PRAY FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT FOR WOMEN
by Kristen West McGuire
Women enjoy a wider array of workplace opportunities today than 100 years ago. At the same time, many struggle to balance the demands of work and the demands of personal priorities such as religious observance, spouse and children, and mundane household tasks.
Many women solve their time crunches by following non-traditional career paths. But this strategy rarely ends up in the corner office, in terms of prestige and salary. To “on-ramp” back into the “nine to five” grind after taking time off for family needs, women sometimes end up working as support staff.
No wonder the number of women entrepreneurs is double that of men! The juggling act will continue, as the baby boomers age and their children struggle with caregiving responsibilities. Companies looking to hire and retain high quality women employees will have to adapt their workplace policies accordingly if they want to retain their white collar women workers.
Catholic Women in Business was started by Elise Crawford Gallagher and Taryn DeLong, to provide Catholic women business owners, professionals, and leaders with the educational and spiritual resources they need to excel in their vocation to business. www.catholicwomeninbusiness.com
For over 60 years, Catalyst has supported women in the workplace. They provide information and data about women at work, and honor business initiatives that promote women’s leadership. www.catalyst.org
Fairer Disputations is an online journal dedicated to a sex realist feminism. Authors present a wide range of gender related articles. It's published by the Wollstonecraft Project at the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the direction of AAI Senior Fellow Erika Bachiochi. www.fairerdisputations.org
Lord, let us pray:
- for women in the workplace, that their temporal success would inspire other women to dream bigger dreams;
- for women who earnestly seek a better job for the sake of the personal priorities they cherish, that they would find opportunities;
- for the men in the lives of women workers, that they would encourage the development and application of all the talents of their beloved, at home and at work;
- for those women who are discouraged in the workplace, and feel trapped, that they might find encouragement and support in other venues;
- for younger women just starting out in their careers, that they would find mentors who respect the spirituality of a Catholic woman;
- for all women, that they would be paid an equitable wage with men, and
- that the Catholic Church would explore expanded leadership roles for women, within the parameters that are open to them.
Amen.
