Women’s Ambition

I went to the most wonderful lecture after work today titled Women’s Ambition by Professor Michelle Ryan.

She talked about the fact that women make it to the very top levels of management an awful lot less than men do and how, even when you take in all kind of eco-socio-political factors, women are likely to earn around 20% less than their male counterparts.
80 pence for every £1 they make.

In the words of Kanye West (who I imagine doesn’t get referenced a lot in the history of feminist discourse): That shit cray.

The really mind boggling thing is the willingness of people to put this down to innate differences between men and women.
Actually, Michelle Ryan’s studies showed that there is nothing innate about these differences, they are socially constructed and then ingrained within us all.

It felt a little hopeless at one point, as though women have been doomed – by society and by their own actions – not to succeed.
However, Prof. Ryan turned this into a wonderfully positive thing: If women are not innately less ambitious, if the opportunities and the lack of female role models in positions of power is what’s putting them off, then it is entirely possible that we can change things with a little proactivity.

Anyway, I genuinely thought it was one of the best lectures I’ve ever been to and it almost (almost) made me miss writing my dissertation.

Alice.