By SKDK Vice President and Chief of Staff Shira Fine
I was shopping for a gift for my almost four-year-old niece and was bombarded with princesses, pink and glitter. Very few options captured the spirit and lessons I want to impart on her – in essence that she can be anything she wants to be. But as we all know well, the mixed messages don’t stop when you enter kindergarten.
As a woman in my early 30s who has been in the workforce for about 10 years, I’m barraged with (and yet still seek out) articles and studies about how to succeed as a corporate female, when to Lean In, where to find mentors and how to advocate more successfully for myself. While, of course, nurturing my personal responsibilities and interests, starting a family with my husband and fostering strong friendships. But women are used to multitasking.
So when Lean In and McKinsey & Company recently released their annual Women in the Workplace report, I dug right into it. This year’s study shows that women fall behind early in corporate America and continue to lose ground at every level along the way. We miss out on initial promotions, have less access to professional opportunities and have few female role models at the top tiers of company leadership.