We’ve come a long way…maybe?

September 8, 9:56 AMSF Careers ExaminerGibson Scheid, Ph.D.

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ABC News

There are now two women anchoring the evening news, and I wonder if it is merely a coincidence that at the same time, the relevancy of the evening news is diminishing?

Alessandra Stanley writes in The New York Times, “The breakthrough that Ms. Sawyer accomplished isn’t that she became the first solo female anchor:  Ms. Couric took that trophy—and the attendant triumph and flack—in 2006. Ms. Sawyer’s accomplishment is more subtle—she is a gorgeous, glamorous television personality who got the top job by waiting around.”(Week in Review, Sunday, September 6, 2009).
Can she be serious?

Yes, Ms. Sawyer has been on Good Morning America for more than 10 years, but I doubt she was simply waiting around looking pretty. On the other hand, I wondered—how long did Mr. Williams (Brian Williams of NBC)  “wait around” until he became anchor? And for that matter, how long was Mr. Gibson's wait? And how much do looks matter? See for yourself.

Is it that women have more patience when it comes to waiting for advancement, or have we simply adjusted our expectations? Someone once told me that men and women react very differently when they are promoted. Men exclaim,” What took you so long,” while women wonder if they are up to the task. Sure these are generalizations, but they make a point, don’t they?

Later in the article, Stanley redeems herself, in my opinion, when she writes,
“As in other fields, women seem to break through the glass ceiling just as the air-conditioning is being turned off in the penthouse office suites.” So there may be a price to pay for waiting. We get the job that is no longer as attractive as it once was.

 Certainly times have changed since Help Wanted Ads listed jobs for Men and jobs for Women—or maybe it was Ladies. Of course we are not living in “that’ world any longer when gender mattered. Just as we are not living in “that” world any longer when race mattered. But this time, I would guess that like many women, Ms. Sawyer is glad the wait is finally over.

 And I am hopeful that by waiting, we have not waited too long.