We
all have heard the story, about the older woman who doesn't support the women below
her. (What we hear a little less of are the battles this elderly woman fought
and the toll they took.) And we know the “mansplainers,” the
quiet stalkers and the “sappers” faced by young women at work.
Some
women might object to the premise of this article. They might say they
identify as an individual or that their employer doesn't see the gender. They could
say they never experienced sexism. Well, it's true until it's not.
More
than having a system in place when things go wrong, like filing with HR and
hiring a lawyer:women's networks also know things, like the best
navigate a given workplace as a woman. For example, how did people in your
office deal with maternity leave? Are there male colleagues who are unsafe
to work one-on-one? Are there any clients who will struggle to hear a
woman's expertise when she presents an idea? What are the best ways to handle
this? Etc.
Fortunately, young professional women today are part of a large enough demographic that there is a set of tips to help them navigate the sometimes hostile world of office politics. And while some of this advice is primarily focused on the level of the individual – how to negotiate as a woman, how to dress, etc. – if women are serious about changing workplace culture, they need to support each other along the way.
So,
what is an ambitious young woman who wants to help her peers to do?
1. Network up, down and laterally.
It can be easy to focus networking efforts on those above you. These are the people with the obvious goodies. However, this poses two big problems:First, despite all the women entering the workforce, many of the top positions are still held by men. While it's important to be collegial and friendly with the men in your office, it's equally important to start building a network of other women. Second, if we are moving towards a more progressive world, women at your level and below you will one day be the future of your organization. It is in your interest for them to thrive and develop camaraderie with them. If women are doing well in general, it increases the likelihood that you will be doing well. You could even make your commitment to other women's careers explicit, by forming what author Jessica Bennett calls a "Feminist Fight Club," in which a group of women get together to discuss strategies for career advancement and the fight against sexism at work.
2. Draw attention to the domestic work of the office.
Who gets the coffee? Organize birthday cards and cakes? Raising money for gifts? Do you order sandwiches? These tasks are all work, but work that is not likely to bring a bonus or promotion to the person who undertakes them. As a Harvard Business Review article describes them, these tasks constitute “office chores,” and women tend to volunteer more for these tasks and receive more pressure to volunteer for these tasks. The solution to the problem? Eliminate volunteering and make it a turnaround. If you can put in place a system of assigning these tasks on a rotating basis, the generations of women who will be forever grateful to you.
3. Don't fall for the gossip trap.
Humans
like gossip. It's part of how we come together, creating an inner group that is momentarily opposed to the outsider that is the topic of conversation. If you are
a woman in a male-dominated office, it might seem like a good idea to
gossip about other women like this with the men in the office. It can make
you feel like "one of the guys". And while it's true that women are
being jerks, looking for coded language like "difficult",
"drama queen", "emotional", "demanding", etc. . which might suggest that something
else is going on. If the young men you work with keep trolling an older woman,
for example, you might worry about what that means about their bias
against women in leadership positions. Maybe you should seek his friendship
instead.
4. Signal amplification.
Sit on workplace meetings long enough and you'll see variations on a pervasive phenomenon. A woman will start explaining something and a man will start talking before she finishes her argument. Or, more insidiously, she will make a point or a proposition, she will be silenced, and 10 minutes later a man will make the same proposition, then resume. This phenomenon certainly creates frustration, but also a more detrimental tendency for men to obtain credit for the work of women. Fortunately, we have a model to combat this. In 2016, the Washington Post reported on a strategy used by women employed in the Obama White House. Although Obama is a feminist president employing many women, the meeting culture has remained typical. The women responded by developing the following strategy:“When a woman made a key point, other women repeated it, paying tribute to its author. It forced the men in the room to acknowledge the contribution – and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own. »
5. Sponsorship.
As
your career grows, you will have the opportunity to help the women
coming behind you. Unfortunately,
people can have implicit biases even against members of their own identity group.
As you move through the rooms where decisions are made, be sure to select
for the opportunities that people "watch the game". You might even make it part
of your practice to seek out new women in your company to grab lunch on one
every week, so their names and projects are more prominent when they
comes the time to offer people special opportunities or rewards.
Whether for good or ill, cultures tend to reproduce. Changing the culture with and for the women around you can make your workplace a place where women thrive, rather than just survive.
