|
|
|
|
Interview with Christies Sweden Chief Representative |
|
|
|
|
 We recently had the good fortune to sit down with Christies Sweden's Chief Representative Birgitta Rydbeck and pick her brain about juggling a high-power career with a full family life. She gave us some unconventional answers. Here is a sneak peak:
"I think you must not forget one reason to why there are fewer women to choose from for the top positions, and this goes for all businesses. The reason is that we, the women, choose to stop at some level. We do not go all the way to the top. It’s a choice we make. It’s not that it’s not open to us. I think that we perhaps feel, ‘why should I give the company all of myself? I have a family.’ Or even if you don’t have a family, you may feel that way. And this feeling, together with the tradition that we have, makes it so that there’s no one who thinks it’s strange for a woman to say, ‘I want to work part-time, or I want to take 18 months of maternity leave.’ Everyone thinks it’s natural if a woman is free like this. We have a choice and we use this choice a lot of the time. I think it’s almost always forgotten in the debate that this is a big reason as to why there are fewer women to appoint to boards or in executive positions. Men aren’t expected to ever take breaks, or work part-time. They are expected to work full-time all their lives.
"I think that this is an advantage that women have, actually. I see more and more women making this kind of choice. But this is never an argument in the debate. I think we are the privileged sex. I really think we are..." Read the full interview here. - Astri
|
|
