Women Leadership

Do you believe in women leadership? I always did.

During my career as a chemist, manager of an environmental lab, and director of the analytical division of my company, I continuously fought to improve women’s status at work. I remember the quip of one of my male employees. “Hey boss, I am a young white male. Why do I feel like a minority here?” The whole staff burst out laughing. But Jim had a point. In my lab, there were more women than men. Not that I hired more women on purpose. Qualified chemists were difficult to find. We had to train the new hires. The hours were long, the job difficult and highly stressful with many government regulations, strict quality control and deadlines. Some chemists couldn’t cope with the pressure. Women seemed more resilient.
[Jim, if you read this. Know that you were one of the best chemists I ever had. You survived.]

When I started my own career, I had two small children and was often asked derogatory questions during job interviews, questions considered discriminatory today.
Who will take care of your kids when you are at work? The best daycare, not that it is any of your business!
Are you going to take off when they are sick? What do you think? Am I going to let them stay alone at home!
Can you stay long hours and overtime if necessary? Yes, sir, I am a professional. I have the feeling I will work harder than any man here to prove myself!
Yes, I did work harder than my male colleagues to prove myself. And I succeeded and was promoted.

But I always understood how difficult it was for a woman to make it in a man’s world. As a result, I managed my lab differently. Young mothers could take off when their kids were sick. They could come later or earlier than the classical 8:00am. Providing they put their forty hours a week and delivered their results on time, I didn’t care how they handled their schedule. A young mother with a sick kid could work in the evening when her husband was back from work, and stayed home with the sick child during the day.

Flexibility was the name of the game. With good salaries and regular increases, my employees didn’t mind hard work as long as they set their hours themselves. As a result, my lab became known for its low turnover and reliable staff.

Exhausted by my heavy responsibilities to corporate, to my staff and to the laboratory clients, and burnt out by the incredibly long hours of work I imposed on myself, I took an early retirement. A year later, the lab closed. My employees had no trouble finding jobs elsewhere, thanks to their thorough experience and the excellent references I gave them.

After being the boss for many years, I am now the good old friend who likes to hear about their family news. As the corporate office celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, the chief executive officers surprised me with this certificate of achievement.

All my heroines are career women--except this one.

Barbara made it her career to be a loving wife, a tender mother, a devoted volunteer...  Even after she lost her husband, she remained loyal to his memory. Until the day she meets Lou Roland, who'd never married, never loved a child, never cared about a woman except as a conquest.

Lou can't figure out why he is attracted to Barbara and why she absolutely refuses to fall into his arms. How can he change her?
And why is she changing him so much?

For the Love of Friendship by Karen Rock

As a romance writer, and reader, nothing is more fulfilling than seeing a couple I’ve rooted for throughout a story finally achieve their happily-ever-after. Yet, after recently watching one of my favorite movies, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, I thought about another kind of relationship that is equally important and lasts a lifetime: friendship. As Anne of Green Gables would say, a kindred spirit. Looking back, the books, movies and shows I’ve loved the most had close female friendships that added depth and richness to the story. It’s moving to see these fictional friends support, rejoice, fume, cry and laugh with one another through anything and everything. If a love story also mentions friendship in the blurb, I’m in! In light of that, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite fictional friendship pairs:

1.      Idgie and Ruth, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, by Fanny Flagg. What a gorgeous friendship! They bonded over the tragic loss of Idgie’s brother/Ruth’s boyfriend, came to each other’s rescue during times of domestic violence and threatened arrests. Idgie helped Ruth learn to assert herself and Ruth helped tame some of Idgie’s rougher edges. Still, they both accepted and loved each other, just as they were… making a profound difference in each other’s lives.

·       Favorite Friendship Moment: When Idgie and Ruth get into a food fight in their diner’s kitchen and Ruth smears chocolate frosting on their friend, the sheriff, when he tries to calm things down. Also, I sobbed when Idgie tells Ruth a final, tall tale.

2.      Anne and Dianna, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Such a sweet and loving friendship that had its share of ups a downs. Best of all, the readers got to see this friendship mature and grow along with the characters.

