The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that by the end of this century, 21 million new jobs will be created and women will fill 60 percent of them.
That`s the good news, but a further concern is how the workplace will change-if at all-to accommodate the needs of the continuing influx of employed women.
Anne McLaughlin, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, has urged private employers to pay more attention to the myriad of responsibilities of working women. She herself authorized the opening of on-site child care centers-including one in Chicago at the Customs Building and another scheduled for employees at O`Hare Airport-for children of government employees throughout the U.S. (The government supplies the site and equipment; employees pay for the child care.)
Other work issues relating to women remain unresolved: lack of flexible hours, job-sharing, job-training, paid maternity and parental leave with guaranteed jobs on return, pay equity and opportunities to advance.
”You`ve written about the job opportunities for women in the year 2000,” a TempoWoman reader says. ”Now I want to know what the issues of the workplace will be. Will any of our current problems be solved-or are they going to go on forever?”
– Marion Henley
Age 62, specialist in staff development and training, Illinois Department of Human Rights
”It`s difficult to make changes-the old boys network is so strong-but from my perspective, I see more and more women challenging discrimination, and that is a good sign,” says Henley, coordinator of the department`s conferences and workshops.
”In the 21st Century, we`re going to see more parity in the workplace.” Henley has a bachelor`s degree in social services from Roosevelt University and a master`s degree in communication from Governors State University. Her job is to sensitize the public to civil rights issues.
”There will be more women in managerial positions, and that will present more challenges,” says Henley, a board member of the Illinois Caucus of Minority Women Networking Together, who also is active in the Harvey Memorial Community Church.
”Women have to work so darn hard to get into administration, and we have to do a zillion things to stay there, such as being all things to all people. ”I don`t like that we`re told to shed our femininity, and then when we do, we`re called aggressive-as opposed to men, who are called ambitious when they do the same things. Women will prove we can be tough without being masculine.”
Sexual harassment also will be challenged, Henley believes. In all areas of work, she says, ”Women will learn to make certain demands and stick by them.”
Henley predicts: ”One thing that will vanish will be traditional 9-to-5 jobs. And employers will have to supply day care because they will have so many female employees.”
There will be more women`s networks. ”We see how they work for us,”
Henley says. ”I don`t know what I`d do without mine.”
She`s optimistic about the future. ”You have to believe things will change and constantly work to make them change,” Henley says.
– Gloria M. Portela
Age 35, attorney and partner, Pope, Ballard, Shepard & Fowle
In the work force of the year 2000, says Portela, a specialist in the representation of management in labor and employment law, ”there will be a higher proportion of women, minorities, immigrants and workers over the age of 50.
”The main workplace issue will be a shortage of skills needed not only for highly technical jobs,” she says, ”but also a shortage of some basic skills Americans are getting sloppy about: reading, writing and arithmetic.” In the next century, says Portela, a graduate of Northwestern University Law School, the problem ”will be enhancing or improvising the quality of workers-and, at the same time, making the labor market itself more
efficient.”
Portela, who came to the United States from Havana in l961, is active in law, employment and civil rights groups. Last year, she was named to the federal Commission on Workforce Quality and Labor Market Efficiency. While practicing law in Houston, she served on a Texas advisory committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission from 1984 to 1986.
”It sounds absurd, but there are workers at all levels who cannot write a basic document of business correspondence and who are without basic math skills,” Portela says. ”We emphasize computer literacy without teaching the basic building blocks of reading and writing. We won`t become literate from learning to use a computer.”
Instead, she says, ”training-the acquisition of particular skills-is the $64,000 question. It also means retraining with dignity workers whose skills are obsolete or who work in industries where the need for labor is
diminishing.
”Training is the issue, through government programs and partnerships with industry. Training will mean the difference between being employable and unemployable,” Portela concludes.
Eileen P. Scudder
Age 40, certified public accountant and partner, Touche Ross & Co.
Scudder, who has been with the Big Eight public accounting firm since 1970, sees some future cracks in the glass ceiling, the invisible barrier of discrimination that prevents many women from moving ahead professionally.
”In the 21st Century, we will have so much proof of women`s capabilities and our successes will be so frequent that any nagging doubts about our abilities should be removed,” says Scudder, who has a bachelor of science degree from Northern Illinois University.
”The reality of more women in the workplace who have been professionally trained and who are moving up will force management to include more women.”
Scudder started at Touche Ross, ”my first and only job,” in audit and accounting services. She became a partner in 1979 and today is in charge of business development and hiring of audit and sales professionals.
”Many of the workplace issues are social issues, concerning family life,” Scudder says. ”Child care still is a major problem for women. I think there will be routine child care offered. And, realistically, companies will have to offer parental leave. It will be a necessity.
”Businesses also will have to react to the issue of transfers and how they affect the entire family.”
Scudder is concerned about the lack of female role models in management.
”When you don`t see women above you in the organization, it places some doubt in your own mind-a thought that there may be a good reason for it,” she says. ”Consequently, you may doubt your own ability.”
Scudder predicts that many of today`s problems will disappear. ”I find more men today in their 40s and 50s who realize that their daughters are about to face these issues,” she says. ”And they want their daughters to have every opportunity.”
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Send comments and ideas to Carol Kleiman, The Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
