“𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝑹 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰’𝒎 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆.”

This came from a conversation with a global HR leader last week. This is not the first time I’ve heard this.

I think women are right to be asking this question, and it’s even better to be asking it earlier than later in their career.

As much as we are pushing for equality, we are not pushing to have people work against their passions and purpose for the sake of a 50/50 report card.

The idea of equality is to allow those that want to work in less traditional roles for their gender (think: male nurses and female mechanics) the option to do so. And that should they choose this path, they would be welcomed and supported.

Our work, from an organisation perspective, is to ensure we are not accidentally steering careers into gendered roles on the assumption that that’s what women (or men) want.

Do women choose female dominated roles in corporate spaces (think: HR, marketing, etc) because it’s a natural fit for them, or is it because it’s expected, or easier, or just seems like a better fit?

What do you think?

Listen to the excerpt from The Difference Project interview to hear more thoughts on this ….

Click the image below or visit this link: https://youtu.be/ssizeTtWYVM