http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/10/26/virginia-rometty-ibm-female-ceos-hp_n_1032000.html
Recently, Virginia Rometty was appointed as the CEO of IBM, the company's first female CEO in its 100-year history. A century too long, would you not agree with me? Let me give you all a little bit of background information about the company itself before I proceed further.
The company started as the result of a mergence of three other companies in 1911, named as Computing Tabulating Recording Co. The same company was renamed as International Business Machines or better known as IBM, in 1924. Samuel Palmisano will step down as the CEO of IBM, who praises Rometty to be 'more than a superb operational executive'. It is good to know that Rometty along with Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, are just about more than a dozen of women who are the CEOs of companies in the prestigious Fortune 500 tier. Their merit is finally getting a fitting recognition.
This news goes against the dominant discourse that women are not fit for and successful in the technology sector of the industrial market. As we have prescribed grammatical presumptions rooted in the English language such as the "common man", the occupation of an "engineer" or the field of engineering is connoted with the universal "he" and not a female. We do not realize that women who aspire to be engineers or technological entrepreneurs are just as or even more talented than their male counterparts for that matter. What I have often observed is that many people (including friends of mine) somewhat perceive engineering as a field, which is for men and not for women. I strongly, but politely disagree with them because I believe anyone, be it a woman or a man, as long as they possess the intellectual power can be an engineer (or an entrepreneur). Personally, I am grateful for the uprising of females on a global scale in a good light.
On the other hand, it nags me that we have had to wait for long to see the females come out of the mold and enforce themselves in a male-dominated world. Unfortunately, we all know that true equilibrium of power between women and men will never be achieved. There are still a lot of women who are victims of the abuse of power by men across the globe.
Moving on, when will we get to see black women truly making a name for themselves in the world (and not just the technology area)? I think we all are already aware of the answer - not soon enough! The reason being the colour of their skin; oppression of blacks has, sort of, diluted, but sadly still exists.
I will conclude this post by considering the lens of women on this subject matter. I feel any woman (female) would be proud after reading this. They will be elated to view the growing prominence of females at the higher echelons of occupational power in our world. Some women might even develop a sense of overpowering pride and superiority to males that they know who have under-achieved. Besides, I would like to add that almost all of my sisters are successful, bright engineers who have surpassed some of their male colleagues. If you have the drive and motivation to be great, nothing can stop you!
Questions to Ponder:
1) Did this post inspire you in any way? If yes, how and what do you see yourself as in another ten-fifteen years?
2) What do you think will be the reaction of some men who are orthodox; believe women belong to the kitchen and should not come out of it?
3) Although Palmisano praised Rometty, do you think he is happy on the inside or rather furious or jealous to give up his prized position to a woman?
Men or women can reach their ultimate goal according to their talents but the opportunity is determined by the nature of different societies. Especially women who live in Asian countries have fewer opportunities than women in western countries. Evan though there are many cultural barriers, some women has already proven their success. Most of time, Muslim women have fewer privileges than the women in other countries but you can found the many women political leaders are in Pakistan which has highly Muslim backgrounds. This article is a great inspirational for all the women that one of their representatives became a CEO of one of the biggest IT companies in the world.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post it did inspire me in a way. I believe that women can achieve just as much as men can if they really set their mind to it. I think that some men who are Orthodox would not react positively to this. They would think, as you stated in your question, that women belong in the kitchen. On the other hand, some Orthodox men wouldn't think that at all. They would understand this and be proud if their wife was this successful. I'm saying this out of experience because I come from an Orthodox family. Some of my family, who are from an older generation, believe that women should stay in the house and cook and clean all day long while they go out and do all of the work. The rest of my family doesn't believe that at all. They think that women should go and get an education and become something like the CEO of IBM.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kasun, regarding the fact that many Muslim women (from predominantly Muslim-populated countries) have fewer privileges compared to women from other parts of the world. You also stated quite brilliantly that the career opportunities are determined by the nature of different societies. I have to agree with you on this point as well because in a strict society (or country) such as Saudi Arabia, women are expected to veil their entire body revealing nothing (except the eyes – that too only sometimes); women do not have much freedom and take care of their households, while men go out for work. On the other hand, in countries such as Canada and India, women have almost the same amount of freedom as men do and are able to pursue any career they choose to.
ReplyDeleteChristina, it is good to know that your family encourages the females in your household to go out and make a name for themselves, rather than maintain the household all day long. What I believe is that there should be a balance between familial responsibilities and career aspirations.
Akshay you have extreme gender bias in the first question. I feel as if I am unable to fully understand as well as answer the first question. The question being related to the subject of the article seems to be directed mainly at the female population. I am not inspired because I am a man, and feel like no milestones have been made since I am not a woman. I do however feel like the reaction of these men would probably be as expected of them, but this question is also bias. Why don’t you ponder the reaction of all men? Why just the percentage of men who are orthodox? I believe that Palmisano felt furious to give up his position, but not because she is a woman more likely the loss of his so called, “prized” position.
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ReplyDeleteThis post did somewhat inspire me because it shows that women are surpassing men in many fields of work. Even though, in many countries women are looked down upon they still find ways to do what they want to do and achieve their goals. In ten-fifteen years I see myself doing something with children, which is what I love to do.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think orthodox men would be happy about women working instead of cooking/cleaning all day but, I believe that this applies only to the older generation. Since we’re in the year 2011 things have changed and I believe that most men are okay with women working, and supporting themselves instead of relying on their husbands to be the bread winners of the family. I don’t come from an orthodox family but I’m Hindu, and back in India most of the men expect the women to be at home watching the kids, or cooking and cleaning. Although, this isn’t true in my household because my dad is usually the one that clean on the weekends and he helps out my mom whenever he can which isn’t really considered a ‘norm’ back in India.
I think that Palmisano would have been jealous or even a bit mad by giving up his prized position to a woman because we don’t really see that happening in society a lot. Most men think that they can do a better job at anything then most women, and if I was in his shoes I would be a tad bit angry.
Tito, I do not have any bias in the first question asked. When I was coming up with the question, at first, I realized that the question was directed solely to women. I redirected the question later to both men and women. It is crystal clear enough to answer now. As for the second “biased” question, I was interested in finding out what orthodox men think about women coming out of the mold is because most men of today’s time are indeed quite flexible (with their wives, daughter-in-laws working outside the kitchen; at a professional workplace). I hope my reply clears all the bias and your doubts.
ReplyDeleteThis did Inspire me Akshay, women are not just made to work in the house only, just like men get a chance to work out and do what they wish, we women should have this right too. I believe that if women put all thier effort and hard work into something that they wish to achieve then they can reach there goal. Second of all, some women are interested in staying home and doing all the housework, and some men do have a problem with that too, they prefer and force women to go out and work, I don't know why women just don't have the right to do what they wish to do. Back to your questions, I strongly believe that men who are orthodox would react if women go out to work, as you said earlier that they believe that women should just stay in the kitchen, but there is a possibility some would not even care, but in my opinion they would. I may be wrong but in my opinion I think Palmisano may be jealous from inside that he had to give up his position to a women, because giving up such kind of position is not easy, we cannot be sure, he may be proud that finally a lady has stepped into such kind of field, or may be not.
ReplyDeleteMehwish - It is good that you brought up the point about how some men would force women to go out and work (I did not even consider this point). I know a man, personally, who does not exactly force, but still insists on her wife going out to get a job. In their case, I think he just wants his wife to earn so that they can be better-off financially (he does have a job himself - it is not like he does not work and is a slouch). Besides, he is a good man. Your response to my third question is also valid. Coming to think of it, we can never truly know what he thought about giving up his position to a woman.
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