The Pink Ghetto

Do you know the 70-20-10 rule? It’s the rule that might make workplaces more successful and efficient and eliminate so-called “pink ghettos.” Pink ghettos are often created through staff jobs that do not lead to the top of the corporate ladder – jobs that are dominated by women who often do not advance past a certain level. According to a recent McKinsey report, up to 65% of these staff jobs are occupied by women, who, once stuck in these “pink ghettos,” simply cannot advance as easily as men do. This “pink fence” might be a crucial reason why women are often not considered for or promoted into senior executive positions.

So how can the 70-20-10 rule solve this problem? Many companies support women with internal mentoring programs, special networking events and leadership programs – instead of having them actually learn on the job. The rules states that 70% of a manager’s learning and development should come from on-the-job training, assignments and being exposed to key issues within the company; the other 20% and 10% should be covered with mentoring programs and in classrooms (respectively). Being able to successfully develop and execute different crucial positions within the company and then combining it with mentoring and leadership programs will be the key to better results and successful promotions for women.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released its 2012 Better Life Index – an overview of the quality of life, across its 34 member countries. For the first time, the report includes information on gender and socioeconomic inequality and how they affect income, education, or healthcare. Let’s start with the good news! Compared to other OECD countries, the US has a smaller gap between women’s and men’s employment and earnings and the high school graduation rate is higher than average. The sadder news however is, that the US is a very unequal country: The household income of the richest 20% is roughly eight times higher than the income of the poorest 20%. An even sadder number is the voter turnout rate between the rich and the poor: It is three times larger than the average measured among the 34 countries. This inequality between rich and poor is also very visible when it comes to education: Children with rich parents tend to get a better education than children who grow up in less privileged homes.

Meat: the newest gender victim

As sure as there’s an app for everything nowadays, there also seems to be gender bias for everything. Considering that the English language is, for the most part, ungendered, that might seem a little confusing. But think about it: and when I say “think about it,” what I mean is “think about meat.”

Both male and female participants of a study have rated meat as more masculine and macho – and it might explain why men generally eat more meat and women tend to stick with vegetables. Just in case you are what you eat: Meat and meat eating seems to be strongly associated with masculinity – across various countries and languages.

The list of typical masculine and feminine foods sure paints a clear picture: medium-rare steak, hamburger, well-done steak, beef chili and chicken are rated the most masculine foods, while chocolate, peach, chicken salad, sushi and chicken lead the list of feminine foods.
Researchers of the study suggest an easy trick to make men eat more tofu or meat substitute: Just make it look like real meat. Shape it like a steak and add some grill marks. It’s all about looks, isn’t it?

Tight jean trauma

Eating a lot of those “feminine” foods might make it possible for women to squeeze into their skinny jeans – but there’s bad news out there, especially if you combine the outfit with high heels. The more often you wear tight jeans, the higher is your risk to suffer from Meralgia Paresthetica: the compression of nerves in the outer part of your thigh. The results from that pressure are tingling, numbness and pain in the outer part of the thigh – and an uncomfortable floating sensation because you cannot feel your lower legs. So here’s my possibly un-medical but definitely fashionable advice for the summer: Give those nerves some room to breathe and wear dresses and skirts!