PINK

Pink, a new bi-monthly magazine for professional women has released its premiere issue. I found it at the newstand in the "women's interest" section, after first looking for it unsuccessfully in the "business section". The magazine shows some promise so I plan to subscribe.

Read it and let me know what you think!

Spirit of 76 (cents, that is)

When develpment professionals discuss the feminization of the sector (not for profit sector in the U.S.), one concern is frequently stated--that it will drive down wges for everyone in development. This concern has to be seen as legitimate given that women in this country are paid 76 cents on the dollar paid to men. Doesn't it give a whole new meaning to "The Spirit of 76"?

Today I read a rather intelligently written post on a feminist blog about the wage gender gap. Among its many comments was one stating that one reason women are paid less is that they are less inclined to negotiate their initial salary offers. While personally I rarely hesitate to negotiate a better deal for myself, from my own rather limited observation of women in the workplace, I believe it is true. And my intuition tells me that this might be particularly true for women in the sector. We're just so darn nice.

To improve the situation here is what Development Divas must do personally and individually: If we are seeking employment, whether salaried or under contract, we must first become savvy at financial negotiation so we don't leave dollars that should have been ours on the table. If we are on the hiring side, we must avoid the temptation to offer women lower salaries simply because they might be willing to accept them.

Deveopment Divas Know Their Own Value!

Development Divas Have Stories to Tell

Introducing Development Divas

This blog will tell the fascinating stories about the working lives of selected “Development Divas”, women who have achieved great success in the development profession and who acknowledge their own success. This blog will also feature an analysis of the strategies used by each of the women to achieve success in the development profession.

While I understand that success can be more broadly defined, the women featured will be selected largely based on their personal career success as generally defined in our culture (organizational rank, visibility and reputation within the profession, and financial compensation). The women featured will also be selected to demonstrate diversity of age, ethnicity, and geographic location as well as diversity in the types of development careers they have pursued, the organizations they have served, the positions that they have achieved, and most importantly, the stories they have to tell.

I hope and expect that this blog will have wide appeal both within and outside the development profession. For those within the profession, it will further validate development as a worthy career for talented, ambitious, and achieving professionals and will offer specific suggestions about how to succeed in that career. For those who are in the process making career decisions, and who are or should be considering entering the development profession, it will offer exposure to the wide variety of opportunities within the profession. For those in other careers and professions, it will be interesting and appealing in the same way that books profiling successful women on Wall Street, successful women in technology, etc. have proven to be. In addition, this blog will offer readers a useful analysis of some career management strategies that can be applied to careers outside of development.

This blog will be particularly timely and relevant given that while more women are entering the development profession, men still dominate the top management positions in development and continue to command higher salaries for their efforts. Instead of using a deficit model to address this situation, this blog will take a positive approach by featuring women who have made it to the top in the development profession and by offering strategies that can be employed by both women and men to achieve similar levels of success.