Is the Glass Ceiling Still Relevant? Cultivating Ambition for Women in the Workforce

Is the Glass Ceiling Still Relevant? Cultivating Ambition for Women in the Workforce

by | Jan 26, 2024 | Career

Imagine a world where the sky is the limit for everyone, regardless of gender.

A world where ambition, determination, and skill pave the way without disruption of barriers holding talented individuals back.

As children, we believe we can be anything we want to be, and then…we grow up and receive a hard slap across the face from society.

The invisible barrier

The glass-ceiling is an invisible barrier that can prevent women in high positions from advancing further; it exists, but is it still relevant?

As of 2022, women make up 37% of leadership positions. In 2015, this figure was 31%.

Progress is happening, but it’s happening slowly. 

There is no quick-fix to gender inequality, and solutions are not a one-size-fits-all.

It’s important to recognise the glass-ceiling because then we can take actionable steps to remove it, achieve gender equality, and unleash the full potential of women.

Researcher Isobel Coleman notes that hinderances to female professional advancement have a negative effect on employee morale and the financial progression of companies: ‘Women’s disempowerment causes staggering and deeply pernicious losses in productivity, economic activity, and human capital’.

Isobel gives a great example of a successful investment campaign: in 2008 Goldman Sachs launched a programme called 10,000 Women: ‘a $100 million global initiative to invest in business and management education for female entrepreneurs in developing countries’.

The five point plan

But we aren’t all world-leading investment banks, so, what can we do on a smaller but still impactful scale?

Isobel suggests a Five Point Plan:

‘Success must be measured appropriately and fairly’.

‘Incorporate a fund dedicated to empowering women’ – i.e., employing more women.

‘Companies should concentrate on providing skills and resources to female entrepreneurs and business leaders’. Show a vested interest in the outcome of conflicts taking place over the role of women in many developing countries.

‘Corporations should try not to reinvent methods that have already been perfected by others to simply appear innovative and committed’.

If women are expected to fulfil the same roles as men, they must be treated with the same respect.

Empowerment is not about giving power to others. It is about creating an environment where people can access and exercise their power effectively. Read that again.

Empower your female colleagues and friends and chip away at the glass

In senior roles especially, there is a fine line between condescending and encouraging. Here are a few ways you can empower your female colleagues and friends and chip away at the glass:

  • Listen: Show a genuine interest in a person’s aspirations and ideas.
  • Encourage them to talk about themselves and celebrate their strengths and achievements.
  • Support: When needed or asked, offer emotional support and a compassionate and caring hand.
  • Mentorship: Offer information, knowledge, and resources to help them reach their goals.
  • Inclusivity: Create an environment that values everyone. If someone hasn’t spoken yet, motivate them to share their thoughts. Decision
  • Making: Promote autonomy by encouraging every individual to make their own decisions – intuitive and evaluative. Model: Lead by example.
  • Demonstrate empowered behaviour and fortify personal growth.

Women: to look beyond the glass-ceiling, we have to look through it – acknowledge it – and let our ambition thrive regardless.

There is a plethora of powerful, and ambitious women we can look to for inspiration.

Indra Nooyi is the former CEO of PepsiCo

Indra Nooyi is the former CEO of PepsiCo. Born and educated in India, Indra received a high honours in management, and despite not having any money after school, she worked hard and achieved her master’s degree at Yale.

After gaining experience at other major companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Indra joined PepsiCo in 1994 as senior VP of corporate strategy and development, and by 2006, she was CEO.

She was responsible for guiding major brand restructuring, including partnerships with KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.

So, how did she do it?

Amongst her many other triumphs, Indra is best known for her leadership philosophy. Her ‘5 C’s of Leadership’ are as follows:

  • Competency (become the ‘go-to’ person for a particular skill)
  • Courage and Confidence (always be willing to speak up)
  • Communication (‘you cannot over-invest in becoming a better communicator’)
  • Consistency (‘you can change your mind, but only against a consistent framework’)
  • Compass (‘integrity is critical in a leader’s job’)

There are many more ways to learn from Indra, she’s delivered some great advice on various platforms.

Here’s one to get you started with:

The glass-ceiling was not relevant for Indra Nooyi, it was undoubtedly an obstacle at times, but she never let it stop her from achieving her dreams.

Make your child-self proud, and scream your ambitions so loud that the invisible glass-ceiling is forced to shatter

ProspHER can support you in evolving your story and progressing professionally with passion, purpose and power – find out how here.

This article was researched and written by Bronte Littlewood, Freelance writer at ProspHER.

How to Stop Burning the Candle at Both Ends and Invest in the Work-Life Balance

How to Stop Burning the Candle at Both Ends and Invest in the Work-Life Balance

by | Dec 29, 2023 | Career, Wellbeing

We all want to live life to the fullest, and the good news is, we can! All it takes is just a few easy steps, and of course, knowing when to use the magic word…no.

