thebitterbabe

It’s true that men got hit hard in 2008 when manufacturing and construction took a nosedive, giving rise to the term “Mancession.” But in the last two years, as a recovery slowly moved ahead, men fared much better than women — the so-called Mancovery.

Now, the 2008 situation has reversed, thanks to the heavy toll of the weak economy on public sector workers. According to a National Women’s Law Center report published in September, recent jobs data show that public sector layoffs wiped away 45 percent of job gains for women over the course of the recovery.

Myth 5: Men don’t have advantages in the workplace anymore, so women can soar.

Not at all true, thanks in part, to these facts:

No second chances. When they fail, women don’t get second chances, reports the Athena Factor project, sponsored by IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Cisco and others to better understand how to retain women in technology. Women in high positions in male-dominated fields suffer harsher penalties than men when they slip up. Men usually get a second chance, even when they reach high but miss the brass ring. It’s much harder for women to take the kind of risks that catch the eye of higher-ups.

Men are promoted on potential, women on performance. Why do so many young male hotshots move up the ladder ahead of their more seasoned female peers? Women are being judged on what they have actually done. For promising men, potential is enough to win the day. Women always have to keep proving themselves, often fighting the stereotype that they don’t have what it takes to be real leaders.