Whenever I’m asked to give a talk to companies about diversity and inclusion, I always mention the Howard vs Heidi Case study.
A Professor at Columbia Business School asked his students to assess a person by looking at their CV. One half of the class received Howard’s CV while the other half received Heidi’s. The students ended up rating Howard and Heidi equally competent. However, the students who received Howard’s CV said he was likeable, an able leader, and they would like to work for him, while those who received Heidi’s found her “unlikeable” and “too aggressive.”
THE CATCH : ALL of the students actually received a copy of the CV of Heidi Roizen, a successful venture capitalist. Professor Frank Flynn just changed her name to Howard for half of the class, to see if turning Heidi into a man would significantly affect the students’ perception of her.
Due to gender stereotypes, the same behaviour is interpreted differently when observed in a man or woman. Men who are assertive are good leaders, while women who show the same character strength are seen as difficult to get along with.
Research has confirmed that women who are deemed as too feminine are seen lacking in leadership ability, and are not promoted as much as women with traditionally masculine-associated traits. On the other hand, the latter are still not promoted as much as men, because these women are often not well-liked by their colleagues (as the aforementioned case had shown) for not being feminine enough.
???!!!??? *pulls my hair out
By privileging certain types of character strengths, the world misses out. Several studies showed that women managers tend to outperform their male counterparts in soft skills like empathy and emotional self-awareness. These competencies help promote employee well-being, and in turn, a positive and more productive work environment.
The prescriptive bias against women at work could also be seen in other parts of our lives. Have you ever wondered why Fathers are always applauded for being hands-on with their children, but it is something that is simply expected from Mothers? Since being nurturing is a traditionally feminine-associated trait, society allows Fathers to do the bare minimum for their children but demand Mothers to always give their 100%, even in moments when it’s more than they can bear. In fact, there are male doctors until now who still minimize the debilitating effects of Postpartum depression.
Illustration by Mary Catherine Starr (@momlife_comics) on the double standards of parenting
The 2022 International Women’s Month celebration comes with an urgent clarion call: Break the Bias. While we’ve seen greater recognition of the contributions of women in leading and shaping thriving communities, we continue to face notable disadvantages: wage gap, disproportionate share of unpaid labor, gender-based violence, inadequate access to healthcare, to name a few. These inequalities are being perpetuated by deliberate or unconscious biases that continue to hold women back- many of which have been so ingrained, we hardly notice them or just accept them as the norm.
My co-founders and I put up She Talks Asia to use the power of storytelling in helping counter discriminatory beliefs. Every Girl Can, our first ever event in 2017, was precisely about this- break long-held stereotypes by showing young women (and the world) possibilities that were previously unimaginable.
Five years later, the good fight continues. We continue to put our heads and hearts together in coming up with different initiatives that not just seek to spark conversation, but also to inspire action. This year’s She Talks Asia Summit 2022 theme, Feel Seen, says it all: We want to be seen, heard, and valued for our authentic selves. We’ve put together an amazing lineup of speakers who will share with us how they’ve learned to live out loud, rooted in their personal values rather than the standards imposed by others.
This whole of March, let us take advantage of the the world’s eagerness to listen to our plight for parity and equality. Let us celebrate the countless women who paved the way for our voices to be heard, and our perspectives to be counted.
Let’s form and support little girls, that they may continue to break glass ceilings when they grow up, and make the path to a level playing field less challenging for the generations after them.
