Much of the advice that is available today for women on succeeding at work is based on a particular stage of career or skill area. Each type of advice if taken on its own, without being placed in context, can be confusing and perhaps even misleading. In my new book – Understanding Gender at Work – I propose four career strategies based on gender blind spots (GBS) in relation to strategic career planning and skill development.
The selection and use of the four career strategies set out below will depend on your age and stage, profession, position, and workplace, as well as subjective factors including feelings of discomfort or frustration, personality preferences, and natural traits. You may use one consistently, or mix it up, using different strategies for different situations. You may find one that works well for you or you might want to try out several.
Go Along to Get Along
Most women, especially in the initial years, try to fit in with the gendered expectations without awareness of GBS. Going along with these expectations as a strategy, however, requires awareness of GBS and knowledge of masculine gender rules. Using this strategy tactically requires both spotting gender bias and recognizing when your gender approaches and habits may be misinterpreted. It is about managing the impression you make to ensure your value is visible and to avoid gender minefields. In order to use this strategy, you need to be aware of what is rewarded and how success is measured in your organization. Your goal is to be able to switch fluidly from feminine to masculine behavioral styles for greatest efficacy and best practices. Research shows that women who are able to do this are promoted more than men and other women. Books that highlight this strategy include Taking the Stage, Lean In, Hardball for Women, Presence, and Breaking Through Bias.
Shine a Light
This strategy is based on recognition of gender bias and stereotypes in operation in the workplace. Awareness allows you to identify bias, name it, and point it out to others. Through this strategy, you acknowledge that everyone has gender bias but you don’t let others use that fact to excuse or normalize it. You are hard on the problem of bias but soft on the people. You are not afraid to have courageous conversations or identify your own self-limiting mindsets. By dragging gender bias into the light, you reduce its impact and start changing attitudes and perspectives. Information to help you recognize gender bias and deal with it using this strategy is found in Own It, Feminist Fight Club, Delusions of Gender, Blind Spot, What Works and Testosterone Rex.
Pivot
This strategy involves finding creative solutions to level the playing field. You recognize when the load you are shouldering at home is too heavy and you negotiate for changes with your partner. You develop techniques for enlisting others, co-creating, and learning to delegate with joy as Tiffany Dufu writes about in her book Drop The Ball. At work you recognize when the fit is not good, the rules don’t work, or when your value is not appreciated. You tap into your power to pivot: to move where the salary is better, the corporate values align with yours, and the work is fulfilling or to start your own business to create policies that are gender blind or to drop out of the workforce completely to find passion and purpose in other endeavors. Books that suggest this strategy are Pivot, Own It, Sexual Paradox, Womenomics, and Drop the Ball.
Disrupt
This strategy involves throwing away old gender scripts. It requires that you create new ways of working based on human abilities and skills, not gender stereotypes. You fully recognize the limitations of gender beliefs and norms imposed on you, others, and society, and you choose to work as if they don’t exist. In doing so, you show other women the possibilities. As a woman using this strategy you find opportunities to reduce gender bias by working with leaders and organizations to change policies, or starting your own company with policies that promote gender parity. You support and use objective systems for hiring and promotion that are gender blind. You call out gender bias and unfairness when you see it. By understanding the restrictions and delusions of gender created by society, you lead with authenticity. Although scarce six months ago, books pointing the way forward through creative ways of thinking and acting are now being released monthly. Books of note include Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock and Fear … and Why by Sady Doyle, Attack of the 50 Ft. Women: How Gender Equality Can Save the World by Catherine Mayer and The H-Spot: The Feminine Pursuit of Pleasure by Jill Filipovic.
By knowing about these career strategies, being able to use them contextually and seeing gender dynamics with clarity, you will navigate the world of work more easily, consciously and strategically.