The Glass Ceiling… still a REALITY for our daughters.

My daughter was inducted into the SAT Hall of Fame, and I am so PROUD of her…but I must admit fear edges my joy.

How do I tell her I stood in the same place decades ago, feeling I could take on the world, and the reality all these years later is that she will have to be better, smarter, stronger, and more fierce than many of the same people standing next to her to get equal treatment?

Why? Because the glass ceiling is still very real.

I sat in the 8th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite conference hosted by Kami Guildner in November and heard stories of triumph and success. I also heard harsh realities and statistics from strong female entrepreneurs on a mission.

Our daughters face these realities too. Our sons face a different challenge because they are in a nebulous and confusing landscape of who they should be and how they should treat their sisters and mothers better.

Tradition is not on either of their sides.

The reality is that our daughters will NOT be treated equally for equal work and ability, and our sons are very likely to be caught in a system that perpetuates that for their wives and daughters. And, if they are in any group that is different in any respect, they will face the same struggle. It matters little what field they go into.

They will not get venture capital investments in equal numbers.

The Keynote speaker, Carrie Freeman, the Co-CEO of SecondMuse was quite blunt in answering the question that equal funding for equal ability and drive does not exist in venture capital. The sad statistic reported in Bloomberg is that only 2% of funding venture capital went to female founders in 2021.

This is coming from a woman whose company has accelerated 500 ventures, prototyped 30,000+ solutions, enabled $325 million of investment to support ventures, and generated $10B of social and environmental impact. And it stings.

How many impactful ventures are being lost because they are not funding badass women?

This is an opportunity cost for everyone. What if we are missing the next Marie Curie, Madeline Albright, Eleanor Roosevelt, or Toni Morrison of our world? I guarantee if you read a list of the top 100 most important women in world history, the large majority of their names would not be familiar to you.

This isn’t just a reality in venture capital funding. The gender pay gap exists across almost every profession and industry in the world, which creates poverty for children and elderly women who have worked their entire lives with less value for what they do. On average, women working full-time earn roughly 80 percent of men’s salaries. The most shocking to me is that the largest gap in earnings (54.7%) exists in the legal profession where they make less than half of the income of their male counterparts. This is a profession where fairness and justice are supposed to be the entire foundation of the occupation.

But, perhaps I am not surprised after all.

I have personally experienced massive “abuse by lawyer”. It matters little that the lawsuits were frivolous, or that I won those battles almost every time. It took a significant toll in the loss of time, opportunity, emotional damage, and legal expense. Even the judge was sickened by it all, and yet it was perfectly legal, as is paying women less for the same job with the same ability.

Fairness is something that humans all crave, but the impartial and just treatment of some humans just does not exist in today’s world. I have seen the look of indignation on my children’s faces when I explained to them, that while it is out of integrity, they will experience times when favoritism or discrimination creates an unfair situation. Their innocent sense of right and wrong chaffed at this.

Our leadership is skewed by gender so the percentage of female leaders in politics, academics, corporate leadership, and even Hollywood ranges from as low as 5% as presidents in universities to a maximum of 33% in the Supreme Court.

Why are women so undervalued and underrepresented?

Key research findings point to environmental and social barriers that are complex — including stereotypes, gender bias, lack of network support, lack of flexibility for balancing work and home life, and a climate that continues to block women’s progress in STEM and other male-dominated professions.

“In some occupations, women collectively are receiving billions less than they would with equal pay; for instance, women working as physicians and surgeons are paid $19 billion less annually than if they were paid the same as men in that occupation.” American Association of University Women (AAUW)

It gets worse.

Mothers, including those who never left the workforce, get paid less than other women. This is referred to as the Motherhood Penalty. What kind of future are we creating when those who birth the next generation are penalized for it?

It is much worse for women of color, with Latinas fairing the worst at 55% less pay than white, non-Hispanic men. Other women of color such as Pacific Islanders and African American women fare only a few percentage points better.

And this was all made worse by the pandemic. Women lost a disproportionate number of jobs and yet as job recovery began, they did not realize the same gains as men. About 1.5 million mothers have not returned to the workforce as of April 2021. The women who are looking for work (97% after the pandemic) are not regaining jobs while most men are already employed (88%)…at least until this most recent layoff in fear of an upcoming recession.

The bottom line is that women’s economic security is under constant threat.

No matter how you measure it, the gender pay gap remains persistent and unacceptable. Women hold only 32% of the wealth men have accumulated, but two-thirds of the national student debt in which they earn less than 82% of the dollar to pay it off!

So what do I tell my daughter? Congratulations?!?

Incur that debt anyway?

She is that girl who is slaying it and doing all the things we consider success. The young woman who is in the SAT Hall of Fame, won Homecoming Queen in bare feet, made the varsity volleyball team, and is a fierce advocate for the underdog. She lives in a world where she is expected to be the “Universal Health and Mental Care System” for everyone in her world. The investment paid in from those in that system always leaves a deficit. It is unsustainable…but continues.

This is what I will say to her.

I’ve got you.

I am fighting for you. And it will get better because I brought you into this world as a warrior, regardless of the fact you have a major uphill battle ahead of you.

I am standing with you doing everything I can to level this playing field.

You will have to be better than those you are competing with.

I get it. I have lived it.

And I will be damned if I don’t leave this better for you than I found it, for my daughters, my son, and the generations that follow.

We all need to be a force that will work towards shattering that glass ceiling.

The ceiling exists not just for women but is an inequity barrier for those who are different, whether a person is not neurotypical, gender-typical, or (fill-in-the-blank) typical. We must reach into a collective space where both men and women can share the burdens of life when they crash down with fury.

We are all there at some point, but women need not be the disproportionate pack horses for these struggles.

It does not favor the human condition in any respect.

Our networks of support are cracking and the rate of violence is escalating. Mental health is suffering. We cannot simply ask women for more and treat them inequitably without tragic consequences.

So as fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles of these brilliant young minds we need to create a different reality for our children.

It begins with us.

It’s time.

Join me in the Sophia Rose Project, the endeavor to level the playing field one brain at a time.

Need a personal touch to guide you through more ways to foster your mind?

A limited number of private coaching spots are available.

For a custom approach and accountability coach, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

The power of the mind is limitless when you simply begin the journey.

It would be my honor to help.

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