Especially in early life and career, we are taught to seize every opportunity and say ‘yes!’ to everything. Which, admittedly, is a good thing – at least initially.

By saying ‘yes!’ to everything we open doors, networks, and moments of personal and professional growth that may not have been possible otherwise. Additionally, (and most importantly) saying ‘yes!’ is a great way of establishing our boundaries.

We each have differing levels of capacity. Some of us may be able to work late into the night and burn the midnight oil consistently, and yet still be able to wake up early, exercise, be productive at work, and do the same all over again.

Some of us, however, might be able to exclusively operate on 8 hours of sleep, and lack the mental and/or physical battery after a full day of work to extend ourselves late into the evening. Both circumstances – and all those in between – are completely normal, and vehemently individual.

We have to push our boundaries to recognise our limits. This is how we learn not only when to say no, but when we need to say no.

An important thing to know when navigating the work-life balance is when you work best

If you are one of those (lucky) ones that can function on barely any sleep and be productive all day long, congratulations, you are under the chronotype (a persons’ inclination for when they prefer to be asleep and awake) of dolphin, and you make up 10% of the population; typically creative and scatter brain, these individuals need to prioritise winding down before going to bed to avoid being kept awake by their thoughts.

15% of the population are lions: they are morning people and tend to be most productive between the hours of 6am and 11am.

If this is you, you may notice yourself needing a nap to stave off the afternoon crash!

The other 15% of the population are wolves. 

These people function best at night, between the hours of 8pm and 2am.

They tend to need more than the average amount of sleep – which is totally fine and normal! Just because you are more productive at night does not mean you are any less productive.

Most of the population (55%) are bears, and their energy follows the sun. They can be productive all day and typically do not struggle to get enough sleep. The 9-5 workday is music to their ears!

So, now you know your chronotype, how does that help you to thrive in both work and life?

Great question! While it may be difficult for you to tailor your individual sleep proclivities to mandated working hours, having an awareness of when you are most energetic (and lethargic) is a great tool for you to know when to tackle those harder tasks, and be your most productive.

Knowing your personality type

Another great method to help you realise when to blow out that candle, is knowing your personality type. There are 16 different ones! – each are individual and contribute different strengths and weaknesses to work, and life.

For me personally, I am a Campaigner (ENFP-T), which means my strengths are curiosity, perceptivity, and enthusiasm, for example, and my weaknesses are people-pleasing, unfocused, and disorganised.

How has this helped me increase performance in my social and vocational occupations?

Well, I know that I am fuelled by passionate and meaningful work, and I need to monitor my boundaries when agreeing to take on new projects; I will often say yes without thinking and leave myself overwhelmed.

Knowing your personality type can help you exercise more control and engage more consciously with yourself and partnerships.

Achieving the work-life balance seems like an impossible task, and it does take work and constant monitoring. But, with these easy steps, you can start saying no to things that don’t fulfil you, and be the leader of your own, unique journey.

ProspHER can support you in evolving your story and progressing professionally with passion, purpose and power – find out how here.

This article was researched and written by Bronte Littlewood, Freelance writer at ProspHER.

From Burnout to Bliss: The Formula for Sustaining Success in the Workplace

From Burnout to Bliss: The Formula for Sustaining Success in the Workplace

by | Nov 24, 2023 | Career, Wellbeing

You’ve had a long day at work; you come home to a messy house and enter a staring match with the dishes and laundry, but your mind is too clouded to even think about doing it – never mind actually doing it – because your to-do list for tomorrow is pulsing in your mind and everything feels chaotic and completely out of your control.

Sound familiar? If so, you may have reached burnout.

There are various reasons we get to experience burnout – everyone’s threshold for stress is different.

The reason I say, ‘get to experience’, is because in some ways, burnout can be a blessing: it teaches us that we have reached our limit, and that something in our life needs to change.

It is our body, and mind, signalling us to stop¸ take a deep breath, and reset.

‘It’s like driving a car in second gear on the motorway, you can do it, but there’s ultimately going to be some damage’

Dr Julie Smith, a licensed and practicing clinical psychologist, suggests we can detect burnout in ourselves by noticing these four signs:

  1. You experience a disconnection from the people around you – this could involve arguing more with friends and family.
  2. You are procrastinating to the extreme, for example, you are putting off even the smallest and most achievable tasks due to feeling overwhelmed by everything.
  3. You abandon self-care – diet, sleep, exercise, and emotional check-ins go out the window.
  4. Physical and emotional exhaustion can look like feeling really tired, but being unable to sleep.

