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Women CEOs have to overcome stereotypes

There are only 13 female ceos of all the fortune 500 companies and a 2007 report by Catalyst explains one reason why that might be. The report details some of the problems women still face in as they rise in the ranks in corporate america because of outdated stereotypes about how women are supposed to behave. Catalyst's report explains that women in leadership positions are face stereotypes about how they're supposed to act. They find that they aren't as free to pick their own leadership style as men and are held to different standards than men in their positions.

Women in leadership roles can't catch a break. The report says that when they act the way people expect them to by playing into female stereotypes; they're criticized for not being tough enough. When their leadership style falls on the other end of the spectrum and they're authoritative or forceful, catalyst says they're condemned for "acting like a man".

MORE ON WOMEN AT WORK, FROM CNN

Legal Momentum urges Houston mayor to end discrimination against women firefighters

Legal Momentum urged Houston mayor Bill White in early 2008 to address ongoing sex discrimination in the Houston Fire Department that is making it virtually impossible for women to advance from the Department’s rank-and-file to leadership roles. The discrimination stems from new promotional rules adopted by the City and its firefighters’ union. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently determined that the rules have a discriminatory disparate impact on women firefighters. However, the City apparently plans to defend the rules in a court battle. MORE ON WOMEN IN NONTRADITIONAL JOBS

Guest Worker Sex Discrimination Case Certified as Class Action

The federal district court for the Middle District of North Carolina granted  in January 2008 Plaintiff’s motion for the certification of a plaintiff class in a case that claims that the defendant labor recruiter firms steer women guest workers into jobs with lower pay and fewer benefits than the jobs that they reserve almost exclusively for men guest workers. The case, Olvera-Morales v. International Labor Management Corp,. involves the federal H-2 guest worker program, a program that provides a legal means for foreign workers to fill temporary positions in the U.S. MORE