In today’s world there are myths
about women in leadership that get in the way of their success. Even more
surprising is that these myths don’t just affect the decisions that other people make about hiring,
promoting, and advancing women into the executive ranks, they also color what women
think about themselves as leaders. There are more women in workforce, more women
earning degrees and more female breadwinners than ever before. Below are the most common myths on female leadership:
1.
Child Rearing Stops Women from Making It to the
Top:
Much
has been written about the impact of becoming a parent on women’s careers. For
women, caregiving is thought to reduce their commitment to a career. For men,
breadwinning is thought to redouble their commitment to a career. Choosing to
“have it all” is usually framed in problematic terms for women.
The
overall career impact of having a family is less than what people believe.
Having a family slows women’s career progression marginally but it’s not
significant in preventing them from getting to the top. Men are promoted much
more than women, but the research showed that there was no difference in
promotions between women with children and women without children.
This
contradicts ideas that many women have had when trying to combine career and
motherhood. Research shows that it is gender, rather than parenthood, that is
the career-defining factor. The group that is most likely to be promoted is
actually men with children and the group least likely to be promoted is women
without children. Women do talk about a perception of a loss of stamina in
their jobs right when they start to have families.
This
may be largely due to the fact that they are much more sensitive about it. More
senior women often look at that time in their lives as more of a pit stop and
many talk about the positive aspects of having a family and career. It helped
them broaden perspective, personal efficiency, and organization, helped them
develop empathy, and made them more determined to succeed.
2.
Formal, Flexible Working Arrangements Ease
Women’s Route To The Top: Flexible working
arrangements are what enable women to balance home and work commitments.
Without flexible working, an even larger number of women will “leak” out of the
talent pipeline. Informal, individual arrangements and agility are what women
feel helps those most to succeed.
Managers
are essential in creating the right conditions for women to feel trusted.
Flexible working was seen as a barrier to the top. Even if the option is there,
the corporate culture may not be supportive of such decisions. If women are
given the option to work autonomously to get their work done, that was more
beneficial and useful to them.
The downside of these informal arrangements
between employees and direct managers is that they’re not known about by other
people, particularly more junior women, who don’t understand how senior women
are managing their work and life schedules.
3. Senior Women Pull Up
The Ladder Behind Them: It’s a myth that women don’t want to
work with other women or that they prefer to be a Queen Bee. Women tap into
their network to help each other out and can be very generous with their time
at networking events. They also like to mentor junior women.
The
research showed that the only time that woman may not be helpful is when they
are asked to be a sponsor of another woman. Many times they would pass the
request over to a male colleague because the woman felt he was better placed to
open doors or the requester may get a lot more out of the relationship.
4.
Women Don’t Aspire To Senior Leadership Roles: There is a lot of
research into gender difference that suggests that women are not hardwired for
power and are alienated by organizational politics. Against a backdrop of
intense scrutiny of the few female leaders in the public eye, it’s easy to
assume that women don’t want these roles. Women’s career aspirations do not
differ from men and their ambition grows as their professional experience
grows. Women’s ambitions have a slow fuse.
They
define success more broadly, which makes their decision making about careers
more complex. The big breaking point for women is at the first supervisory or
line management role. If you ask men and women at the beginnings of their
careers if they want to be at the top, you’ll get very different answers.
If you ask them later, once they’ve had
leadership roles, their answers are much more aligned. Ambition grows as
experience grows. Both men and women define what matters most to their success
in similar ways. Usually this means having positive work relationships and
doing something that is intrinsically interesting.
5.
Women Don’t Get To The Top Because They Lack
Confidence: It is often cited that men will apply for a
role knowing they only have 50% of the required skill set while a woman will
wait until she has 100% of the needed skill set. Women’s reticence to “put
themselves out there” is seen as lack of confidence which means they miss out
on senior leadership roles. Risk alertness keeps women grounded in reality.
Women
are brutally honest about their skills and abilities when putting themselves
forward to unfamiliar challenges. Confidence is implicit in the concept of
leadership. Corporate leaders need to be careful about the behaviors that they
see as indicative of confidence. Women are risk alert and loss averse but not
lacking confidence. Confidence is a complex concept that manifests itself
differently in men and women.
6.
Women Don’t Have The Networks That Open Doors
At The Top: The ‘Old Boys Club’ is often cited as a
source of social access and influence that helps men progress in their careers.
Lack of access to traditional types of networking opportunities is frequently
used to explain why women don’t appear on the shortlist for top jobs.
Women
absolutely understand the link between professional networking and career
advancement. At work, they tend to choose formal channels to build their
profiles and access support for professional development. These include
sponsors, mentors and family. They also relied on former managers to nurture
their potential at an early stage. Men use informal contacts more readily to
sustain their progress such as colleagues, family and friends.
“I just love bossy women. I could be around
them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's
passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn't mind leading.” (Amy
Poehler)[i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“Debunking 8 Myths Surrounding Women and Work”
·
“Four myths that (still) get in the way of women and leadership” by Kellie
McElhaney
To all women reading
this post, you are leading someone in your life (whether you realize it or
not). How well are you doing it?
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