Happiful is a YouTube channel dedicated to helping those struggling with mental health cope with their day-to-day lives. They interviewed Dr Julie Smith to ask her what to do when we get to the point of burnout, she offers this advice:

  • ‘Take it seriously, as you would with other health issues’.
  • Ask yourself: what all the demands that I’m facing? Think about which of these stresses are in your control.
  • Take small breaks, off screens, to replenish. For example, ‘wonder off to your car, set a timer on your phone, and close your eyes for 10-minutes…we tend to fill all those gaps, those in between moments, with more stress…it’s about stepping back’.
  • ‘Values check-in…write down the things that are important to you right now’

There’s no easy fix

Ultimately, there is no easy fix to turn burnout to bliss, it takes time and commitment to re-evaluate your workload, decision-making, and stress intake.

It is worth sitting down with yourself, and/or your superior, with these evaluations. Success is not sustainable during burnout.

What in your life can give? Do you need to cut down on social interactions to prioritise sleep and self-care? Do you need to remove yourself from a project at work? Do you need time off work to reset completely? Perhaps you are setting unrealistic expectations for yourself? Write down your observations to visualise them and notice patterns.

Some of us may actually invite burnout as an avoidant strategy – being so busy we physically don’t have the time to spend with our own thoughts. This is again, not sustainable, and if you are struggling with this avoidant strategy, it is worth speaking to a mental health professional for more directional and actionable support systems.

Only you can know what you need; you are the pioneer of your own ship. It’s okay to feel burnt out sometimes, but your fire will eventually extinguish from lacking the fuel and energy that it needs, and it is a lot harder to ignite ashes than embers.

Always be kind to yourself and look after your flame.

ProspHER can support you in evolving your story and progressing professionally with passion, purpose and power – find out how here.

This article was researched and written by Bronte Littlewood, Freelance writer at ProspHER.

Balancing Ambition and Authenticity: Strategies for Women Starting the Corporate Climb

Balancing Ambition and Authenticity: Strategies for Women Starting the Corporate Climb

by | Oct 3, 2023 | Career, Wellbeing

“Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.”

Michelle Obama is not wrong. The position of First Lady is inherently secondary, but Michelle harnessed her own successes independent of her husband and continues to inspire women all over the world to date.

While not all of us are destined for a career in the White House, the premise is still the same; our ambitions and authentic selves should work in tandem – be hand in hand – if we want to discover the true meaning of success.

An important aspect to consider when approaching relative ideals of success, is a framework called intersectionality. Civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw coined this term to highlight the inter-connectedness of categories such as race, gender, and class. Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality is useful to consider when recognizing the interrelated forms of disadvantage in society and how they impact our respective ambitions and authenticity…

You can reach for the stars, but without respect you won’t get very far

Remember, you bring something to the table that no one else does, but so does everyone else – that is why ambition and authenticity are so important.

Researchers Jennifer Knowles and Lisa Mainiero discovered that for us women, the climb to success is particularly different than for men. In a study, these researchers noted that despite women being more ambitious, they are perceived to be less so due to discriminatory societal structures, which sadly causes some ‘women to abandon their ambition’.

They also discovered that women are seen as nurturing and thus more likely to prioritise their family over their careers, but at the same time are expected to adhere to standardised expectations of leadership. These dichotomies, combined with the differences in training and mentorship for women, has led to the gradual collapse of ambition and/or authenticity for women in the workplace.

However, all hope is not lost! These findings are published to raise awareness, not demotivate.

The Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM)

Mainiero designed the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM), to support women in the foundations of their careers. As we climb the corporate ladder, we are faced with the following three parameters during our transition:

  • Authenticity – Do your personal values align with the values of the/your business?
  • Balance – Is it possible, and sustainable, to balance work and life in this job?
  • Challenge – Is the job mentally stimulating? Is there room for advancement within the company?

The idea of the KCM model is, how we prioritise each of these values is continually dynamic. Think of it as a dial: if we turn the volume up for one, the others will naturally fade into the background. In the context of a new career, challenge usually takes precedent.

3. Upgrade your skills along the way

Seeking out support and learning don’t have to be two separate tasks for a woman entrepreneur looking to be successful.

Building your skills and knowledge are a critical factor in running a business, yet a lot of us can get bogged down with feeling like we need to ‘know it all’ before we even get started.

Instead, focus on building a solid support network and learning and upskilling as you go – memberships focusing on training modules and programmes, coaching, in-person networking and in-depth support can cover all of your bases without making you feel as though you’re compromising on your growth to focus on your learning.

Being aware of this dynamic structure reminds you to closely monitor your decision making when embarking on new professional journeys, and to evaluate your individual objectives with a holistic perspective.

Ambition and authenticity can and do work well together – one propels the other, and both facilitate your personal and vocational endeavours. Be resilient, be consistent, and most importantly, be you.

ProspHER can support you in evolving your story and progressing professionally with passion, purpose and power – find out how here.

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