Michelle Obama Hosts Female ‘Firsts’

'...women in the room “to figure out how they got where they are.”'

Indeed! And in hers and Hillary’s cases, they got where they are by marrying the right men.

hmmmmmmm. better not even go there.

and to "figure out how they got where they are"?

this implies that most don't know how they got there.
now THAT makes sense to me.

well, from what i've seen personally, over the last 20+ years
of watching this nightmare called the modern western woman
"succeed" in business, maybe i can help.

there are six or seven proven paths these women usually take
in their stroll uppward: (listed by order of importance)

1. sleep their way to the top,
this is the easiest and an old favorite of many male exec's.

2. threaten their way to the top,
lawsuits (sexual harassment, discrimination, etc.)
this typically comes right after #1 didn't work.

3. affirmative action.
probably the most pernicious, and like many handouts to women, has no upper limits.
ex: 57% of gov workers are now female. and AA still churning away.
this stat. was in the news a few weeks ago.

4. marry the boss/ successful man.
this one has been around forever. still works (understatement).

5. divorce a wealthy successful man,
and TAKE that "deserved" seat at the table.
did i hear groan, sir paul?

6. outlive the hubby.
having lived in south florida myself, it is amazing how many
very wealthy widows there are.

7. earn it.
this one is rare in reality, but commonplace in folk lore, hero-worship
and silly high school girl empowerment speeches.

note: lately, due to some very obvious examples of recent success,
there has been talk of #'s 4, 5 and 6 moving up the scale,
specially #4.

I'm sure men still outnumber women in business, but the successful business women that I know, got there on their own merits. When I think of the few women that work in business (in my own family as well as public figures), I cannot think of any that slept or married their way to the top (although many are parnters with their husbands).

In my father's business it is often times regarded as 'his'. But in reality my mother supported him all the way. They married young and one of them worked full time to pay the bills while the other went to college. Eventually they both graduated. They started a family business where they both worked (The start-up money was my mother's that she inherited) . After they had kids, my mom never worked again, except in tough times she would go down at the office doing whatever she could to help out. She ran the household, and had dinner on the table every night waiting for my dad.

It is now a multi million dollar coorporation. My dad is looked upon as a successful business man, and my mom is referred to as a housewife. But in my opinion, it was truly a partnership, but outsiders will think what they want.

Back to the article: I think it is good for successful people to mentor young people, but it should be gender neutral.

Kris, that's a bit of a stretch.

I'll warrant that women can climb based on skill; however in business there's currently a PC bias in favor of promoting women so that businesses don't seem sexist. That means that equally skilled men will have a harder time proving themselves against equally skilled women, who can get promoted faster, with less evidence of success.

On your parents; in your own words your father ran the business, and your mother supported him. It seems only natural that your father should be respected as a good businessman, and that your mother should get credit for being a good supporter. The fact that they worked together in different ways for mutual success is great. But they're each getting respect for what they each brought to the table...

I agree with your comments.

The majority of my female relatives that are over 30 are traditional stay-at-home moms, but the ones that are involved in business are in private practice. My great aunt was a doctor before it was popular for females to be such, and another one of my aunts is an attorney.

Most of my other female relatives that are involved in business own small businesses with their husbands with a very similar work partnership like my parents have.

So none of them are/were in a position to climb a "cooperate ladder".

I didn't like the insinuation above that females can't be successful without sleeping with a man.

The original article that we are commenting under refers to Michelle Obama. Although I am not a supporter of Obama for president. I do believe that Michelle Obama is responsible for her own success (she did graduate from Harvard and was a lawyer) and she is a good role model for kids.

went to harvard on affirmative action scholarships. tax funded handouts
based on his race and her gender. all the way through school they were
allowed to register (accepted) with scores probably MUCH lower than others w/o preferences.
probably got grants and special $$ set aside JUST for women and minorities.
personally, i had to work 2 jobs to put myself through. i was the only white male
standing in the line one time to buy books, and noticed i was also
the only one there who actually PAID $$ for my books.

while in college, we all (guys in my class) saw women handed grades
simply because of gender. it was a running joke about
their good grades vs. many shouldn't even have even been there.

i am daily involved in gov contracting, and have been for years,
and EVERY woman owning her own business gets favorable status,
based solely on her "special" w.b.e. status. NONE ever turn it down.

it is common knowledge now that men must have
some VERY special credentials (+ educational and experience) to get a gov job.
disabled + veteran + age + education + experience = gov job for guys (maybe).
i watched a group of new hires headed to some sort of orientation the other day
and guess what, not a MAN among the group of 20 or so new gov hires.
gov contractor's bids aren't even accepted unless they meet the quotas
for females and placement of same in high positions.
it's been that way for a loooong time. saw it 1st hand in the late 80's/early 90's.

these scarlet letters (AA) will follow women and minorities for the
rest of their lives. get used to it. you spilled the ink, now it won't wash off.
boo-hoo. if you are good/smart enough to do the job, you don't need handouts based on ANYTHING.

EVERY woman i have seen wrongly promoted, or given an extra 10% on a bid, or handed
grades, or hired because of her "points" (gov) ALWAYS acted like she deserved it;
and, the men around ALWAYS wound up picking up the slack. men working in those
environments see it every day.
again, women claiming to do equal work in my profession (and related ones) are a running joke. always will be as long as they get special handouts and don't complain.

as has been said on this (and other) sites before,
most women act one way and behave another. even if you keep giving lip service to
Men's Rights, very very very few women will turn down the free-bees society
seems hell-bent on awarding them, to EVERONE else's detriment.

and no msm outlets will dare say anything about it.

already 57% of gov. workers are women, and AA just keeps churning away.
combine that with what another 20% more being minorities, and we see that
white men are now very under represented. see any remedies coming down the line, anyone?
me neither. what's the "goal", 100% women? it isn't going to stop, because women like handouts. everybody does. but good honorable people don't want them to someone else's harm.
and they don't keep making excuses for those who do. have YET to see even one small step back from these handouts, even once the "perceived" reason is no more, such as in gov hiring, or contracting, or women in colleges, or women teachers, and who knows where else?

and now we have a white house office to "pile on" more. yeah, keep up w/ the excuses.
women deserve every taxpayer funded handout they can steal. it's ok, men won't think anything of it (wink wink).

oh, and i did have a category (above) for women who actually do earn their way
in the work-a-day world, it's #7. and if more honest women step up and turn down all
these handouts, they can move up on the list. fair enough? no AA allowed here to move up..