Patricia – Female worker

(Patricia, 32, is telling us about the situation of women in the workplace.)

Working in the corporate world is not too easy for a woman. Compared to her male colleagues, she has to work twice as hard to prove herself. And even if she is equally capable, the prospects of advancing to positions of responsibility are rather limited. The sphere of activity of a woman remains in fact very limited no matter how well qualified she might be.

I don’t think it is a question of qualification so much as a question of the constraints that limit a woman’s productivity. I am not saying, of course, that women are less efficient workers than their male counterparts.

I am only stating that today’s lifestyles impose constraints on a woman’s productivity that can prove very expensive for a business enterprise. Why do you think the human resource policies of companies are so hostile towards female workers? I think it’s simply a question of costs and benefits.

I am not saying that female workers impose costs that are much higher than the benefits resulting from their work. Women are certainly very efficient workers and often better than men in sectors like human resources management. This is one sector that does not require long hours of overwork and travel. Women perform excellently as personnel managers. However, in some sectors like finance and marketing, it’s not always the case. Most women would have to abandon the management of home and family to be able to perform as well as their male colleagues.

I think that if women accepted the demands of the management, they would be given positions of greater responsibility. But very few women would choose that. No enterprise can have terms of payment that are not fair. It has to pay equally qualified employees on an equal footing.

As a conclusion, I’d say that it is definitely more difficult for a woman to make a niche for herself in the work place.