Recent MSN article, Women Still Reluctant to Help Each Other by Eve Tahmincioglu, states just that – that as a general rule, women are reluctant to help each other because of jealosy, self-preservation, and self-promotion. Tahmincioglu uses The Real Housewives of New York, and politicians entrenched in their campaigns as example of this seemingly unique female behavior. Oh really?
Let’s talk about women helping women, but let’s be real. In other words, let’s not use “The Real Housewives” of Anywhere as our example, because there’s nothing “real” about that show or the people on it. The point of reality TV, like most TV, is to entertain. A producer has no choice but to find the most outrageous, entertaining women possible to cast such a show. What other choice do they have? A bunch of scrapbooking soccer moms baking cookies is B-O-R-I-N-G TV. The same is true for many of the professional women who the media considers newsworthy – they’re entertaining, perhaps with caustic wit.
The reality is, most successful women have attitude, strength, confidence, and a voice because those are the qualities that led to their success. But most don’t use it to oppress other women. There are thousands of professional womens’ organizations dedicated to womens’ career advancement and empowerment – and they work. The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), is a prime example. While it is true that successful women have little time to devote to a traditional mentor/mentee relationship, most have and will make at least some effort to help the women around them. It also may be true that there are toxic female relationships within companies, but we maintain that, in our experience, they are probably not as common as we’re led to believe in the media. At least we hope not.
Montage Legal Group supports women at all stages of their career paths. We encourage each attorney to find the right balance between career and life that works for them, and we’re here to do whatever we can to help!
“There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” – Madeleine Albright