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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: = ;

New rules requiring segregation of women bank employees f= rom their colleagues are extending Saudi Arabia’s pervasive practice = of segregating the sexes to a business arena long exempt from such practice= s – the banking industry. Banking is one of the few professions= where Saudi women have gained rights and now comprise 15% of employees, wo= rking along side their male colleagues until the imposition of these new ru= les.

One woman banker was recently informed that she would no = longer be working at her usual place next to a male colleague, but was inst= ead being moved to a woman-only suite on the ground floor, so she and other= female bankers will not mix with the male bankers using the elevators.&nbs= p; Not only were the women relegated to the ground floor, but their duties = and functions changed as well. “How will we evolve? How w= ill we learn? This is going to be a disaster for our careers,” = stated one of the women now required to work behind partitions. Some = Saudi women state that the new rules contradict the government’s asse= rtions that it wants to provide women with more employment opportunity.&nbs= p; They also point out that the rules are a violation of the UN Convention = on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to= which Saudi Arabia is a signatory. (Source: International Herald Tribune Africa and th= e Middle East, 6/25/07)

A recent report from the U.S. Small Business Administrati= on finds more similarities rather than differences between male and female = entrepreneurs. While men and women may enter entrepreneurship for dif= ferent reasons, the success of a venture has nothing to do with gender, acc= ording to the report. Rather, differences in a firm’s performan= ce may be due to past industry or start-up experience.

What are the differences? Men are more likely to en= ter a business with the primary objective of making money. They are a= lso much more likely to start a business in the technology field. Wom= en tend to operate low risk/return businesses, and they are also much more = likely to operate a business with positive revenue. Men, on the other= hand, are much more likely to have a company with employees, while women t= end to self-employ and not hire until absolutely necessary.

For more findings, see th= e September 2007 Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy report, &= #8220;Are Male and Female Entrepreneurs Really That Different?” by E.= Kepler and S. Shane.

&nbs= p; = &n= bsp; &nbs= p; = ISSUE NO. LXV, NOVEMBER 6, 2007

GlobeWomen E-news

“Linking Business Wo= men Worldwide”

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The Top Ten Most

Competitive Economies in 2007

(in rank order)

Source: World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness 2007 = Report

2008 GLOBA= L SUMMIT OF WOMEN DATE CHANGE –

JUNE 5-= 7, 2008 INSTEAD OF May 28-30.

JOIN THE PREMIER GLOBAL GATHERING= OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS. = ; &n= bsp; Check www.globewomen.org for details.

I. LATIN AMERICA POISED TO U= SHER IN WOMEN AS COUNTRY LEADERS

II. IS THE TERM ‘GLASS= CEILING’ A MISNOMER?

III. SEGREGATING SAUDI ARABIA= N WOMEN FROM VIABLE CAREERS

IV. DO WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS D= IFFER FROM MEN? – A REPORT FROM THE U.S.

V. HELP STOP CERVICAL= CANCER

When Michelle Bachelet was elected President of Chile, th= e outsized attention was based on a seeming anomaly – a country based= in the region known for ‘machismo’ elected its first female pr= esident. The assumption was that this election was an anomaly. = That has now been proven incorrect with the ascension of Argentina’s = First Lady and Senator Fernandez de Kirchner to the Presidency of her country.

“Permit me to specifically address my sisters in ge= nder, to call out to all of them who have remained alone in the home, to th= e female factory workers and students, the professionals and the businesswo= men,” said Fernandez de Kirchner in her speech as President-elect, &#= 8220;I know we can all do great work.” Her rallying cry seems t= o be heard by women political leaders in other parts of the Latin American = region.

In Paraguay, former education minister Blanca Ovelar has = received the backing of outgoing President Nicanor Duarte in her bid to suc= ceed him in next year’s election. In Brazil, the current = Chief of Staff and former energy Minister Dilma Rousseff is rumored to bein= g groomed by the current President Lula da Silva to carry his party’s= banner when he ends his term in 2010. The rise of women to the highe= st offices in the region may seem to be sudden, but women have been working= their way up the political system for many years.

Many credit the imposition of quotas for women in federal= legislatures as key to opening doors for women’s political leadershi= p. The number of women in Argentina’s legislature more than qua= drupled immediately after a 1991 law aimed at increasing women’s repr= esentation in Congress. President-elect Fernandez de Kirchner was one= of the women who entered Argentina’s National Legislature after quot= as were established. Since then, 11 other Latin American countries ha= ve passed similar laws within the last decade. (Source: Washington Post, 10/30/07)

The ‘glass ceiling’ has been used globally as= a catch phrase to identify the barriers women face in advancing to leaders= hip roles in the workplace. In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, Alice Eag= ly and Linda Carli argue that this term is incorrect since it implies one d= efinitive barrier at the later stages of a woman’s otherwise distingu= ished career.

Instead, they submit that the workplace barriers women fa= ce are more of a labyrinth – a metaphor that conveys more fully the c= omplexity and variety of challenges that emerge along the road to leadershi= p roles. Managing this labyrinth requires, in the authors’ view= , persistence, an understanding of one’s progress, and a careful anal= ysis of the competitive landscape ahead.

As an example of this labyrinth, the authors cite the inc= reased hours U.S. married mothers now devote to primary child care (12.9 hr= s. vs. 10.6 hrs. a decade ago), even though fathers nowadays also put in mo= re time than they used to (6.5 hrs. vs. 2.6 hrs.). Pressures for inte= nsive parenting that modern families now expect, conflict with increased ho= urs in most high-level careers, and leave little time for socializing with = colleagues and outside professional networks that are essential for manager= s to move up. One of the recommendations – change the long-hour= s culture. (Source, Harvard Business Review, 9/1/07)

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: = ;

For more findings, see th= e September 2007 Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy report, &= #8220;Are Male and Female Entrepreneurs Really That Different?” by E.= Kepler and S. Shane.

&nbs= p; ISSUE NO. LX= V, NOVEMBER 6, 2007 Unable to view? click here