NICHE Style Fall 2017

NICHE magazine
PUNT IT TO THE PENTHOUSE
by Charlene Sanjenko
WOMEN CONTINUE TO TRAVEL THROUGH THE SAME 10
FLOORS... OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
As ambitious women, we cycle from the ground floor
up to the 10th on infinite repeat. Ground floor to
10th. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Programs, coaching, and books for women continue
to play into this cycle of the same 10 floors. And
when we reach the 10th, bash our heads on the glass
ceiling searching for more answers - we are simply led
through the endless cycle all over again.
The overall participation of women in the labor force
continues to grow.*
• Women made up 47.3% of the total labor force in
2016 compared to 37.1% in 1976.
• Between 1976 and 2007, employment for mothers
with children under six years old more than
doubled from 31.5% to 68.1%.
However, women’s progress in reaching senior
management positions has stalled.
More women are being attracted to leadership, yet
the challenge remains that the top decision-making
roles are not being filled by them. Men are two to
three times more likely to be in senior management
positions than women who hold only 34.8% of
all management positions and 37.1% of all senior
management positions.
There’s an under-representation in the Penthouse that
we need to change.
PUNT IT TO THE PENTHOUSE, our PowHERhouse
interactive media initiative is designed to encourage
a dialogue amongst Canadian women regarding the
importance and timing of doing things differently.
We’re dedicated to catapulting ourselves and our
potential up and over that glass ceiling as we Punt
Our Way to The Penthouse.
My beef with the same 10 floors is a deeply held belief
by most women that we are somehow inadequate and
in need of further ‘learning, developing, coaching,
mentoring, help’ before we are ready to move up and
forward with strategic ACTION. It is this very belief
that is holding us back.
Here’s the thing: We do our best learning when
we reach, stretch, and grow into all of who we are
becoming. We’re never ‘there’, and we never get
‘there’. The entire step-by-step process of owning
who we are as leaders involves stepping outside of our
comfort zone, growing as a result and preparing to
take the next step.
SAME 10 FLOORS.
CHARLENE SANJENKO
Builder of Strong Women Who Lead.
A proud Canadian woman of First Nations origin.
In 2000, Charlene left her National Marketing Manager role
for an investment firm to build a Media House for Canada’s
most powHERful women, PowHERhouse.com, utilizing
media to mobilize, coordinate and communicate collective
action for impact.
*catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workforce
48 . FALL 2017