True Progress: The Global Womens Intitative

Most people can agree that men still dominant the workplace; however, some companies are choosing to change that. By 2020, Coca-Cola aims to reach gender parity across all levels of its business. This means that there will be an equal number of male and female employees. Why are they doing this? Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent believes that it makes pure, good business sense. According to company research, globally women make more than 70 percent of purchasing decisions related to its products. The Global Womens Initiative, which launched in 2008, aims to empower and train women in their communities. Already there has been a 7% in the number of women in senior level positions. The initiative is being pushed forward through a series of milestones, benchmarks, and making managers accountable; compensation of the managers depends on the success of the program. The strategies used by Coca-Cola require all of the employees to be invested in the success of the program, and Kathy Waller, the Coca-Cola vice president and controller and chair of the companys Womens Leadership Council, said that they worked hard to show how this initiative will financially benefit the company. However, Coca-Cola is not the only company that is trying to make women more of an equal part of the workplace. The worlds leading aluminum producer Alcoa, increased its female representation to 19 percent from 16 percent among executives, and to 25 percent from 22 percent for professional and plant manager roles. This is seen as especially remarkable considering the companys global workforce has been cut by 30%. Glen Morrison, the president of Alcoa Building and Construction Systems argued that its an obvious business imperative if you want to outperform your competition, you have to bring in women. Alcoa is achieving their goals by using outreach efforts and 10% bonuses. Morrison reveals that it is key for companies to create an environment where women can return after having children; therefore, Alcoa is focused on making the company appealing for women to join and continue working for the company. In order to hire and retain women, [The company] need[s] to do something extra, such as sending promising employees back to school. Studies have shown that women are less likely to try for a promotion than men, Alcoa attempts to fix this by doling out encouragement to apply. This is true progress for women. Women are now being seen by big companies as necessary employees in order to be able to effectively market to the consumer and to be a more successful, efficient business over all. It is about time that companies are changing their ways in order to encourage women to work for them and to keep women happy at their workplace. Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/03/21/17389457-aiming-for-50-percent-women-in-workplace-atough-goal?lite Video Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kpIi542_R0

Why women are leaving the workforce and the problems this causes.
Today, I found a really interesting article: Why Women Are Leaving the Workforce in Record Numbers. According to the article, 49 million women older than 20 years of age are not in the labor pool, this is an increase of 9 million women since 2000. The total percentage of women in the workplace has dropped by almost 2% since 1999, however; 72.5% of men are either working or looking for a job. The article goes on to state that there are two categories of workplace drop-outs. The first category consists of young mothers who are not highly educated tend to stay home because they are not likely to earn enough to pay for childcare; economically, these women are better off staying home. The second group is seen as more problematic, this group consists of highly educated women who opt-out of working when they have children. These women do have the skills and income to hire childcare. Economists and feminists are alarmed by the second category of drop-outs. The United States needs highly talented and trained workers, so when these highly educated women choose not to work, this can hurt the countrys economy. For feminists, these elite women choosing to stay at home tarnishes their argument that even the most accomplished and best educated women still fact discrimination. Joni Hersch, professor at Vanderbilt Law School, found that female graduates at top universities, once having children, are more likely to quit their jobs. This is a problem because these are the women who presumably have the best shot at shattering the glass ceiling. Hersch goes on to name statistics of working women separated by prestigious and less prestigious institutions; only 60 percent of women from top schools are working full time. Also, only 35 percent of women who have earned MBAs after graduating from a top school are working full time, compared to 66 percent from second-tier schools. This can go on to explain why women are not showing up more often in corporations top ranks, because only one third of the best candidates continue to work after having children. Stefania Albanesi, an economist for the Federal Reserve, published a paper showing that once their husbands earnings surpass their own, college-educated women are more likely to leave the workforce. The percentage of college educated women has declined by 0.1 percent per year between 1993 and 2006, Albanesi attributes the change to a rise in compensation for male educated workers. Albanesi concludes that women who are married to a man with a college education do not need to work, as their income has become less important to the family. Source: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2013/04/17/Why-Women-Are-Leaving-the-Workforce-inRecord-Numbers.aspx#page1 Stefania Albanesi- paper on college-educated women http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/us-economy-women-idUSBRE8270AC20120308

