrog the implementation and monitoring progress.

There are many angles to why women are where they are in society, business and the workforce. We've lived a patriarchal economic growth, business and entrepreneurship model for many decades and those women who have been successful in climbing the corporate ladder have, in one form or another, found themselves taking on a 'male' persona, with matching characteristics, to be accepted in the marketplace, in the board room and beyond.

This has affected the way women look, dress and behave. I do not have immediate scientific evidence on hand for this, but there is plenty research out there to support this notion and, dare I say, I intuitively know that we are compromising our womanhood and, in the bigger picture, our health and the health of our communities, regions, etc.

It's time to start reclaiming our womanhood, start dressing and behaving like women, and most importantly, stop acting in a cut-throat manner towards other women. Workplace mobbing, which my new friend Linda Shallcross alerted me to recently, is all about women bullying other women and, horror, it is omni-present. This is no way for us to get ahead.

Where and when did we lose sisterhood support and turned ourselves into cut-throat types to get ahead?? When did we replace 'we' with 'me' and lose track of the greater good and our social conscience? In some ways it's good to revisit the past and find out when, where and how, but I, for one, am keeping my eyes firmly on changing life towards a more equitable future. The sisterhood is very powerful - let's work together to take control of our destinies.

Until next time..