Rosie the Riveter – read more about her fascinating role in WWII at the bottom
OK – I don’t want to make today’s whole blog about how the sisters are taking over the world, (cue maniacal laughter), but I guess one sees what one is thinking about, right?
(You know, like someone says “pregnant” and for the next day all you see on the streets is babies?)
So anyway, I was roaming around the net and found this interesting commentary from Business Insider. What do you think?
Men and Women – the Difference at Work
There is a major shift occurring in the workforce and women are at the centre of it.
Between 1984 and 2009, the number of working women in the United States (where the article was written) has increased from 44 million to 72 million, Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, vice-president and managing director of Apollo Research Institute, says in her book Society 3.0: How Technology Is Reshaping Education, Work and Society
With this rapid change, she points out that women’s skill sets are more prevalent in the workforce now than in the past, especially as women hold more management positions.
Based on the company’s study — not scheduled to be released until the end of 2012; this is a sneak preview for Tipping Point readers — women are bringing these skills into the workplace:
1. They’re more intuitive to bringing in all points of view.
This allows for more collaboration and win-win situations. In today’s complex working environment, this way of doing business is essential.
“Women are more inclined to investigate both sides to see if both parties can actually have a desirable outcome,” Wilen-Daugenti told us. “They’re more willing to ask, ‘What do you want out of this?’ ”
2. They have different values than men do.
They’re much more empathetic to the diverse workforce needs. If an employee is conflicted between work and other aspects of her life, a woman in a senior position would more likely notice the needs of her employee:
“Women say they are much more in tune with the diverse workforce where they feel like men are not as supportive or empathetic,” Wilen-Daugenti says.
3. Women are stronger with networking, sponsoring and supporting each other.
Wilen-Daugenti says that the women she surveys report that they help each other out more often than men do.
However, one of the biggest mistakes women make in the workforce is their lack of confidence, she says. They underestimate their potential and, therefore, don’t achieve as much as they could.
The shift in women in the workforce could have something to do with the fact that American women have received more college diplomas than men since 1992. (This is happening in Australia too, see the previous article.) In fact, for every two men in college, there are three women, and females are also more likely to pursue an advance degree, Wilen-Daugenti says.
“If you look at the unemployment numbers, education continues to be the key differentiator in people who are getting jobs and people who are not.
“If you run the numbers, it’s inevitable that there will be more women than men in the future workplace. Men, unfortunately, are not going to school.”
“Women are postponing marriage for five years and having fewer children. In my organization, I really need people with master’s degrees and PhDs and the volume of resumes that come to me are mostly women because they can meet these new credentials.”
So why are women getting better educations than men, now? That’s the next question to be answered …
Vanessa T
The story of Rosie
The United States government had to overcome some challenges in order to recruit women to the workforce to replace men serving overseas.
Early in the Second World War, the government was not satisfied with women’s response to the call to work. So the government decided to launch a propaganda campaign to sell the importance of the war effort and to lure women into working.
Norman Rockwell’s painting of “Rosie the Riveter” appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in May 1943. Howard Miller’s now-famous “We Can Do It” poster, reproduced above, was produced by Westinghouse, and has become an enduring cultural icon.
The Government promoted the fictional character of “Rosie the Riveter” as the ideal woman worker: loyal, efficient, patriotic, and pretty. A song, “Rosie the Riveter”, became very popular in 1942. Rockwell’s image on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943 was the first widely publicized pictorial representation of the new “Rosie the Riveter”. This led to many other “Rosie” images and women to represent that image.
For example, the media found Rose Hicker of Eastern Aircraft Company in Tarrytown, New York and pictured her with her partner as they drove in a record number of rivets into the wing of a Grumman “Avenger” Bomber on June 8, 1943.
Rose was an instant media success. In many other locations and situations around the country, “Rosies” were found and used in the propaganda effort.
The Tipping Point 