Women — find your place in an unequal world…
I am massively passionate and committed to the cause of doing my bit to help women find their space and place in this rather unequal world — especially when it comes to their struggles and challenges in the workplace. And any amount of discourse, dialogue, deliberation and documenting on ways to change this is just not enough to move the needle, rapidly, irreversibly and markedly.
Let me share some thoughts about what needs to change in this context.
Raise your hand
If you are a woman who is ambitious, restless, bold and yet ignored at the workplace, you must raise your hand. Raise your hand for opportunities that come your way. And no, you need not tick all the boxes, its fine if you tick only 5 or 6 of those 10 boxes; yet raise your hand and ask for those opportunities, for you tend to underestimate your ability to take up new responsibilities, or a new role, or a new project. Keep raising your hand till you get the opportunity that will bring you into the limelight and make people sit up and take note of you. RAISE YOUR HAND
Ask for help
Many times, we see women who are driven and keen to grow, stretch themselves and take up wider responsibilities, which is a great thing. However, they think it is a sort of inadequacy or incapability or failure on their part to ask for support or help, whether it is from their family or in the workplace. It is perfectly right for you to ask for help; Society has put a lot of burden on you by expecting you to handle both domestic and work-related responsibilities which is the result of decades of societal conditioning and gender stereotyping. The more vocal you are to express your problems and seek support, the greater are your chances of finding that help and the better off you will be in being able to balance your personal and professional lives. BE VOCAL.
Don’t fear failure
Not everyone succeeds in everything they undertake; in general women are perfectionists and they set high benchmarks for themselves. You need to be reasonable and kind to yourself, set realistic benchmarks and be comfortable with failure. You may not always have a role model in your field of work or industry, and you may hesitate to move out of your comfort zone as you don't want to falter and be seen as a failure by people around you. The truth is, people will remember you more for your willingness to try to do something new and less for not succeeding in that endeavor. Be bold and stop being hard on yourself. DON’T FEAR FAILURE.
The ‘popularity’ trap
As a woman there is a general tendency to want to be liked by everyone. You want to be a popular person that is appreciated and ‘liked’ by everyone, and you will bend over backwards to make sure you don’t disagree or argue with people lest they stop liking you. Never fall into this common trap; be comfortable to be not so popular; be comfortable to have distractors who disagree with you. That will make you a stronger leader with greater conviction and composure. ITS OK TO BE DISLIKED.
Work for your success
A key aspect of women getting their space and position in the workplace is the fact that nothing comes for free; an organization’s commitment to DEI will not automatically make you eligible for a promotion or larger role or senior position. You need to work for it, build your competencies, demonstrate your value, build your network and internal brand and ‘EARN’ YOUR SUCCESS!
