{mally powell}

on learning to live lightly

Home
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Profile
  • Subscribe

About

Recent Posts

  • Day 122 - inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 114 - Inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 76 - Inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 54 - Inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 40 - Inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 37 - Inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 29 - Inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 20 - inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 16 - Inglorious isolation diaries
  • Day 15 - Inglorious isolation diaries

Archives

  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • April 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018

More...

Categories

  • 100 days healthier
  • 101 things - seizing the day
  • 2014 - year of Nurture
  • All About Me lists
  • all the pretty things
  • Books
  • Current Affairs
  • energy express
  • family
  • fashion
  • Feminism
  • Food and Drink
  • Friends
  • Get happy
  • Grief is a funny bugger
  • Grumblerants
  • happy lists
  • Happy little things
  • Inglorious isolation
  • Inglorious isolation 2020
  • Life
  • loveliness
  • make and do
  • Mighty life
  • Project Feel Good
  • Project nifty thrifty
  • shopping
  • simple things
  • Thinking aloud
  • wish list
  • work
Subscribe to this blog's feed

Woman and work

Some friends and I were discussing the phenomena in which, apparently, when looking at a job description many women will be reluctant to apply unless they can confidently satisfy 80-100% of the requirements, while many men will cheerfully throw their hat in the ring if they can scrape 20% (broad generalisations, clearly, but you get the idea).

One friend asked why this would be, which got me thinking...

Most of the pieces I’ve read on this (and I haven’t done a review of evidence so this is strictly anecdotal) seem to suggest that the difference is societal: women (again talking in general terms, #NotAllWomen etc) are raised in an environment that does less to bolster their self esteem and sense of professional worth than men. This seems to happen in spite of enlightened parents, supportive teachers and friends – though clearly all these things help. The fact is, society consistently – relentlessly – does all it can to put them (us), or keep them, ‘in their (our) place'.

It would be interesting to see research into how this 80/20 split varies across cultures and across race lines within cultures: are men of colour as entitled as their white brothers (#NotAllMen. Obviously.)? How do class and regional accents factor in? I suspect that the there is a scale, and that the higher up the White, Male, socioeconomic ladder you go the more likely you are to believe – and, crucially, be believed – that you can do what ever you turn your hand to.

Meanwhile women (and, perhaps, men who aren't white or have the 'wrong' accent…) have to prove their worth constantly, which makes them constantly question it.

I would also be interested to see research into the underlying feedback loop: do women feel that we need to have such a high proportion of the requirements for a given role demonstrably covered not simply because of a girlish lack of confidence or some innate inferiority complex, but because that is what our lived experience has taught us is necessary?
Is it in fact the case that men set themselves a lower bar at least partly because less is demanded of them?

(Don’t even get me started on why the pay gap is apparently all our own fault, a grumblerant for another day…)

26 January 2018 in Feminism, Grumblerants, Thinking aloud | Permalink

  • {mally powell}
  • Powered by Typepad