Claudia Raab's Blog

Most of us have heard of  "white-collar workers" and "blue collar workers".  The terms go back the 19th century and its uniform dress code for the service and industrial workplaces, where it was - and still is - common to wear durable clothing that can be scraped or soiled. One feature of this particular uniform is its blue colour, hence the name "blue-collar worker" for everyone belonging to the working class performing manual labour.

"White-collar workers" - you might have guessed it - are mainly identified by their white shirts that people usually wear when working in an office environment.

Now there is a third term that classifies another working group that emerged over the last decades: "Pink-collar workers". "Pink-collar workers" are employees who work in jobs that are typically done by women such as nursing and teaching.

Interestingly, even today with more women than ever graduating from universities with a broad variety of degrees worldwide and being employed at higher levels than their mothers or grandmothers women still remain mostly in the pink-collar work area. They still aim for classical (less well paid) jobs like educator, PA, bookkeeper and the like.

This was revealed by a study undertaken by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). When discussing the study results with news channel CNN Mary Ellen Smyth of the AAUW remarked: "It's not that they (women) are hitting a glass ceiling in the high-tech sector. It's that they don't have the keys to open the door."

Communication is one of these keys! It's proven that women are still overlooked or regarded as less competent or ready for a career move since they don't know how to communicate successfully in their work environment.  May it be that they don't promote themselves or speak up in meetings.

Communication skills are essential in any situation. In particular for women. That's why communication coaching especially designed for women is so important . Coaching based on gender specific behaviour and communication like Raab & Raab Performance Consulting offers. Take advantage of it, have the key to open doors into a better paid sector where you belong.  It's worth it.