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Inspiration July 12, 2017
Always support Sally.
There’s nothing wrong with a little woman to woman competition. We love to win. We love to be right. And that’s totally fine most of the time.
But there’s one place where competition among women can be harmful.
And that’s in the workplace.
Kristine Leahy, American Ninja Warrior cohost, recently provided all women with a friendly reminder. In an article she just published, she comments on 10 misconception about women in sports.
One of them highlights an important truth: people view female workers in the sports industry as unsupportive of one another.
It was misconception number six. Leahy writes,
Since this is one of the misconceptions she writes about, it’s clearly a belief held by more than a few. But then Leahy elaborates as follows:
“With so few women in the industry, people often pit us against one another. A lot of times the conversation will be ‘Here’s the 10 hottest female sports reporters.’ It creates this notion that we’re only competing for our looks, when in reality, it’s so important to have women in the industry as your friends. Yes, it’s very competitive because there are so few spots for women, but I am genuinely happy to see a woman get a big payday or the main role on a show, because it’s opening the door for me and other women to do the same.”
In other words, we must constantly, fearlessly and selflessly support one another. Of course this applies all the time. But it’s a crucial habit all women should strengthen, especially in male-dominated professions.
Women, always support your fellow women. Duh!
However, it appears this is something women must work on since it’s a common belief that we “don’t like other women” in the business. Whether that business be sports, film, fashion, tech or medical, we need to rally together to change that perception.
If you catch yourself thinking about how you’d love to sabotage Sally so that she doesn’t get promoted to the position you want…
Just don’t. We don’t care how much you think she doesn’t deserve it.
She does. All [hard-working] women deserve to climb the ranks, even if it’s not your turn to take a step up the latter.
Odds are, you might just be a little jealous that she’s getting more recognition than you are.
What should you do instead? Keep working hard and above all, support Sally. Boost her confidence. Speak highly and positively about her. Maybe even personally endorse her to your own boss. Don’t let your jealousy undermine the true potential all women hold.
Now, you might be all:
But you see, there’s still this HUGE gender gap between men and women in the workplace. Both in terms of pay AND job representation. So when women try and shut each other down, it only perpetuates the gender gap further. You screwing sally over, screws yourself over, too.
So trust that you supporting the women in your professional field will not only help you in the future, but ALL women as an entire collective community.
