Does the fact I'm female and successful intimidate you?
By Amy Armsden
So, let’s talk about femininity and success, two topics that have been previously viewed as worlds apart with little faith they could work together but that glass ceiling, well, let’s just say it has bigger cracks in it now.
So, what's it like to be a woman in what was and to some extent still is a man's world? Since Emily Pankhurst, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and many more women, the glass ceiling has been chipped away at more and more but within the past couple of years, it's got even more hefty holes in it.
Let’s rewind, what is the glass ceiling and how does it relate to female success? Let me explain! “The glass ceiling” was coined by Marilyn Loden; the term became increasingly popular in the '80s and was used to describe an invisible barrier between women and success. You may ask the question that if the feminist movement has made so much progress, how does it still exist? Where are the facts to support the idea that the glass ceiling is still there?
The facts
The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship commissioned by HM Treasury reported in 2019 that 1 in 3 women are entrepreneurs in the UK, which is amazing, right?
Well, it is however in the same year the UK gender pay gap for full and part time workers fell to 17.3% (which sounds like good news) but, despite the fall, women were still making approximately 82.7% of men's median hourly wage. Where’s the 100%? We want equal pay not a fall in the gender pay gap that still equates to there being a gender pay gap!
Skilled trades had an even higher gap of 22.4% in pay.
This echoed with the number of women that make it into skilled and high trades; with 119 countries having never had a female leader.
So, there you have it. The glass ceiling is still there but it continues to be broken down. Within the past couple of years, women have continued to infiltrate roles in high places that have previously only been reserved for men in smart suits.
The year 2020 saw Kamala Harris become not only the first female but also the first Black and first Asian-American vice president. Another woman breaking history is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who at the age of 29 became the youngest female congresswoman. She gave a speech fighting back against Republican Ted Yoho who verbally assaulted her and if you haven't seen her annihilate him with her powerful speech, then please do. Michelle Obama also dented the glass ceiling by becoming the first Black First Lady, who before her time in the White House was also a lawyer!
Whilst women are continuously breaking the invisible barrier between femininity and success, the age-old cultural scripts still sit within society and that is what we need to destroy. Since the dawn of time, men have been superior breadwinners who have held a more dominant role in society compared to that of women, but even now in 2021 there are still age-old cultural scripts that promote anything but female success.
Let’s start with paternity leave. In the UK, women are eligible to take 52 weeks off work for maternity leave however men are only eligible for 2 weeks of paternity leave. Yes, it is the woman that gives birth, but it takes two people to physically make a child. By only allowing men 2 weeks paternity leave but women a grand total of 52 it creates the narrative that women should prioritise motherhood over their career, as that is their natural role. My argument is that if we increased paternity leave to 52 weeks then it would give that choice to many women as to whether they wanted to go back to work. Women have constantly had to choose between motherhood and a career so why not give them the choice of being able to do both rather than reinstating the cultural script of outdated gender norms.
This disregard for female success is even visible in our language if we look closely enough. Robin Lakoff looked specifically at this in her work ‘Language and Women's Work’ and found many ways that language was used to suggest women are weaker. I decided to do my own investigation and found that when I googled words like bossy, gossip, and feisty I would be met with pictures of women. This changed for words like boss, confident and assertive, when mostly pictures of men appeared.
When I think about my own experiences as a woman, I think back to all the times my ability to do something has been questioned or belittled. I remember sitting my GCSEs and my boyfriend at the time, who soon became my ex for this reason, questioning my ability to succeed. “You might just get a pass which is good but obviously I'm probably going to come out with A’s and B’s”. This was the first time I had ever encountered something like this, but it wouldn’t be the last.
I had a male teacher tell me I wouldn’t get into university and if I did, then I wouldn’t be able to achieve my degree. Well, I swiftly proved him wrong by getting in to my first-choice university and achieving a 1st class BA Honours. These comments have followed me throughout life: I think back to my first job where a man told his friend right in front of me that I couldn’t possibly pull a pint because women don’t know how to. He soon tucked into a perfectly pulled pint with a side of sarcastic smile from me.
It is so easy and casual for female success to be dismissed purely because it intimidates and changes the social scenery that society has become comfortable with. If we don’t dismiss female success then we overpraise it labelling women as iconic, amazing and inspirational, simply because they have overcome the boundaries of their gender norm. Female success is so praised because unless women aren't scared to intimidate the social scenery, their success is muted. The success of women should be the norm, but the history of society continues to make it intimidating, iconic and inspirational.
So, with this I ask all women reading this to challenge the social scenery, correct those that seek to doubt or belittle your ability and most importantly own your success as a woman. If someone finds that intimidating or labels you as bossy, then that’s their own self-doubt talking.
Finally, be loud about your success and intimidate the social scenery that created the glass ceiling, the ceiling that now has so many cracks in it that it's ready to shatter.
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