Do Women's Unconscious Beliefs About Career Advancement Hold Them Back?
Posted on May 12, 2015 by Tricia Ryan, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
A workshop for Women in Leadership on the subject of unconscious bias resulted in the question of why more women are not in leadership positions?
“I’m not telling women to be like men. I’m telling us to evaluate what men and women do in the workforce and at home without the gender bias.”
Sheryl Sandberg
“Women now account for 20.7% of board members in FTSE 100 companies, according to a recent report by Lord Davies. Whilst this may be a significant improvement on the 2011 figure of 12.5%, it is still a long way from gender parity. Could the reason behind this be the unconscious bias not only of men, but also of women themselves?”
A presentation at a workshop for Women in Leadership on the subject of unconscious bias resulted in the question of why more women are not in leadership positions and what shifts may be necessary for more balance in the workplace.
It has been proposed that unconscious biases influence our actions every day, even when – by definition – we don’t notice them. These biases are shaped by our experiences and cultural norms and, as a result, they filter information which sometimes draws us to make quick decisions. Deferring to intuition as the rationale for a quick decision is thought to lead us astray, especially when it leads us to misjudge people. Unconscious bias by those hiring has also been offered up as part of the rationale for this female gap in leadership. It does however, bring up the issue of the part of our female thinking that we can be responsible for – our own thoughts. How do we begin to undo some of this unconsciously biased style of thinking that supports women not being in leadership?
According to Brian Tracy your subconscious mind is subjective. It does not think or reason independently; it merely obeys the commands it receives from your conscious mind. Just as your conscious mind can be thought of as the gardener, planting seeds, your subconscious mind can be thought of as the garden, or fertile soil, in which the seeds germinate and grow.
So if your conscious mind commands and your subconscious mind obeys, would it not be important for women to visit our past experiences and look to understanding cultural norms to identify the source of this unbalanced approach to gender leadership?
It would appear that change is often resisted as it brings up fears for many of us. But if the inner game is achieved by women then it stands to reason that behaviour patterns will change and be consistent with emotionalized thoughts.
It would appear that both conscious and unconscious thinking on the part of women is at play here. The conscious mind is in command and seems to be aligning with societal stereotypes, but is not quite happy with what we are seeing. Meanwhile the unconscious mind is really open to change. Never in history have we had both the resources and understanding of what is available to us and what can be done to achieve this kind of change. Since women account for by a slim majority over half of the population, the next move certainly appears to be in our court. These are very exciting times.
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