We face a lot of pressures at work, and deal with systemic misogyny as well as our personal difficulties. What have you seen derail a woman’s career?
We face a lot of pressures at work, and deal with systemic misogyny as well as our personal difficulties. What have you seen derail a woman’s career?
I’d say the three biggest problems I’ve seen are…
She has kids. She goes down to part time cos she’s having to juggle mummying and work, and she’s doing the majority of it at home. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen companies not support mums, and expect the same from her with zero flexibility from them. As a result, her career is massively put back or destroyed.
She’s targeted or blocked by someone. She’s vulnerable and/or a subjugated group, and a bully goes for that, or just vindictively stops her improving her skills and progressing. They attack her so she ends up professionally effected by it and sometimes horribly so. Often followed by resignation and almost never consequences for the bully
She screwed up. She’s a bully, poor employee, starts drinking and it ends up destroying her career.
I really want to emphasise how traumatic this can be to go through. Psychological abuse is still abuse and work effects our ability to provide for ourselves and loved ones. It’s also a big part of our identity, and the impacts of all this can effect us for years