Gloria Steinem Has a Genius Answer to Male Managers Who Wont Meet with Women Alone

Gloria Steinem Has a Genius Answer to Male Managers Who Wont Meet with Women Alone At 84 years old, Gloria Steinem is mucksmuschenstill the witty, fiery feminist activist shes been throughout her adulthood. As she told the audience at Gloria A Life, the off-Broadway play that tells how Gloria went from living out of a car with her family to becoming one of the countrys first celebrated female jurnalists, age has only further emboldened her to do and say what she pleases. And what pleases her is helping historically oppressed groups achieve equality in society, including boosting womens careers.During the talking circle that follows play performances, Gloria, herself, chatted with audience members in New York City on March 6. I was privileged to be there (seriously, youve got to see this play before it closes on March 31) and witness the following empowering exchange. One attendee brought up a particularly insidious example of working mens backlash to the MeToo movement their refusal to meet with women reports and colleagues alone out of fear of being accused of sexual impropriety. Without those one-on-one meetings, though, womens professional prospects could suffer. Men still hold many mora positions of power in corporate America than women. As such, women need these powerful men to sponsor or at least mentor them. Its a popular path to getting promotions and exposure to other higher-ups who can benefit womens careers.Now, how are women supposed to advance if men wont meet with them? Gloria has a brilliant solution Women should insist that men dont meet with other men alone either.Brava.Even though false accusations of sexual assault are rare, those statistics arent doing much to convince working men to keep opening their office doors to women. Working Mothers research found that 56 percent of men agree that sponsorship and mentoring relationships are at risk because of the perception that unacceptable behavior could be occurring. So Glorias advice to demand th at no one, regardless of gender, can swing a one-on-one meeting with a male boss makes perfect sense for equalizing access to opportunities. If only we all had Glorias chutzpah to make such a request. Meredith Bodgas--This article originally appeared on Working Mother. Working Mother is mentor, role model and advocate for the countrys more than 17 million moms who are devoted to their families and committed to their careers. Through our website, magazine, research, radio and powerful events, Working Mother provides its readers with the community, solutions and strategies they need to thrive.