In August the New York Times ran a bizarre story about female executives attending a Silicon Valley program designed, essentially, to teach them to be less confrontational and more “lady like” at work. Called, Bully Broads, this is an absurd versions of corporate sexism.
The program is run by Jean A. Hollands of the Growth and Learning Center. Hollands is the author of the forthcoming book, Same Game, Different Rules: How to Get Ahead Without Being a Bully Broad, Ice Queen or Other ‘Ms. Understoods’, which advises women to ditch their assertive styles in favor of a softer, more appraoch (for example, she urges women to go ahead and cry at meetings if they feel so inclined).
Ron Steck, Hollands’ son-in-law and a vice president at the Growth and Leadership Center, gave the Times the bottom line about what the Center deals with. “With a male executive, there’s no expectation to be nice,” Steck said. “He has more permission to be an ass. But when women speak their minds, they’re seen as harsh.”
This is absurd. The problem here is not assertive women but corporate cultures at a company that expects different behaviors from male and female executives.
Source:
Toughness has risks for women executives. Neela Banerjee, The New York Times, August 10, 2001.