Women thinkpiece

Women: a thinkpiece from Cultural Intelligence
We are witnessing a perfect storm of infrastructural shifts, which point to a more
knowing and conscious era of womanhood.
1. Demographic certainties are being eroded for women globally.
Women are getting married later, having children later and having smaller
family sizes than ever before. They're experiencing something quite new: an
extended period of experimentation and identity-formation between
adolescence and adulthood that previously would have not been available to
them. In both Germany and the UK, the average age to become a first time
mum is now 30 years old1
, 29.2 years in Japan2
and 29.9 in New Zealand.3
Family
size is also decreasing as you can see below:
1
Destatis, 2007 and ONS, 2006
2
NCHS, 2009
3
OECD, 2010
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2. Technology penetration has had a universal impact, representing a new era
of connectivity, community, extended networks and entrepreneurialism,
particularly for women in emerging markets. In developing countries, every
10% increase in access to broadband translates to a 1.38% growth in GDP.4
The effect of technology penetration is also felt in developed countries with
online channels bringing down some of the entry barriers for small businesses.
In the US today, 30% of SMEs are run by women, compared to only 5% 40
years ago.5
3. Women are assimilating new roles and creating more connections. They
are more visible in public life, more integrated in society and finding
empowerment through this dispersion of influence. Women's sphere of
influence is expanding outwards from the home in public life, across
geographies. From boardrooms to universities and more broadly in the labour
force, women are starting to gain a footing, if not an equal one with men.
Almost half – or 47 per cent – of first-time appointments to the FTSE 350 were
4
UN Broadband Commission Working Group on Broadband and Gender,
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2013/09/21/un-broadband-commission-releases-
first-global-report-on-broadband-and-gender-200-million-fewer-women-online/
5
Women's Work: Driving the Economy; Equity Research: Fortnightly Thoughts, Issue 53, Goldman Sachs
http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/focus-on/investing-in-women/research-articles/womens-work.pdf
Women: a global thinkpiece from Cultural Intelligence • 27.09.13
2

female in 2012, compared to just 11 per cent in 20076
; meanwhile 55% of
college degrees are now going to women in emerging markets.7
‘It’s not only
a question of fairness. The presence of women in the leadership of a country
or a region or a business is a question of good governance for me’ says
the EU markets commissioner, Michel Barnier.8
4. And this influence is not just 'soft power'. Female 'hard' economic power is
formidable: “Women now drive the world economy. Globally, they control
about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb
as high as $28 trillion in the next five years. Their $13 trillion in total yearly
earnings could reach $18 trillion in the same period.”9
In Brazil, 28% or more
than a quarter of women out-earn their husbands—the highest figure in the
BRIC countries. ‘Women are estimated to control about 65% of all spending
decisions globally and this is not limited to what are traditionally considered
female categories. Research suggests that in most cases women,
unsurprisingly, have veto power on many of the big-ticket purchases in
households. This makes the case for women being involved in the design,
manufacturing and marketing of a huge range of goods and services’.10
[This is] the century of women. I speak to you with a feminine voice. It’s the voice of
democracy, of equality
Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s President, U.N. General Assembly in September 2011
So, a positive story? It’s a familiar trope: women at the heart of technological
6
The Independent, July 2013http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/boost-for-women-in-boardroom-as-
companies-seek-fresh-skills-8725455.html
7
The Potential Of Women In Emerging Markets, FORBES, April 2010 http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/22/women-talent-
workplace-china-india-brazil-forbes-woman-emerging-markets.html
8
February, 2011 http://yourlossbook.com/2011/02/davies-review-women-on-boards-no-quotas
9
The Female Economy, by Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre, HBR http://hbr.org/2009/09/the-female-economy/es
10
Women's Work: Driving the Economy; Equity Research: Fortnightly Thoughts, Issue 53, Goldman Sachs
http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/focus-on/investing-in-women/research-articles/womens-work.pdf
3

