| It was with some horror that I came to the realization that reality television is never going away. It was naive of me to think so; the genre entertains millions and, unlike the sitcom or the drama, justifies its presence by claiming itself a social experiment.
Its link to sociology is a long-debated claim based on little evidence. So it came as a surprise when last season’s The Apprentice – back in full swing now for a second season – brought feminism to the masses by confirming what is often dismissed as a feminist myth: the glass ceiling that continues to hamper women’s success in the corporate sector.
This reality television show, helmed by real-estate magnate Donald Trump, bills itself as the "ultimate job interview." Sixteen contestants are divided into two teams that compete through various business enterprises such as real estate, restaurant management and sales. Each week, one member of the losing team is fired by Trump and, at the end of it all, the lone remaining contestant receives the management job of a lifetime.
The teams were originally divided by gender, a subtle move that producer Mark Burnett hinted was motivated by feminism in the telephone press conference leading up to the première of the first Apprentice. "I tried to be equal for men and women, I think that’s very important, especially with the glass ceiling and all the perceptions of that," he commented. His show moved far beyond simple "perceptions of that" in its solid demonstration of the glass ceiling.
When teams were separated by gender, the women easily won each challenge, week after week. In order to give the men a fighting chance, Trump re-shuffled the teams so that gender was no longer a factor. And what happened? A woman was fired in every single subsequent episode but one, for reasons ranging from being too emotional to exploiting her physical attractiveness. Their invincible team dismantled, the women were now complaining that their colleagues in the new teams refused to listen, paid no attention to their suggestions and were making poor decisions without team consensus. As the glass ceiling moved from myth to reality in front of our eyes, reality television slapped millions of viewers with, well, reality.
There exists little good news for women climbing the corporate ladder these days. In 2003, women held a mere 11.2 per cent of positions on the boards of directors of major Canadian companies. Out of the 243 publicly traded companies listed in the Financial Post 500, women chair only three.
What of Calgary, which boasts the second highest number of corporate head offices in Canada? Does the glass ceiling still exist for women in corporate Calgary?
"It’s still there. A lot of people are trying to deny it’s there and others say that it’s getting better," says Susan Quinn, an instructor in the Bissett School for Business at Mount Royal College. Given that women make up half of our population, Quinn points out that they are nowhere near being well-represented, especially at senior levels of business. Across Calgary, twice as many men hold management positions as compared to women.
How does this happen, when two out of three university students are women who go on to make up over half of the workforce?
Stories of frustration with corporate Calgary come readily from most women working within it. Stories of being asked if their fathers had helped them put together impressive presentations. Of being passed over for promotions because they were too emotional. Of making significantly less money as compared to males in the same position.
Despite all this, there are a few women in Calgary who have made it to the top. And public opinion has significantly progressed since a decade ago when Janice MacKinnon of Saskatchewan made big news when she became the first female treasurer of a Canadian province.
But this change, while welcome, hasn’t happened as quickly as it could. A decade ago, the Internet also started to gain in popularity. Yet while the Internet is now an integral part of doing business in Calgary and a recognized asset, women in upper management are still a minority in the business world and have yet to be lauded for all that they bring to the boardroom.
Shattering the glass ceiling is imperative to achieving gender equality but also translates to improvement in the bottom line for businesses. "The organization benefits from having a number of points of view presented when making a decision. The more points of view, the better the quality of the decision," says Quinn. Despite this incentive, many companies on the Financial Post 500 still do not have one single woman on their board of directors.
For companies wanting to eliminate their glass ceiling, Quinn stresses the importance of implementing regular "attitude surveys" which query employee perceptions on everything from advancement opportunities to their general working environment. While this practice has become routine for most companies, many do not ask respondents to qualify their gender. Quinn advises companies to include gender and "truly look at the results and truly do something with the information."
"That’s what the good companies are doing," she says.
Or you could just keep providing fodder for reality television. |
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