Along those same lines, it’s important to recognize the difference between ‘content’ and ‘process’. The case rightfully made for female mentors by O’Donnell and Weinsaft (seeking advice on continuing to nurse while working or handling sexual discrimination on the job) relates to content. However, career management and/or building a business are processes–they’re not gender-related.

I believe one of the great problems with women’s approaches to development is we keep insisting on female role models! The fact is, we want “excellent” roles models – gender doesn’t matter. If your 3-4 role models are male but they make you successful, you’ll become a role model for somebody else… male or female! But if you allow yourself to be delimited by the gender of your role model, then you’re taking out some roles of excellence that you don’t have access to. Therefore, don’t restrict yourselves to gender role models.

By doing so, you also risk ‘breeding what you condemn’ and hindering our role as ‘agents of evolution’ which implies having the cognitive and emotional capability to rise above and beyond the ‘historical’ situation we came from.