In 1978, the world was a very different place. Jimmy Carter was in the White House, disco music was all the rage, a gallon of gas cost just 63 cents, and the jan/san industry was a man’s world. Linda Silverman recalls the year clearly because it was when she landed her first job in the industry. She began her career in distributor sales.

Leaps and Bounds
“In 1978, I was an enigma,” recalls Silverman, who now runs Maintex Inc., a distributorship in City of Industry, Calif. “There were maybe a handful of women in the industry and very few in sales. Some people were interested in meeting me because they hadn’t seen women in the business. There were some men who wanted to meet you just to see what you looked like.”

Back then, Silverman had to fight to be taken seriously. Once, a client asked her to lunch to talk business — or so she thought. In fact, the head custodian had instead made reservations at a secluded restaurant at a booth behind drawn curtains.

“I was astonished when I got there. I don’t think he would have rented the booth if it were a man calling on him,” Silverman says.

Meredith Reuben can relate. Now the CEO of her family’s Milford, Conn.-based company, Eastern Bag & Paper, Reuben says that when she joined the company in the 1980s as vice president, people often made false assumptions about her because of her gender.

“In the beginning, I would sit in meetings with my father and people would assume I was his secretary and ask me to get them coffee,” she says.

Of course, that was then and this is now. Times have changed and so have attitudes about women in business.

“There are so many more women in the industry, from distribution to manufacturer’s reps,” says Silverman. “It’s not 50 percent, but we do have a much greater presence now.”

There are no known statistics about the number of women in the jan/san industry, but it is probably no greater than 20 percent, according to an International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) representative.

When women do enter the industry, it’s not always easy to move up the ranks, either. There is some evidence that a “glass ceiling” exists in the jan/san industry, as it does in others. While there are many women in middle management, women hold just 13 percent of board seats at Fortune 500 firms.

“Women are underrepresented at high levels in decision-making at corporations,” says Connie Glaser, author of the book Swim With the Dolphins and a consultant on women’s workplace issues. Glaser is also the slated speaker at this year’s ISSA/INTERCLEAN women’s forum. “You can rise within the organization up to a point, and then you hit your head on that invisible ceiling.”

Subtle Differences
The businesswomen SM interviewed for this article agreed that blatant sexism has been all but obliterated from the modern workplace. Still, women are the minority, and there are other things that make many feel like outsiders among their male peers.

“There are a lot of times that I look around the room and I’m the only woman there,” says Reuben.

Another problem can be that decisions are sometimes made informally, perhaps over beer after work or on the golf course. Many women feel they are left out of these informal networking activities.

“There has been a lot of improvement, but there is still a perception that women aren’t as serious about their career commitments. Finding balance between family and work is the biggest challenge,” says Laura Lowing, director of marketing for Network Services, a Mt. Prospect, Ill.-based distributor marketing organization.

Other women in the business have experienced their own hurdles.

“I am always amazed at the perception that women need not be paid at the same levels as men,” says Peggy Droege, vice president and director of purchasing for Renard Paper in St. Louis. “The second largest obstacle, and this is not always true, would be the tendency of men to not accept my opinion or direction but go over me to one of my male counterparts.”

“It takes longer to prove yourself and to earn the respect and credibility,” adds Molly Horvath, account manager for Brissman-Kennedy, an AmSan Company based in St. Paul. “Some men don’t realize that it does take women more time and work to prove themselves in this field.”

Of course, men do not intend to isolate or exclude their female peers.

“A lot of times men are surprised,” says Glaser. “Simply because you hire women, you think there’s no discrimination in the office. Unless you give them the tools they need, help them understand the culture, and give them a mentor, they may flounder. A lot of times they are not given that kind of training or insight.”

Support Systems
Most companies do not offer formal mentoring and, until recently, there were no industry-wide networking opportunities for women. So women took charge and began seeking out their own support systems.

“I think women are looking for mentoring — suggestions and explanations from women who can help them succeed. Sometimes women understand the issues that a woman faces better,” says Silverman. “Women want to help other women. They want to reach out to other women and see them continue so that in the next 15 years our progress can continue.”

Luckily for the up-and-comers, the pioneering women in this industry are more than happy to lend a helping hand. In fact, many long-timers consider mentoring a great source of pride.

“I would say that one of my biggest successes in my career would have to be the teaching and mentoring that I have been able to provide to younger co-workers through the years,” says Droege.

In addition to one-on-one efforts to nurture the next generation of businesswomen, there has also been a recent push to create industry-wide opportunities.

This month, hundreds of men and women are expected to attend the second women’s forum at the annual ISSA trade show. The 200 people (mostly women) who attended last year’s premier forum told organizers they left feeling energized and were happy to meet other women in the industry who could provide feedback and with whom they could share ideas.

At this year’s event, Glaser will speak, followed by a question-and-answer session. In response to attendees’ wishes, the forum will also include structured networking.

