Finally, the ongoing trend of flatter organizations continues to portend dwindling opportunities for advancement with intensified competition among all workers. Be self-reliant and proactive about career planning. Women really can't count on employers to take care of them. Don't become paralyzed looking for the correct answers. Be prepared to be stereotyped and possibly pigeonholed once you enter a traditional work setting.
Employers tend to categorize and label workers.
Don't think it's solely your responsibility to fix the workplace's gender inequities. Some seem to readily relegate this imposing task to women. I'm in the process of developing two new books. One looks at female managers' tendencies to mimic the behavior of male managerial colleagues and the second book shares my perspectives about women moving their careers beyond the traditional workplace. In addition, I'm continually adding content to my web site, Insider Views on Workplace Issues, as well as developing online feature articles for other web sites targeted to women.