New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said that for female leaders, it can sometimes be difficult to find a balance in the workplace.
“You want to be tough, tough as nails, but also if you come on too strong, then you”™re something that”™s not a very nice word,” she said during a roundtable panel discussion on barriers to women in leadership positions at the College of New Rochelle on April 28.
“At the end of the day,” Hochul advised, “don”™t get in our way.”
Hochul also called on fellow women in leadership positions to share their experiences and knowledge with the next generation.
“I feel we just really have a responsibility, those of us who either figured out the secret sauce or just burst our way in through those doors, whether you were welcomed or not,” Hochul said. “You have a responsibility to help others find that pathway.”
Hochul later criticized the low number of female chief administrative officers in local government, citing a 2013 report that found that only 13 percent of top offices at that level were held by women, a figure identical to that in 1981.
“We have not made one iota of progress in 30 years,” she said. “There”™s something wrong with this picture.”
The panel, which featured 17 women including College of New Rochelle President Judith Huntington and New York Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, advised women who aspire to leadership positions to find a mentor or sponsor in the workplace.
Find “someone to advocate for you,” Huntington said.
And while female role models are important, Hochul said that “men play a very important role in all this too.”
Although there are still “a few Neanderthals” in the workplace, that number is dwindling, she added.
Men supporting women seems like a no-brainer to Hochul. “Why would you want your wife to make less than she deserves?” she asked.
And finding common ground with male colleagues in the workplace can be a pivotal step for women.
Growing up in a house with four brothers, Hochul became accustomed to the idea at a young age that “if you want to make a connection with a guy right off the bat, you just talk sports and then all of a sudden, you”™re part of the club and you can have the conversation.”
Huntington also said that women can learn from men in terms of networking and relationships.
“Never underestimate the value of relationship currency,” she said. “And this is what men have done so well with the ”˜boys club,”™ on the golf course, at the bar after hours.”
Huntington, an accountant and former executive  at KPMG, noted that only 26 percent of college presidents are women. “After 30 years in the workforce, I”™m still in the vast minority,” she said.
Hochul said that there is “not a monopoly” on women in leadership positions, and she and her fellow panelists “should not be the one-offs, [but] the norm.”
Hochul cited a report from Manhattan strategy consulting firm Strategy& that said of the 87 new CEOs hired by large North American corporations in 2015, only one was a woman: Andrea Greenberg of MSG Networks in New York City.
“Come on guys, only one woman in an entire year?” she said.
Huntington, who co-chaired the event with Hochul, said discussion of women in leadership is important because “it creates awareness, and it reminds us that these disparities still exist, and they have to be addressed.”
“The past two decades there”™s been significant change and now we”™ve kind of stalled,” she said. “We need another push.”
By bringing legislators like Hochul and Stewart-Cousins into the discussion, Huntington said they can then implement “those policy changes [that] will make our lives easier.”
Panelists also stressed their optimism regarding the future of women in the workplace.
“I have amazing faith in millennials,” Hochul said, adding that they are a group who “want to be inspired, want to give back, who think beyond themselves.”
“It”™s this generation of millennial women who will be beneficiaries of the work that we begin today,” Huntington said.
Stewart-Cousins echoed these sentiments, noting that she has “great hope in this new generation and how big the world is for them.”Â
Still, the Democratic lawmaker from Yonkers  said it is important to remember that “it hasn”™t always been that way.”
“We have to make sure that we preserve the inroads that have been made,” she said, “because as quick as it looks like you can go forward, there are still people who don”™t like the progress and who would just as soon bring it back to where it was 50 years ago, 100 years ago.”
Completely flummoxed by the headline to include “don’t get in our way”. Seems out of context with the thrust of the panel discussion and not a reflection of the content of the article.