I sat on a “Women in Communications” panel at NC State recently. It wasn’t what I expected. It was a lot of discussion focused around how hard it can be for women to compete in business, and be treated fairly compared to their male counterparts.

The panel reminded me that not every employer was like Howard, Merrell & Partners. We don’t promote or reward based on gender. We employ many working Moms — and many are managers. I’m lucky.

One panelist, used this quote when speaking about how things are still tough for women today – “Trouble comes when a woman tries to be too many things at one time; a wife, a mother, a career woman, a femme fatale…A woman has to draw up a blueprint. She has to budget her life.” — Susie Sharp, the first female NC Supreme Court Justice (1962) and first NC female Supreme Court Chief Justice (1974).

I know things have changed quite a bit since Sharp was in her prime…but maybe not as much as I had thought.

Here is a document that was also referenced during the panel discussion: The Effects of Gender on Communication in the Legal Profession. Though it focuses on the legal profession, but the research can be applied to women generally in male dominated fields.