The fact that the women’s forum is happening at all is a sign of the changing times.

“The first time I was on ISSA’s board, from 1994 to 1996, I wanted to promote a program for women in the industry. I was met by the men on the board with extreme resistance,” Silverman recalls. “We’ve gone from not even wanting to discuss it to having a successful event and preparing for a second women’s program.”

Another networking group to spring up recently is Network Services’ Women in Network (WIN) organization.

“I thought it would be great to have a forum to network and learn from one another and to provide opportunities for younger women to experience a more rewarding career. I was expecting [my bosses] to shoot me daggers and roll their eyes, but they didn’t. They said it was a good idea,” Lowing says.

So she enlisted the help of a few women and in March of 2002 held the first meeting of WIN with 25 women. The group’s two primary functions are providing training opportunities and encouraging mentoring. WIN conducts semi-annual training workshops that cover such topics as leadership, coaching and strategic planning. The group also holds an annual luncheon meeting with speakers.

WIN’s membership, which is limited to Network member distributors and preferred providers, now includes 40 women and Lowing expects it to continue to expand.

“The establishment of WIN was one of the most exciting things that I have personally been involved in,” says Droege, co-chair of WIN. “There are many talented, strong and knowledgeable women in our industry, and venues such as this have really given all of us — male and female — an opportunity to realize it.”

All-Inclusive
No longer willing to wait for opportunities to fall into their laps, women are taking matters into their own hands with programs like WIN and participation in the ISSA women’s forum.

“We are beginning to set up a network,” says Reuben. “I think that women need to feel the comradeship of other women in the industry. You can have all the seminars and speakers in the world, but at the end of the day what the forums are about is getting to know other women in like positions. Many women have met me through WIN and the women’s forum at ISSA and then felt comfortable enough to call and ask a question. Sometimes women don’t feel comfortable doing that with men.”

Although women are seeking opportunities to interact more closely with each other, men should not feel threatened.

“Some women were concerned about how the men in the industry would react to these organizations and events. Would they think they were a cliquey club? That’s why I suggest that they invite the men to participate,” says Lowing. “That’s a way to show the men who are skeptical that we are addressing issues that will help us be the best that we can be.”

In addition, Lowing hopes that by being a part of these activities, men will gain a clearer understanding of why hiring women is more than just a politically correct move.

“It’s a huge talent pool with a different perspective. If you want new ideas and new ways of doing things to keep up with the times and be more creative, you need fresh ideas. If all of your managers look the same, talk the same, and think the same, you aren’t going to get any new ideas,” says Lowing. “The more ideas you have from a diverse group of managers, the more effective you’ll be and the more innovative you’ll be.”

After all, Reuben says, selling toilet paper is the easiest part. What sets jan/san companies apart are the people. If companies do not include women in their staffs, “they are going to miss out on a tremendous labor force,” Silverman says.

Glaser agrees: “It’s a competitive market out there. We can’t allow ourselves to exclude 50 percent of the population. The best person for the job may be a woman.”

Mars and Venus? Overcoming Differences in the Workplace

Men and women are different, plain and simple. Although we are not really worlds apart, Connie Glaser says we might as well be.

It’s as if we are two different cultures,” says Glaser, author of What Queen Esther Knew and Swim with the Dolphins. “If I’m from the United States and someone else is from China, the differences are obvious. But we don’t always recognize there are these differences between men and women.”

The differences go all the way back to childhood. Our social conditioning as boys and girls affects how we behave and communicate as men and women.

Men tend to grow up as part of hierarchies with clear chains of command. Girls tend to be exposed to much more level playing fields where everyone is treated equally. These ideas translate to the workplace. When a male boss tells you what to do, he expects you to do what he says. But a woman may think of him as a peer and think he is just opening the door for conversation. He thinks she’s being insubordinate and she thinks he’s being arrogant.

Men and women can also misinterpret each other’s motives when it comes to conversation. While men often overlap each other’s conversations, Glaser says women are often more polite and reserved. In a meeting, this may mean that the men all start shouting out ideas while the women say nothing. The women think the men are being rude while the men think the women have nothing to say.

To work together effectively, Glaser says men and women need to recognize their differences and then make a conscious effort to work around them. For example, when conducting a meeting, a manager may want to call on the women to pull them into the conversation, since they may not feel comfortable jumping in on their own.

The best possible scenario, Glaser says, is when men and women find ways to actually use their differences to their advantage. Glaser recently met a man who had been partnered with a woman and the duo found it exceedingly difficult to work together. He was a big-picture person while she was very detail-oriented.

“At first they would get frustrated with each other,” says Glaser. “But they finally realized that there was value in what each brought to the table and they could capitalize on that. They complement one another nicely and now they see that they are much more powerful and productive together than individually.”

Becky Mollenkamp is a Des Moines, Iowa-based freelance writer.




POSTED ON: 9/1/2003