Politics or Not?
I have a question for my readership. First a bit of background - There is a very good chance that a women's studies teacher at a local school is going to ask me to speak to her class about being a female executive in corporate America. If this happens, I'm considering speaking about how to overcome some of the challenges that women face in the workforce as a result of socialization (e.g., being assertive about managing your own career).
Now the question - Is this a political issue or not?
UPDATE: What's wrong, can't you all read my mind? Steps will have to be taken through the proper channels...
Let me rephrase the question. If I were to write a blog post about how socialization negatively impacts women in corporate America, citing examples such as being less assertive than the average man about managing one's own career, would you consider that to be blogging about politics?
Comments
Anything can be a political issue, if you try hard enough. ;)
Personally, I think it's more of a social issue with political ramifications. Politics is just another area in which women can find it harder to navigate because of those social factors. And, of course, it affects politics, since politics is mostly one group trying to assert more influence over another in charting the course of some organization (government, business, PTA, whatever).
So, there ya go. No!...I mean Yes!... I mean Maybe!
Posted by: Solonor | February 27, 2005 09:12 AM
It doesn't have to be, but I tend to suspect that it's going to be, since the very nature of "women's studies," to me anyway, implies a certain amount of politicization. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with that, but I wouldn't go into one of these things thinking I was in for an innocuous show-and-tell sort of deal.
Posted by: CGHill | February 27, 2005 12:11 PM
I myself woundn't consider it political, but then I'm not a woman, so who knows how your audience would take it? Workplace politics are a tricky subject...since it involves some people with power & influence being "above" those with little or no power/influence. I'm not sure if socialization hurts women in the workforce..that's a subject that can go off in so many different directions.
btw........Happy Birthday. ;)
Posted by: Randy | February 27, 2005 05:53 PM
I'm a guy. How likely do you think it is that I can read a woman's mind?
Yeah, that's what I thought. :)
On the question of where this falls as a blog post, I'd say that were it a newspaper article, they'd stick it in the Business section, rather than in News, so I'd suggest that this isn't strictly blogging about politics.
Posted by: CGHill | February 27, 2005 07:09 PM
Sounds more like a cultural observations to me but there will be those who take it as a political issue.
Observing something is one thing, if you where to make some kind of call to action then there will be those who take it as political.
BTW you might want to include the idea that there are men who are in the same boat as they are not as "assertive" as some of their fellow fellows.
Posted by: Rick DeMent | February 28, 2005 07:26 AM
Not a political issue...it's a social one.
Posted by: jillian | March 1, 2005 01:12 AM
In many ways this is a social issue involving ideas of socialization, self-actualization, interpersonal relations, genetics, and business culture. However, we are left asking whether social issues are necessarily political. Certainly, they can be politicized, as gender issues tend to be; therefore, you likely cannot separate social issues to do with gender from gender politics.
Posted by: tz | March 1, 2005 02:08 AM