Why are there so few women in top jobs? Instead of asking ourselves why there aren’t more women running the joint, maybe we need to ask why the joint is organised so it can only be run by superheroes or people with their own entourage.
In the lead up to Blue Knot Day on October 28, a day of support for the estimated 4-5 million Australians who are survivors of childhood abuse, some unexpected research findings are changing our ideas about resilience and leadership, particularly for women whose mental health is so closely tied to their experience of living in the world. And the evidence for what continues to restrict women’s choices seems to be pointing directly towards the health of our workplaces.
A recent study by University of Queensland academic Dr Terrance Fitzsimmons found huge differences between the childhoods of male and female top executives. The male CEOs he interviewed were brought up in traditional homes with mothers whose full time role was to care for their husbands, home and children. They reported relatively happy upbringings and held their current positions with the support of stay at home wives and mothers.
In contrast, the female top executives had working mothers, often in small business. And most strikingly, nearly all of them had lived through a major trauma between the ages of eight and 15. Death, family violence and major illness had been a part of their lives when they were becoming independent and forming their identities. And it was the resilience that came from living through these traumas that they credited for their ability to work hard and bounce back, including their capacity to take on the majority of the load of managing home and family.
zoekrupka.com 
Leave a Reply