dispatches from the new world of work

14S, 65R ... Hike!

When the next U.S. Congress convenes, there will be 14 women in the Senate, 65 in the House. Not good enough, but up from 2 in the Senate, 21 in the House in 1980. The Senate also will have 1 African-American, 2 Hispanics, and 2 Asian-Americans ... up from 0, 0, and 2 in 1980. The House will seat 40 African-Americans, 23 Hispanics, and 5 Asian-Americans ... up from 17, 7, and 3.

Could be better. Could be worse. But glacial though it doubtless seems to many, that's a pretty sizeable shift in a quarter of a century. All you LBJ-bashing, aging hippies ... put a flower on the old boy's grave for the Civil Rights Act, etc. The grand total will be 152 minorities in '05 (out of 535 total), up from 52 in '80.

Tom Peters posted this on 11/30/04.

Comments

Sigh--not fast enough for this mother of four daughters ages 14 to 21. Then again, as a Pre-Title IX woman, I can vividly remember wearing "bloomers"the ugly green kind--for "phys ed" classes. Regardless of the substance that they manufacture, the Virginia Slim mantra holds true"we've come a long way baby"--at least from the Marlboro Man days. Now for the pitch--Daughter #2 once told Senator Bob Dole that she was going to be the first woman President--this just days after not-yet-Senator Eli

Posted by Pam Brill at November 30, 2004 11:24 PM

Pam: Why do you suppose this Post has gotten but one comment ... yours? Why not 20?

Posted by tom peters at December 2, 2004 1:50 AM

Tom, I just received Project 04 this morning, am partway through.

Love this post, and love that you use your platform to extol women's leadership skills. Yet in P04, my overwhelming impression thus far is the lionization of Ellison, Gates, Jobs and Lucas. Geniuses? Yes.

Two thoughts. 1)Later in P04, will I read about Oprah? A dreamer of gargantuan dreams (item 37)who has created a uniquely feminine organization, and one that makes use of all forms of media to present her message. Let's look outside the Fortune 500 for more examples! 2)On the other hand, both men & women in my cohort (ivy league MBAs) seem to be questioning the 25 hour workday required to ascend to senior management ranks in Corporate America. A vignette from a recent dinner with a classmate: a former Large Bank mid-level exec, she was never going to be promoted, and left. Now Large Bank has gone through a merger. Observing the musical management chairs at the now newly merged organization, she sees that senior ranks have eliminated a disproportionately high number of female and minority incumbents. Triangulate this with the fact candidates for public office must be willing to open their private lives (every man we've ever dated?) to public scrutiny. Maybe what makes women different is that we look at this stuff and and reject it. We'd rather find private ways to exert influence. If we're going to work 25 hour days, we'd better love it, and have the support at home to address the fact that we retain most of the responsibility for "housekeeping" in this day and age. Oprah's decision to retain control over her product, and equity ownership in her enterprises, set the foundation for her mammoth level of influence and financial success. But whether you're Ellison, Gates, or Oprah, you're working the 25 hour day in service of your own dream. Talented people don't work for money, they work to have their dreams engaged (with some optimization function that seeks to minimize collateral damage in one's personal life).

Why is there only one comment to your post? What is the breakdown of your readership by gender? Talent attracts more talent (item 24). Write about Oprah and other "weird" talent (item 7) and watch the growth of your female readership, along with comments to posts about issues like this one!

Posted by Anne Libby at December 2, 2004 2:16 PM