How Do You Define Feminism at Work?
By EJ Thompson (New York City)
When Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s young, powerhouse new CEO, made comments recently that she did not think of herself as a feminist, the internet lit up with comments, both good and bad, about whether or not she should feel like a feminist icon.
But should people be angry with her? Yes, she did rise to the top of her field. Yes, she has been fortunate enough to make her way into a position where she doesn’t have to choose between family and career – she gets to have both. But does having wild success and a family make her a feminist, or just a woman who knew what she wanted and set out to get it? Is there even a difference?
How do younger woman in the workforce, planning to have success in both career and family, view the debate? Have we become too preoccupied by distinguishing and specifying our peers and successful women as “feminists”? Pragmatically, perhaps we should simply focus on their success, rather than a label.
Struggling to come to terms with the evolving role of women, and specifically feminists, in the workplace, we spoke to Caroline Ghosn, Founder and CEO of The Levo League, about what it means to be a young woman in the workplace today.
Redefining Success
“We need to redefine what it means to be a high achieving, goal oriented professional woman,” says Ghosn, Founder and CEO of the Levo League, a social network for young professional women, “Marissa Mayer is an example of a successful business woman who fully owns her femininity and is pursuing success on her own terms and I applaud her for that.”
What’s challenging women in the workplace is not a crisis of identity, of finding our place in the workforce, but rather an overall “crisis of confidence,” Ghosn says.
“We women don’t feel confident enough. We downplay our work experience and are afraid to ask for more because we don’t believe that we deserve it.” And when we don’t have that confidence, the women around us suffer as well, because “when we are confident we are more likely to help other women, retain our values in adversarial situations, and, as recent studies have shown, women who help women are better leaders.”
Mayer, for example, went confidently for what she knew she wanted. From being the first female engineer at Google, to leading Yahoo as the CEO, she has set an example of confidence and leadership for countless numbers of women behind her.
Maybe there needs to be a shift away from distinguishing oneself as “feminist” or “not feminist” as well as our expectation of a clear definition of what that is or what that means. Maybe we need to move instead towards simply embracing the idea of being a working woman and all that encompasses, and appreciating ourselves, as well as the women who have come before us.
Tools for Advancement
When it comes to feminism in the workplace, Ghosn thinks we need to redirect how we think about “feminism,” making a shift from “a ’feminist’ issue to an overall economic issue at hand.”
This is where The Levo League comes in, she says. Through this organization, women are given the tools they need to succeed. For example, Ms. Ghosn points to the Ask For More Campaign the Levo League launched, by which the organization is “enabling a generation of women to take action,” through inspirational stories and concrete steps to negotiate a raise.
So what are the biggest challenges that young women face in the workplace? Ghosn points to a lack of mentorship for women is a key hurdle. “Mentorship is a component that can redefine your career,” she states. “Guidance is invaluable, especially in the beginning.”
And it doesn’t always have to be someone more experienced, she says. Ghosn cites Amanda Pouchot, Co-Founder of The Levo League, as her “co-mentor,” someone who is “a professional anchor – I know that there is someone who is listening, who I can use as a thought-partner, and who really wants me to succeed. Even the simple act of reciprocal encouragement should never be underestimated.”
How do you define feminism in the workplace? We welcome our readers viewpoints in the comments section below.
I believe we should get away from such titles. When a man succeeds we do not call it androgynism. but for the definition of feminism, it is when a woman breaks the glass ceiling with a glass hammer, develops self efficacy and can increase team learning on the team she works on. She needs to be assertive, and have hegemony, and agency over her decisions, her career, and her life. The idea of balancing work and family never comes into play for men, why should it for women? The bottom line is both parties had the kids, both must share the responsibility equally.
Marissa Mayer said she wasn’t a feminist because she lacks, “the militant drive” and the “chip on the shoulder” that she says sometimes comes with that identity. That description and her lack of acknowledgment that feminism helped make it possible for mothers and soon-to-be-mothers to be CEOs of major companies was disappointing.
