Why can’t a woman be more like a man?

The March 18 issue of that Canadian weekly, MacLean’s, exhorts women to “Man Up! Stop blaming the glass ceiling or even the kids. Female execs say its women who count themselves out”. (click HERE to read the article) –

And all I can hear, ringing in my ears, is Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins singing “Why can’t a woman be more like a man” (click HERE to listen) – except that this 2013 version is sung by women like Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo.

I must admit some disappointment. A Harvard MBA like Sandberg and Mayer, I have this Utiopian dream that when we women take over the executive suite, we would be different to the men. We would usher in a “kinder gentler way of being” at work, that honoured and cared for our team members and somehow helped them to perform superlatively, even whilst finding time to raise the next generation of wonderful human beings.

Marissa Mayer’s decision to cease Yahoo’s work at home policy is disappointing to me – less so for the change itself, than for how it was done. The e-mail missive from HR seemed so …. well frankly, manly (forgive me for stereotyping) – autocratic, uncaring and not inviting at all of a culture of collaboration. I think of legions of Yahooites, who have designed their families and work around home and of the adjustments they will have to make – adjustments that Ms. Mayer makes by constructing a nursery beside her office. This goose is taking care of herself – but what about the ganders? When I expressed these views to a group of friends one asked if I would be as upset if Mayer were a man. Frankly, no. Why? Because I expected differently from her.

But if it works for Sheryl and Marissa – fine. I know what works for me, and in the final analysis, we just have to be true to ourselves. And maybe that’s the Utopian world of which I dream – each individual just being true to himself or herself. I am not Henry Higgins. I am more like John Lennon – “Imagine” – (click HERE to listen)