Mentoring and its dangers: beyond the ‘male’ paradigm

• ‘The Big Picture’ Mentor– providing ideas, possibilities, connections, suggestions regarding the mentorees’ career approaches and expectations, what is ‘out there’, what jobs, research posts etc. might be available.

• ‘The Nitty Gritty’ Mentor – giving advice as to why meeting conformations arrange themselves as they do – people sitting around a board table taking particular positions next to others, opposite others, or distant from others/another; some caucusing before meetings – who does this, with whom, and why;  some board members having particular interests, ‘pet hates’;  or why some union or political party members group together in particular seats or parts of the venue – what motivates and characterizes these groupings;  why individual workers, board members, middle-managers, trade union or political party members or officers sit ‘where’ in lunchrooms or on coffee breaks.

• ‘The Sounding Board’ Mentor– mentorees confront problems, concerned the cause is sex/gender or race/ethnicity or sexuality, or disability – and need someone trustworthy with whom this can be talked through – is the cause correctly identified? Does it have nothing to do with sex/gender, race/ethnicity, etc. so talking with an experienced person assists in the ‘sorting through’.

• ‘The Network’ Mentor– providing networking opportunities, including conferences, meetings, seminars, workshops and business-social functions for useful opportunities, and inviting a mentoree to such occasions to establish channels of communication with people in her field, with job or research, etc. opportunities/possibilities for herself and that she may pass on to colleagues.

Mentoring by and amongst women must recognise, too, that mentoring should go both ways. Women’s careers generally do not run in a straight trajectory but have points where women ‘side-step’, take time out, face barriers or move into other fields or areas. The careers of most do not necessarily run directly from lower to higher levels of management, authority, or fields of endeavour. Some will be in a position to mentor at particular points in their lives/careers and then those very same women will need mentoring themselves. When today’s mentorees become mentors tomorrow, they need to remember that the woman who today mentors another will or at least may need her former mentoree’s mentoring in the future. This is the nature of ‘living generously’.

The McKinsey Report, Unlocking the Full Potential of Women in the Economy, affirms that (just as in Australia) women ‘have been a growing factor in the success of the U.S. economy since the 1970s, with women’s productive power accounting for a significant proportion of the GDP. Still, says the Report, ‘the full potential of women in the [paid] workforce has yet to be tapped’. This, the Report concludes, is vital to sustaining GDP growth rates. Highly-skilled women must be brought into and sustained in the paidworkforce, and fully deployed, ‘to drive productivity improvement’.

Revisiting networking, mentoring and compulsory quotas is vital not only for success and satisfaction of women in paidwork. It is vital for Australia’s economic future.