·       Favorite Friendship Moment: So many!! I love when Anne asks Dianne over for tea and Dianne is served current wine instead of raspberry cordial and gets drunk, or the time when Anne saves Dianne’s sister’s life from the croup or… ah! So many!

3.     3. Abileen and Minny, THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. I adore the friendship between these two maids from Jackson, Mississippi who faced the most difficult times together in the pre-civil rights era. Despite all of their hardships, they always had at least one person they could depend on: each other. Things got incredibly ugly for them, but their friendship always remained a constant.

·         Favorite Friendship Moment: When Abileen recruits Minny to join her in the book project as well as Abileen’s support of Minny and encouragement to break free of her abusive husband.

4.      CC and Hillary, BEACHES, by Iris Rainer Dart. What can I say without ugly crying?! This friendship was so profound, complex and moving it’s my all-time favorite. Both have something they envy in the other. Hillary is reserved, privileged and classy whereas CC is outgoing, bursting with personality, but rough around the edges. They bring out the worst and best in each other and love each other like sisters.

·        Favorite Friendship Moment: When Hillary asks CC to be her daughter’s guardian and also when CC gives Hillary heck for giving up as her illness worsens. Tenderness and tough love- what we all need in a true friend.

5.      Celie and Nettie, THE COLOR PURPLE, by Alice Walker. No one can be a better, more loving, loyal and lifelong friend than a sister. Celie and Nettie, born into a horrible childhood, had only each other to turn to. When Celie was forced to marry an abusive man, Nettie came along and did her best to protect her sister, even teaching her how to read and write. When Nettie was made to leave, she never gave up writing to her sister whose husband hid all of the letters. Consequently, Celie didn’t know that fate intervened and allowed Nettie to raise the children a young Celie thought she'd lost when she gave them up for adoption.

·       Favorite Friendship Moment: What can compare to the emotion of their sister reunion in the wildflower field?! When Nettie returns from her missionary work in Africa to reunite Celie with her children, the moment is one of the most beautiful, iconic moments of sisterhood in fiction’s history.

 

“Nothing but death can keep me from her!” Nettie shouted as Celie’s husband forced her off their property. I could have yelled along with her as I imagined my own protectiveness, loyalty and love for my friends. Watching FRIED GREEN TOMATOES recently was a great reminder for me to include incredible friendships in my stories.  What are your favorite fictional female friendships in books, movies or television shows? Or, how has a close friend made a difference in your life?

I'm excited to hear your thoughts, SRR friends.  Thanks so much for stopping by our blog J

Taking it for granted by Joanne Hill

This last week down here in New Zealand we've had a general election. The day before the election I  spoke, by dint of my day job working in heritage, at a woman's suffrage event. Suffrage - such an odd sounding word - is the right to vote in an election and its a subject dear to the hearts of Kiwis because we grew up knowing that New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote - back in September 1893! So it was a true privilege to speak at this event, an event honouring the group of determined and passionate women who all those years ago presented a petition to the New Zealand parliament demanding equality, and who paved the way for women all over the globe, regardless of their status.

I quite like public speaking but this was a different kind of event. Not only was it literally in public, in a public square in the CBD, but it was political. Scary, right there! There were dignitaries attending including the deputy mayor, members of parliament, city councillors, and local board members. Talking at a public and political event like this is not quite like giving a talk on plotting to your fellow writers on a Friday night, but it was an honour, even more so knowing that the next day I would be voting, thanks to the bold, courageous women who fought that fight.

The woman associated with the movement was Kate Shepherd. A Christian socialist, she joined the Women's Christian Temperance Movement and pushed for the right to vote in order to bring in prohibition, but soon the issue of voting itself took over and it became more about the right to vote, full stop. A few years back, she was honoured with her picture going on the New Zealand ten dollar bill.

We take it for granted now but as one of the speakers reminded us, the fight isn't over, not by a long shot. There are still countries in the world where women are treated appallingly just because they are women and at this moment, there are also women - and no doubt men - fighting for what we now see as a most basic human right.

The words bold and courageous have come up a lot lately, and women like Kate Shepherd were definitely that. Who do you think of when you think of those words?

Joanne's current book Dating Daisy is part of a bundle with seven authors called Second Chances and is now available on Amazon for just .99c until the end of October.