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Communication is a critical workplace skill. It is a way to contribute value, demonstrate knowledge, influence outcomes, build relationships and build your leadership brand ā unless youāre a woman. Then itās not so straightforward.
Enter the Gender Penaltyā¦.
When men speak up, their voices are valued. When women speak up, their contributions are often challenged. This makes being seen and heard a constant battle for women in the workplace.
This dynamic means men are likely to speak up and women are likely to be shut down. Not only are women silenced in their speech and discounted in their contributions, they are accused of not āsounding like a leaderā. When women communicate, their voices, styles and speech patterns are unconsciously compared to the male model ā and often come up lacking in credibility and authority.
Why are womenās voices overlooked and undervalued? Why does society hear women differently when they speak? What can we do about it?
In the workplace, women are routinely interrupted, talked over, ignored and overlooked. Womenās ideas are discounted, and their competency is assumed to be lacking compared to men.
Contrary to the common perception that women talk more than men in the corporate setting, the reverse is true. In mixed groups, women speak less than men. This isnāt because they donāt have anything of value to say, itās because they canāt get a word in edgeways. Men are given more space to talk, and they take up more space when they do talk.
It was never my intention to be an advocate. It was never my intention to be a feminist, and nor was it my intention to run a Leadership program for Women. And yet here I am.
A gender advocate, a feminist, and founder of the award-winning program Women at Work (not to mention the author of a book to help women navigate a male-dominated leadership landscape - The Gender Penalty, but I digressā¦)
I always thought women could look after themselves. I thought the hard work of picketing and marching and striking was over. That we had fought for equal rights, and won. And we did. Sort of.
Whilst we have come along in leaps and bounds in terms of women's rights in society (at least in the Western World); we also have a way to go for the cultural norms to catch up. And part of those norms are the messages we send girls and women about how to fix themselves in order to get ahead.
Thatās why I designed my Women at Work program.
In the workplace, confidence is a critical launch pad for new skills, new opportunities and new jobs.
Confidence for women is a conundrum, however.
Women are told to be more confident, yet when they display more confidence, they are seen as arrogant, and when they downplay their confidence, they become invisible.
Simply telling women to ābe more confidentā, it seems, misses the point.
As a result of being conditioned to show less confidence, and being penalised for being overly confident, women are more likely to wait too long before acting and putting themselves forward.
Women hold back while men push forward ā and so men are rewarded with jobs they have little experience in, assignments that will stretch them and opportunities they might not be ready for.
What are the unwritten rules women are supposed to follow at work?
And what is the resulting backlash when these rules arenāt followed?
You no doubt heard the reports, saw the photos, or watched the video. There was our Prime Minister, in a very public moment, being given the cold shoulder by the outgoing Australian of the Year, Grace Tame. It was clear, she was ānot happy Janā. Now, Iām not going to talk about whether that was the right thing to do, or the wrong thing to do by Grace. Iām not here to talk about the cause she is fighting for (weird I know, given itās an IWD article), nor the politics of the day that led to this uncomfortable moment for the nation. Nay my friends. Iām here to talk about what we can learn about our own leadership style based on our personal reaction to that moment. In this article, I explore a common leadership need to 'shave off the edges' to help people fit in the box and 'do better at work'. But are we really helping?
Supporting women into leadership roles can look, to some people, like a shift in prejudice. But itās not. Not if the woman ultimately earned the right to be there, too. Gender equality is not just about having more women in leadership roles, itās about fairly promoting women into leadership roles, then unreservedly supporting them to succeed. There are things each of us can do, as women, as men, and as leaders, to make sure no-one has to hear this line again. You can read more in the full article here.
