QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"The day will come when man will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside but in the councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union, between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race." -Susan B. Anthony 

It has been over a century since Susan B. Anthony hoped for this. Men and women have since then fought incredibly hard for progress; and it would be a lie to say that things are not more equal than they were in the 1800s. However, we are FAR from equal. Some stats from Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg's feminist book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" (more on this later. In the meantime, a must read!) --

"Of the 195 independent countries in the world, only 17 are led by women."

"Women hold just 20 percent of seats in parliaments globally"

"The percentage of women at the top of corporate America has barely budged over the past decade."

"A meager twenty-one of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women"

"Women hold about 14 percent of executive officer positions, 17 percent of board seats, and constitute 18 percent of our elected congressional officials"

The above is "even worse for women of color, who hold just 4 percent of top corporate jobs, 3 percent of board seats, and 5 percent of congressional seats"

In 2010, average women's compensation in comparison to men was 77 cents to a dollar, as compared to 59 cents to a dollar in 1970. She cites activist Marlo Thomas as joking "Forty years and eighteen cents. A dozen eggs have gone up ten times that amount."

Clearly, there is a problem. As females are actually surpassing males in terms of college graduates, this gender disparity in the workplace and positions of power can not be due to educational differences. Hopefully, by acknowledging this, we can begin to expand our awareness of this negative influences and begin to change them. As Susan B. Anthony suggests, we can only hope to achieve our fullest potential as a company, nation, or even human species, when both men and women are both able to contribute fully.