Teryl @ Work

Sharing your last salary – re-enforcing the gender pay gap… The interview process is never easy.   Whether you are actively searching for a new position or being head hunted, selling yourself effectively can go against ingrained social habits. As a potential employer, there is significant risk in hiring the wrong people, too. So both sides have a lot to lose if the interview process is ineffective. While we frequently hear that people do not leave jobs because of money, very few candidates are looking to drop their salaries … Interviewers have a number of tools at their disposal enabling them to align the right candidate with the role on offer: ·        Psychometric testing ·        References ·        The face to face interview process ·        The CV / Resumé ·        Social media profiles However, the prev...

Women and Property Ownership – is it really 1%? As Women’s Month drew to a close in South Africa yesterday, I thought the topic of property ownership was worth further investigation. Over the past month, I have participated in a number of women’s events, both as a speaker and as a member of the audience. Some of the speakers have cited a statistic that puts 1 or 2% of property in the hands of women, globally. According to Philip Cohen, (link below ), this is a feminist myth that won’t die. All the reading I have done, subsequently, has indicated that the basis for this stat is not readily available although Philip Cohen’s article does offer an answer to the source. Cheryl Doss (link below) does give some interesting statistics around African property ownership and also says that the 2% is not based on documented statistical research. All this preamble is to get to the point that while the actual % is obviously important, it is also a reality that less women...

The Daily Beast published a story last year with statistics that showed women being quoted 1 in 5 times on woman's issues.   The article continued with stats on news shows showing a very similar picture.     The Daily Beast I haven't been able to find similar statistics for South Africa, but am not convinced it would be very different. Are we just not being asked?  Or don't the media know who to ask?  Are the women with expertise not high profile enough or is it simply that with less than 20% of corporate top jobs in the hands of women, the statistics are aligned with the reality? How does it change?   Social media has to be one of the ways forward.   With the ability to put opinions out into the ether, surely the media (and the world at large) will note that women have a point of view on matters beyond celebrities, beauty and fashion.   And may I add that enjoying the aforementioned does not drive business, economics and politics out of you...