Doesn’t “embracing the idea of being a working woman and all that encompasses and appreciating ourselves, as well as the women who have come before us,” mean acknowledging the work of feminists? I’d rather we defend feminism than rename it.
I very much support Ms Ghosn’s view that women in general (myself included) tend to rather downplay their work experience and don’t dare to ask for more.
As an entrepreneur working in communication and advertising, I like the idea of us women focussing on appreciating ourselves and asking for more money, because I regard financial independence as the crucial factor. The more we are financially independent (from whoever), the more we can decide how we want the world to be.
So, for me, feminism is very much linked to us women being aware of what we are worth – and I’m talking hard currency.
B.
I agree with Hello Ladies. We should be defending feminism rather than reinforcing the common conception of it as a bad word. Feminism is not about a “chip on the shoulder”, it is about addressing genuine grievances related to the position of women in our society. The “militant drive”, however, is an aspect of feminism for many. But I would add three comments to this. First, I believe the labelling of feminists as “militant” is a result of socialised gender roles; women are not expected to speak up and defend themselves, therefore when we do we are described as militant. Men fighting inequality in any other arena would not necessarily be described in the same way. Second, if feminists are angry, I argue that we are justified in so being, given the prevailing gender inequalities in our society. Third, perhaps we need a little “militant drive” to push through the change that is so greatly needed in our society.
Edith, I agree with you that our labelling of female success as feminism is unfair given that we do not label male success as androgynist. This is because we still identify professional success as a male experience and female success is isolated as remarkable. However I do not think the answer is therefore to abandon the ‘feminist’ label; clearly there is still much work to be done to address gender inequality, and as long as that is the case, feminism will need to remain.
Let’s all be brave enough to call ourselves feminists, and set the example to our female and male peers that there is nothing shameful in that.
Ms.Ghosn’s definition of success is the part of the article that resonates with me as most important to the efforts of women in the workplace today. Ghosn calls it “success on your own terms,” and I call it “personal definitions of success” in my writing and speaking on the subjects of increasing retention rates for women lawyers—-although what I write and speak about translates easily to women in business generally. My two books on the subject make creating your own definitions of success critical to the goal of satisfying and lasting careers for professional women.
In my writing and speaking, I acknowledge the work of the feminists and applaud it, but I also recognize that the male definitions of success have not worked for women with home and family responsibilities, and defining ourselves in terms of male models has caused many of the retention issues we face today. We need to get away from those male models and create personal definitions of success that work for us at different times in our lives. Those definitions will change, just as our profiles change as we move through the various phases of child rearing and other personal life issues.
However, I also acknowledge and applaud the women who have the support systems that allow them to aspire to the corner office without interruption in their careers. We need those women to attain the critical mass of women in leadership and management positions that will allow them to positively affect policies for women in the workplace. But, we are not all those women. I certainly was not, and I had to reinvent myself many times in my role as a lawyer, wife and mother over the course of my long career, and that is why the Best Friends at the Bar project is so important to me.
Hear, hear to Ms. Ghosn for an excellent article!
Right on – only, “Ms. Thompson” wrote the excellent article.
I don’t know..seems to me there is a lot of back stabbing and confidence issues with women who have achieved management roles. More often than not, women in management tend to worry that women subordinates will challenge them and maybe be promoted over them.
I have found that women, especially those younger than me who managed to find themselves in a management position do not encourage or appreciate women who have more experience and who probably paved the way for them to achieve their position in management. Additionally, I have found some women in executive positions who deal with underlings in the worst and most sexist ways. I had one boss who strolled into the office and demanded her “girl” fetch her coffee in the morning and a pitcher of “fresh” water in the afternoon. Her comments were extremely derogatory and if a man had said them, he would have been brought up on charges.
For all the roads inward made by feminists, it seems we have taken back miles and miles!
So far, not impressed!
Congratulations to Ms. Thompson for the excellent article and my apologies for misidentifying the author in my prior comment. Thanks to a reader for pointing out my mistake.