The Corporate Woman: A new title for the new millennium. Many connotations are associated with this title, some positive and some not so positive. While the new corporate woman is glorified for being bold, smart, efficient, intelligent, organized, ambitious, and independent, she is also feared to be too aggressive, overly ambitious, jealously competitive, and dangerously extroverted. Sometimes she is also accused of neglecting the family, of not being a good cook, of asking for too much freedom and of being self-centered. And yet the question is: “Has the woman really changed?” The following question then arises: “Have we ever known the woman well?” And above all, “How do these women feel about all this?” Our search begins somewhere here.

In the book entitled “Why Men Don’t Listen and Why Women Can’t Read Maps” by Allan and Barbara Pease, there is a fascinating theory as to why men and women are the way they are. The reason goes back to the stone age when life was simple and revolved around survival. The men were the breadwinners of the family, i.e. the hunters, and they stuck to that role religiously, while the rest of the duties were assigned to the women. While the men would spend all their days hunting and securing food, the women would take care of everything else. Thus, women would be the cooks, cleaners, nurses, healers, breadwinners, nannies, protectors of children and the elderly, comforters and basically the administrators of the home and indeed of the entire tribe.

The theory further states that with evolution, although the nature of our work and challenges to survival changed, basic instincts and traits remained the same. The men continued to focus on being the breadwinner with all the instincts necessary to survive in the harsh world of competition, while the women continued their multiple roles. According to this theory, this is why multitasking comes naturally to most women.

It’s not about which role is better or tougher, although traditionally, the role of men is propagated to be the toughest as they have to operate in the outside and largely unknown world. While the role of women, as family and social administrators, has been given a much lower status. However, as I said, it is not about this little dispute. The main focus is trying to understand the multiple roles that women have been playing for centuries and their evolution in the face of the corporate role of women today.

She was a juggler yesterday and she is a juggler today. But to her credit, the number of sticks in her juggling circle has increased substantially. And yet, she walks a tightrope, every day, without a break. Sometimes she lost her balance, sometimes she was pushed, sometimes she reached perfect zen while other times she stared in disbelief at the mess around her. But she juggles, she does. Because that’s the nature of her, that’s what she is as a woman.

Of course, some sticks in her juggling circle are larger than others and some are forcibly made larger by circumstances and people, and yet she continues to juggle.

Introducing the New Age Corporate Woman: Employee, Employer, Colleague, Team Member, Breadwinner, Problem Solver and Yet Wife, Mother, Home Manager, Daughter in Law, Friend and Teacher, Nurse, Guide, Full-time partner and companion. , cleaner, cook and driver. Yes, when we look at the woman we call a liberated, independent career woman, we need to see that she still carries with her all the traditional roles of hers. And this is what makes the new age corporate woman so much more attractive, powerful, and in many ways threatening to many. I would add to that – Vulnerable.

Today’s woman is finally living her full potential. It is said that every man has a feminine side and vice versa, every woman has a masculine side. Today’s woman has developed her full potential and lives both sides of her to the fullest.

Then comes the next question: “What are the effects of this rise of the new powerful woman?”

The first thing that might come to mind is ‘imbalance?’ I do not blame him. As a society, we have been imbued with the idea of ​​a certain pattern and system in society that advocates the man as the provider and the dominant factor and the woman as the housewife and dependent. With the rise of the new woman this equation certainly changes. And while the woman has changed her role or rather has grown to encompass many more roles while still retaining her original role, men are taking much longer to even accept the change to let go, adapting to it. For men at home and at work, the new woman is a surprise and a challenge.

If we can keep the perspective of the theory of evolution discussed above, we can see where the challenges of the corporate woman come from:

Domestic challenges:

1. When the man traditionally believes that the responsibility of running the home, raising the children, social obligations and managing the family rests exclusively with the woman, he does not believe in sharing the responsibilities of the home with his co-worker. Thus, the woman struggles to pack 3 times more than the man in the same 24 hours.

2. Since the woman is also earning and is not dependent on her husband for her material needs, the husband does not get the satisfaction of his role as ‘provider’ and this damages his masculinity, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously. .

3. The man who has not consciously accepted the equal status of women may be outwardly permissive of his wife’s employment status, but in many cases he suffers inwardly every time the wife brings home a salary, makes a decision about her cattle, comes home later than him, expects him to share her domestic workload, or is unable to keep up with all the traditional social and family expectations.

4. In many families today, working women have to spend a large proportion of their energy just to appease the wounded ego of their counterparts in addition to the other multiple tasks.

Challenges in the workplace:

1. You are expected to do the same job as your male counterparts and in many places with lower pay just because of your gender.

2. You face constant threats of sexual harassment, which is an added burden to your workload.

3. In many places, male workers do not feel very comfortable being subservient to a female boss or leader and women receive unhealthy treatment.

4. Many male colleagues do not take advantage of opportunities such as promotions for women, positively and often attribute the reason for the promotion to her being a woman and therefore belittle her caliber and talent.

5. Men, who are generally good team players and subservient to male co-workers, take working for a woman as an insult. Many make it evident in their daily work, making routine work days difficult for women.

A view for the positive balance:

Today we talk about equality for both sexes and I know many men who strongly support and defend it. However, to truly accept and appreciate the new emerging woman requires men to have high self-esteem. No person can respect and appreciate the growth of another unless he knows himself well and has great self-respect and self-confidence.

The woman has already taken flight in the corporate world and is progressing rapidly. This places a greater responsibility on the fathers of young children to help them cope with the changing reality of women. The women have been able to take on the expanded role in stride and while they struggle, they more or less manage to do justice to most of their roles (with a few exceptions of course!). The little boys of today, who will be the men of tomorrow, must be prepared for this new woman if healthier relationships are to be expected both at home and in the workplace.

Little girls also need to be groomed for a balanced life, making them aware of unique gifts like maternal instincts and nurturing that can never be fully replaced by their male counterparts or higher wages.

The corporate woman is here to stay, but none can survive or thrive alone. The law of nature demands balance and we all have to work for it together. If we can make changes in ourselves it is most desired, but as parents of the future generation, our responsibility is tremendous to save our loved ones from falling into the confusion of evolution.