empowerment, increasing economic clout and social hyper-connection.
But women's lives are as much characterised by scarcity (of time, space, the care
they feel able to give to their families and friends) as by the more familiar discourse
of abundance. It's worth focusing on the pressures and stresses of this new era of
womanhood too.
1. The weight of traditional cultural expectations
She may make inroads into public life, through entering the work-force, but her
responsibilities at home haven’t diminished. They haven't moved from the home
to the workplace… they have responsibility for both spheres. Women are
shouldering the second and third shifts (household chores and ooking after
elderly parents) “Regardless of income or position, for most Indian women
traditional pulls remain unabated. For working women, family priorities are
expected to prevail over work. This can leave highly ambitious women feeling
judged for their commitment to work, pitied or chastised for having to take calls
after hours, urged by family and friends to ‘not work so hard.” Centre for Work-
Life Policy global study 201111
2. An urban majority
The majority of the world’s population now lives in cities. Women are witnessing
new environments of stimulation, competition and opportunity for their
families. Every week, 10 000 people make Shanghai their new home.12
However
with opportunity comes risk and this is manifested in a sense of eroded
community and very real fears about safety. A woman gets raped every 22 min in
India but only one in every four accused in the crime gets convicted.13
11
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1754-
2413&volume=28&issue=4&articleid=17086709&show=html&PHPSESSID=1rog35hd4dm8qbjoqp3lmfkce6
12
Design Shanghai 2014 http://www.designshowshanghai.com/
13
Firstpost. India, Oct 2012 http://www.firstpost.com/india/a-rape-every-22-mins-what-makes-us-so-complacent-489080.html
4

3. Family structures are changing.
In the West, there's an increasing trend of geographical dispersion of the
extended family. This means that the traditional structure where maternal or
paternal grandparents were on hand to give emotional and practical support is
now not the norm. Whilst multigenerational living is still common in rural India, a
more nuclear-minded family ethos is rising within the educated, urban middle
classes. It is becoming more common for both the husband and wife to be
engaged in professional careers and behaving more independently even when
still living with husband’s parents. On top of this, we’re witnessing the
breakdown of social structures. Divorce rate in Delhi doubled in past 4 years.
Punjab and Haryana have seen an increase of 150% in last decade.14
So we're seeing a tension here between unprecedented opportunity and the risks
of urban living, between ambition and stress, between freedom and responsibility.
The prevailing discourse around this tension is through the image of the multitasking,
juggling woman who is desperate for some 'me time'. This is becoming a cliché,
and one that emphasises tension rather than resolves it.
A more emergent and positive discourse is around women’s horizontal ambition
(rather than the traditional, more masculine vertical ambition of social betterment,
acquisition and status). This horizontal ambition is couched in terms of maximising
life’s experiences whilst caring and nurturing the ones you love: the ambition of the
polymath, the social being. This doesn't pit women and men as jostling for position
but rather as co-conspirators in building a better-balanced life.
'The feminism of the future is shaping up to be about pulling men into women’s
14
www.indidivorce.com
5

universe — as involved dads, equal partners at home and ambassadors for gender
equality from the cabinet office to the boardroom,' writes Katrin Bennhold.15
Or as Deepika Padukone (Bollywood star) puts it: “New feminism isn’t about being
aggressive, it’s about reaching the top yet being soft. It’s about being you –
feminine, strong and full of will power.”16
And that will power is driving a desire for shared responsibility. Sheryl Sandberg's
'Lean In' says that ‘the most important career decision that a woman will make is
the choice of her partner.’17
This is all about women’s strength coming from within femininity rather than an
attempt to emulate or oppose men; working with rather than subverting social
norms. As Caitlin Moran, author of How to Be a Woman18
says: ‘Yeah – I like the look
of this world. And I’ve been here for a good while, watching. Now – here’s how I’d
tweak it. Because we’re all in this together. We’re all just, you know. The Guys.’
15
New York Times, June 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/world/europe/23iht-letter.html
16
Dheeraj Sinha, Consumer India: Inside the Indian Mind and Wallet, 2011 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Uw-
XCvE9G4YC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
17
Business Insider, December 2012 http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandberg-career-advice-to-women-2011-12
18
Moran, Caitlin. How to Be a Woman. New York: Harper Perennial, 2012
6

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