2 Stories For the Ladies with 2 Days Left in 2009

Being as the Manolos are both women - anytime we see inspiring stories about women we feel compelled to share.

First is a story about the most admired women in the country. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham-Clinton held on to her number 1 spot on the list. You didn't need to be living under a rock to know that Clinton has faced her share of sexist media punching in the last year, so it's good to see that people still hold her in the highest regards. These lists to me often reflect the aspirations of the people they poll and it feels like a triumph that people aspire to see more women like Hillary Clinton in positions of leadership. It gives me hope that the ultimate glass ceiling may actually have the potential of being cracked if we continue to view smart, well-spoken, driven women as our most admired.

The second story is about women in the workplace. Titled 'We Did It!' Economist features a profile on the status of women in the workplace and the fact that in the very near future, women will cross the 50% mark and make up the majority of the workplace. The story is hopeful and shows that in a time of financial strife and corporate collapse - there may be a glimmer of hope: women. Although women face more challenges than men in the workplace (less pay, family responsibilities, etc) we have come a long way from the Mad Men era. The story does a great job describing the challenges and benefits of a majority-women workforce but there is one thing I don't see present in the story. Something the Manolos experienced first-hand; a trend that we hoped was isolated but that we fear was not - the lack of the "Good 'Ol Girl" network.

Over two years working at various corporations with varying and diverse co-workers both of us experienced or heard stories of some of the most intense criticism and harsh treatment from female counterparts. We saw a 'woman eat woman' world where competition was standard and brutal. We saw young women come through the doors of our companies to only face harrassment by upper management men. We saw women opt to make a fresh-off-the-college-boat girls into blackberry toting assistants running personal lives instead of pushing them into challenging roles of managing accounts and supervising interns. We saw jaded, cynical attitudes directed at the wide-eyed young women entering the workplace.

Needless to say, we were surprised, but we persisted on. We saw hopeful networks of women who wanted to lift each other up and develop the careers of younger women. We saw the guiding hand of some of our women mentors reach out and lift us up; challenging us but leaving the demoralization at the door. We heard stories of the 'old days' while looking forward to a future of women who owned the societal networks just like men do now.

We are hopeful. We are hopeful that enough young women have experienced negative relationships with older 'chip-on-their-shoulder' women, that they will put in extra time to developing relationships with and mentor younger women. We hope that we will be able to help younger women get a pedicured toenail in the door to start working towards the career of their dreams. We hope that if we ever get to the level that we need an assistant we will make them feel like a valued team member and set them on the path of world-domination one blackberry message at a time. So, closing out the year on a hopeful note is something we couldn't be more happy to do.

In the words of good friend and author, Leslie Sanchez, "We've Come a Long Way, Maybe."