Sun, Surf, and lots of Sand

Since I could see my breath walking outside this morning, I decided that today I am reminiscing over warm, summer days at Ocean Isle, North Carolina. I used to go every summer with my family and several other families from my neighborhood. We would leave around 3:00 or 4:00 am and drive the eight hours to be in NC by noon. There is a bridge that connects the island to the main land, whenever we would cross it my family and I would roll down the windows and turn up Tin Cup Chalice by Jimmy Buffet, and then proceed to sing at the top of our lungs. As soon as the cars were unpacked and the beds were claimed, everyone would put on their bathing suits, make some sandwiches, fill a cooler, then finally head to the water. From sand pedicures, to building sandcastles, to digging holes all of us kids would play in the sand until an adult was ready to take us in the water. Finally the adults, usually the dads, would get so annoyed by us pestering them that they would forget about the nap they have been dreaming about and take the whole group of us into the water; boogie boards in hand. My dad would normally be the one to volunteer for this very unwanted position, but he always did it with a smile on his face. We would all swim as far as we were allowed to with the dads and then have them prep us for the perfect waves. After a very exhausting hour or two of catching waves, the dads would force us closer to the shore for the moms to keep an eye on us as the dads finally caught some well deserved shut eye in the sun. Tired, hungry, and cranky we would head back to the rental house around four then shower and relax before dinner. Since there were normally a lot of us, each family had a cooking night which normally had different themes. My favorite was always Fiesta night complete with tacos, margaritas for the adults, and of course a piata for the kids! From miniature golf to going to the pavilion in Myrtle Beach, it was always a good time. We would normally stay for a week; those weeks at Ocean Isle were some of my favorite vacations ever. Sun, surf, and sand; what more does a girl need?

The 21701
This week my heart is back home in the 21701, for those of you who dont know where that zip code refers to it is Frederick, MD, specifically on the back deck of my house. Almost every summer night I spent sitting under the Christmas light covered canopy chatting with my dad after a long run. It is where I would hear about the daily shenanigans at my dads office or where I would show him more of the necessities I bought for my dorm room. We would sit back there and just watch the stars and occasionally my dog would lie underneath my chair. Whenever I think of summer I cannot help but think of those summer nights on the deck. My dad is my best friend, fulltime therapist, and nutritionist. It was our time to just talk and relax after a long day for him. It was the perfect time of day; the intense summer heat left and a nice cool breeze took over. The sound of kids playing, lawn mowers mowing, and family barbecues quieted down and was replaced by the low buzzing of grasshoppers and the soft whine of my dog. The peacefulness would slowly lull the two of us into silence and soon we would be off to bed, but only after we were talked out for the evening. It was our chance to drink water and cool down from our run, and quite often it was when we would finally have dinner. I miss the casualness of the unspoken routine, but mostly I just miss the fresh air, the starry night, and the good company. Now as I look back on those nights I regret the ones I spent busy on my phone texting my friends or ordering clothes that I just had to have for college; now I wish I just spent the whole time in enjoyable conversation or in comfortable silence with my dad. My deck does not have the most beautiful view or the most comfortable seats, but sometimes that stuff does not matter. Sometimes all a person needs for a place to be special is a person to chat with and the stars to gaze at.

(A picture of my house around Christmas time.)

Sometimes its about the journey, not the destination

Today my favorite place in the world is not exactly a place; its more of an action or a state of mind. I have been sick for a few weeks now, which has led to me taking a little break from running. Finally yesterday, with the doctors permission, I took a 35 minute run. It never matters where I run (however, I have found a perfect running route up here in State College), to me its all about those 30 to 40 minutes of tuning out the world and running my problems (and the creamery ice cream) away. The brief part of my day when I take my run is sometimes dreaded by me, but once I get off of the couch and get going, it is the closest I have ever felt to flying away. Whenever I am upset about something it is miraculous how easy the problem is solved after a nice, long run to think it out. I used to not be a fan of listening to music during my run, I preferred to just think and sort through my day, but recently I have turned and my iPhone is always include. One of my favorite parts of running is the chance to just be outside for a while. And weirdly enough, I love running in this cold, windy air; however, my knees and lungs dont quite agree with me on that. I think the cold pushes me to run faster, plus it is so much better than having to push through the heat and humidity of Maryland summers. I used to run with my daddy and he was the one to basically force me to go, but its kind of fun motivating myself and just having myself and the pavement to compete with. Running is also a great way for me to find my way around campus and downtown; my current (and favorite) route is a going straight down East College Avenue until I get all the way passed campus and to where there is no more sidewalk. However, my first couple of days I ran up to the football stadium and even to the arboretum. For me just the act of running is a place, it is a place where I have no worries and I can just enjoy.