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RE: Female CEO's are poor performers
I love how every time when a female high on the totem poll makes a tumble, it's sensationalized in the headlines. If Carly were male, no one would bat an eye at this.
Granted she didn't perform well, but you can't generalize this as a "women suck at management"... that's both sexist and unsubstantiated. Anyone who has taken a psychology of gender course in the past 10 years knows that, when it comes down to the nitty gritty... men and women do not significantly differ.
Although things are becoming more egalitarian, women still earn ~75 cents for every dollar that a man makes. And when a woman decides she wants to focus on professional success in business over raising a family, she immediately becomes a "cold bitch". Cuz.. you know, for some reason, people think you can't be a family person and a successful executive (even though so many men seem to be able to balance this).
If a man goes after this goal, it's simply expected... he's seen as naturally pursuing what a man does. If a man doesn't perform on the job, he less likely to be dismissed than a woman... and if he is fired or forced to resign, he's usually given much more grace... and certainly less media coverage.
Meg Whitman is CEO of eBay, and I don't hear anyone complaining about that company. Cathleen Black is CEO of Hearst Magazines....
Get a clue. Maybe she wasn't right for the job, but it's not because she's a woman.


