How Can Women Become More Assertive In Workplaces

How Can Women Become More Assertive In Workplaces

Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, in her widely read book Lean In talked of how women need to be put in more positions of leadership and break down traditional structures for a more gender equal world. Yet even as we another women's day goes by, Deborah Cihonski, a Chicago-based psychologist researched about how women are increasingly "losing their voice".

As they approach puberty, even the most “audacious” girls become careful about speaking up, weighing everything from potential embarrassment to backlash before doing so which shows their reluctance to assert themselves. Women receive overwhelming pressure from society and the media to adhere to a stereotypical feminine role - to be passive and nice - preferably reconcile to being unpopular, says Linda Hoke-Sinex, a psychology professor at Indiana University.

A great number of women in fast-growing organisations have complained about not being taken seriously by their male peers in meetings and so forth where their suggestions have been either easily dismissed or argued upon so much that it has led them to shut down communication. A Slate article recently talked about how at a panel at South by Southwest Interactive, Eric Schmidt and biographer Walter Issacson were called by Judith Williams (who heads Google’s unconscious bias program) on repeatedly interrupting United States’ Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith who was also on this panel.

But excellence doesn't distinguish on the basis of gender. It instead depends on good management and talent. Gender diverse organisations with more assertive women can leverage competitive advantage. A company that promotes gender diversity supports retention of employees, reduces advertising and interview time and costs and brings together varied perspectives. It has been seen that employees with a positive outlook on their company’s diversity are happier employees.

A Forbes article talked about the double standards of behaviour, social pressures and surreptitious judgments in the office that eventually forces women to not only back down but to give in and perhaps leave the workplace causing a huge leadership gap and eventually harming all businesses.

Fast Company addresses this issue of how to encourage young adults to be assertive. Among the various suggestions given are making women aware of pressure from social media and talking about the phenomenon, watching how and what you communicate with them and giving them a safe space to express themselves under all circumstances.

While these are useful tips to keep in mind, here's how you can apply them to a fast growing business setting to overcome stereotyping and help women reclaim their voice:

Recruitment

Review job advertisements, encourage both women and men to apply for the job, especially in roles such as tech jobs generally a male bastion.. Ensure a transparent selection process and make sure that job descriptions and requirements don't favour one category over another. Make sure applicants are assessed exclusively on job requirements.

Training

Develop training initiatives aimed at increasing assertiveness. Provide different forms of mentoring to support the development of women in leadership roles. If need be, provide tailor-made training programmes.

Support

Integrate equality into overall guidelines and strategic goals of the company and constantly raise awareness about this issue. Invest in maternity/paternity services. Communicate a supportive environment by providing both men and women the flexibility to balance their lives.

Policies

Establish policies that forbid any kind of sexual harassment and describe the professional consequences. All non-discriminatory policies should also be followed by the management personnel as well as the employees. Make the organisation a safe place. 

Publicity

Publicise your efforts at gender equality to let other companies know of your dedication. Showcase your company's successful women. There is nothing as demonstrative of your efforts at equality as women who have achieved success because of it.

CEOs have the biggest influence on a company's position regarding gender equality and promoting assertiveness in women. An analysis of Fortune 500 companies has shown that a greater representation of women delivered a total return to shareholders that was 34 percent higher than for companies with the lowest representation. Hence, it is only in favour of SMEs to make sure that their women employees are sharing their opinions and speaking up.

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