Day 53 - The Great White Male Ceiling

Twelve years in technology. Twelve years. And I'm still blinded by the white-toned, sausage-laden beings that constitute company leadership. Sure, every now and then a woman pops up (usually as VP of HR or marketing.) But mostly, it's the great white male way in the boardroom and C-suite.

I have very low tolerance for these hierarchical snow flurries. (Flakes, flakes, flakes!) And then I read a story like this and the rankle soars to unbridled pissed-offness. 

Allow me to recap the article's* subject (as I see it), from the point of view of the government and businesses.

Thanks for dropping by today, businesses. I'm super stoked to have you all here.
Thanks. We're not too stoked to be here, really. Unless you're giving us money.
Fair enough. I've been going through your filings and I've discovered some surprising findings.
Look, about that whole fraud thing ...
Oh no no. Not that. I already talked to George in accounting about that. That's taken care of. This is something else.
What is it?
Look, I'm going to be frank. There just aren't enough chicks on your boards. 
This again? We hear this from a lot of people, but we didn't think you'd be on us about this. We let women work. We even promote them to nice, plump, mid-management jobs. Sometimes even VP level. There have even been cases of women, like, leading companies. Leading companies!
Yeah, but I'm getting some sh*t and this time it isn't going away. Get some women on your boards or I'll have to enact a law that compels you to do so. 
Really? Really? Look. We've been over this before. There just aren't any qualified women out there.
None? No business-savvy, well-educated women at all that could contribute to the companies' senior leadership?
Seriously. None. We looked in, like, five places. Four or five.  
Yeah, really?
Yeah. They just aren't suitable for board positions. Mostly they just aren't trained, you know? Don't have the experience. They're in, like, accounting or marketing or human resources.** 
Do what you have to do but there better be some dolls in your seats or else you'll be hearing from me. No more money my friend. And a keener eye on your filings.  
Flippin' Scandinavia.***

****

* Disclaimer: This article focuses on companies/women in Europe. Because in America, we just don't have an issue like this. Not at all.

** Direct quote from article. Not me being a total ass.
*** Apparently, this whole notion of enforcing female quotas on boards started in Scandinavia about two years ago.  They are truly an enlightened people.
**** Basically, the gist of the article is that making boards elect female directors isn't the answer to the problem. The article basically says that if we truly want qualified women on boards, we should start training young so that they are prepared and can positively contribute to a company's leadership. That makes sense. However, let's just take a ride on the honest train. These changes won't happen unless they are mandated and companies are held accountable to them. Men have been the dominant members of boards since, well, the dawn of business. Do you think deeply ingrained practices like that are going to change out of good will? Why not just wish that all businesses stop laying off folks and avoid concentrating on the almighty dollar/pound/euro, etc.?