Everyday Sexism: We Can Enact Change

I’ve always been hesitant to get involved, I thought life was fairer than it is. Now I’m more my authentic self, I’m at a point to be more comfortable talking about the topic of discrimination against women in the workplace. This can masquerade as jokes, speaking over women in meetings, getting preoccupied with someone’s physical appearance and assuming caregiving doesn’t mix with careers.

The evidence is mounting with nearly half of women in the US reporting gender discrimination at work (pewresearch.org). Only one in three entrepreneurs is female, with a lack of role models, confidence, conditioning, yet also funding opportunities. Less than 1 percent of all UK venture funding is awarded to all-female teams and 48 percent of investment teams do not include a single woman (Forbes.com).

This was brought about after reading about the treatment of Amanda Blanc by her own team recently. “In all honesty, after 30+ years in Financial Services I am pretty used to sexist and derogatory comments like those in the AGM yesterday”. – Amanda Blanc, CEO of Aviva after receiving comments that she was “not the man for the job”. Another shareholder asked whether Blanc should be “wearing trousers,” as he made reference to Blanc’s predecessors at the firm as their first female executive.

Change is happening slower than we think for female leaders. I couldn’t believe I was still reading this in 2022 but it’s still a huge topic. It’s a reminder of how our beliefs influence what we think, feel and therefore what we do and say. 95% of our brain activity is controlled by the unconscious part of our brain and if we don’t change the beliefs in our unconscious mind we will not change any of our outcomes. This is what’s happened with the comments demonstrating that despite the corporate promises and legislation, just wasn’t enough to overpower those deep-seated beliefs that women are somehow ‘less’.

I’ve certainly faced discrimination throughout my career, yet haven’t allowed it to hold me back. I came to accept that I had to work much harder to achieve and prove my worth. However, I harboured regret at staying silent and not paving the way for other women to succeed. I wasn’t the role model I would’ve liked to be.

For most of my career I was the only woman in leadership teams and in the boardroom. I was one of the 10% of female partners when I made partner in my previous firm. I worked with bosses that genuinely believed women belonged in the kitchen with someone actually saying to me ‘you excite men’. This is evident with 35% of women personally experiencing sexual harassment or abuse from someone in the workplace (pewresearch.org). There are less than 37% of women in commercial real estate and even fewer in leadership roles (nar.realtor). Only 7.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women (Fundera.com)! Even now on LinkedIn, I get disrespectful or distasteful comments, as have nearly 60% of other women online (ctvnews.ca).

This can and should change! Diverse teams make 41% more profits, are 1.7 times more innovative and have 2.3 times more cash flow per employee. Up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men (HM Treasury).

There is a way forward. Despite many who put me down, there were also those that supported and stood up for me. Those genuine in their behaviours. We need more of them to change collective beliefs.

We are all capable of changing our subconscious beliefs. I work with people and teams to re-calibrate belief systems that don’t serve themselves, society or those around them so companies can flourish and experience the huge benefits of diverse teams. There are numerous ways to reform a company and it all starts from within. It’s completely possible and those at the top play a vital role in eliminating their own subconscious gender bias.