Biology Reference
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The perspective on the importance of “women supporting each other”
varies greatly even among women in technical fields reading Cate Sevilla's
account of her experience in a panel discussion for Oxford University's
Oxford Women in Politics group, titled “Are Women in Tech Their Our own
Worst Enemies?”
[9]
While Sevilla was expecting the group to be “like-
minded” in her perspective that women not supporting each other was one
of the greatest professional challenges we face, she was abruptly shown that
some of her fellow panel members shared different perspectives. Comments
included:
“Well, maybe it's a good thing if women don't always open doors for other women. You
know, you have to work harder,” one woman said.
“Maybe it's better if everyone doesn't share their contacts. It makes you find them out for
yourself,” another suggested with raised eyebrow.
We shouldn't be perpetuating the stereotype that women are catty to each other
…
If there
is friction between women in business, surely it's just
symptomatic
of the
system
. The
system
is the problem.
Based on the comments from the panel discussion, the perspectives on
whether or not women “generally” support each other vary greatly. The
responses to this topic brought to mind some of the conversations I've
had with other women about this issue. Obviously, many women have had
positive working relationships with female superiors and colleagues.
Likewise, there is an equally loud group of women that can give multiple
accounts of negative experiences with female bosses, colleagues, and even
subordinates.
So the three issues that we have to pose this question to include:
1.
Does it matter (to the corporation, society, women) if women support each
other?
2.
Do we need to support other women for them to be successful (should we let
them tough it out and will this make them better)?
3.
Are we currently supporting each other (what's the real deal of how we treat
each other at work today)?
The literature, scientific research, society, and the current status of
women globally provide objective evidence that our answers to these
questions do matter. There is a direct relationship between women work-
ing together and positive outcomes for the team. My response to questions
1, 2, and 3 are: Yes, Yes, and Yes. It matters and we need to do more to
work with and support other women, particularly in male-dominated fields
such as STEM. Support other women in their quest to become leaders,
recognize the collective value we bring, and join the team, and together we
all win.
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