I have a weekly lecture series on RA MA TV called Work Like a Human Being. I explore a wide variety of work-related topics. Last week, I took a risk and waded into the theme of gender relations at work.
I never want to play the victim. I had heard about sexism in college, but didn't experience it in my entry-level jobs. Corporations want workhorses at that stage, and they got one in me. Gender didn't matter. But as I gained more responsibility, and stepped into leadership roles at a young age, I started to see sexism's subtle but pernicious effects.
As the CEO of Rent the Runway, Jennifer Hyman, has said, overt sexism has been brought to light. Thanks to #metoo, it's at least no longer broadly societally accepted. But the unconscious discrimination is still there. For her, it came when a private equity firm acquired her company. The partners at the firm encouraged her to learn from the other male CEOs who led companies in their portfolio. They never advised those CEOs to learn from her.
For me it came when a CEO client turned to my older, male associate for his view on a consulting project we were doing for him, even though I had just laid it all out for him, and I was the senior person on the project. (Fortunately, in this case, the male associate working for me was highly conscious. He saw exactly what was going on and didn't play into it).
Jumoke Osode, a recent Archetypal Woman Series feature, shared in her piece that her mother warned her people aren't used to the female sound current in the business world. Interestingly, I recently heard a senior partner at a law firm in San Francisco describe something similar. (She had good luck with the Kauri Kriya - a Kundalini yoga exercise meant to strengthen the impact of your voice. Worth looking up if you're into that sort of thing!).
So a lot of this just has to do with education. And it's not all on our own individual shoulders. But there is a lot we can do personally. I go into it more in the RA MA TV class. At the risk of simplifying it way down, it starts with appreciating. The male psyche, especially, needs it. If we start there, we can evoke the best out of the person in front of us.
I hope you'll check out the series on RA MA TV. All my past classes are in the New Classes section. There is a 2-week free membership trial, and after that it's $19 a month. I humbly suggest my four classes per month merit that fee. But if you need more, know your membership also includes almost daily Kundalini yoga classes with Guru Jagat, the premier teacher in the world, as well as Celestial Communication classes with Alexandra Hulme. This meditative movement class is a sure-fire antidote to anxiety. Membership also includes countless other classes with a wide variety of teachers.
Thanks for considering. Have you dealt successfully with thorny gender relations matters at work? I'd love to hear your stories. Feel free to shoot me a note.
~ Mary Margaret
