International Women’s Day is coming!
In the 1980s the number of shoulder pads seen anytime you exited the building was overpowering in itself! It was an amazing sight. Female empowerment was branching out. Enter the Carringtons and Colbys of “Dynasty”. These women would annihilate all competition and look fabulous doing it!
The ‘Queen Bee’ mentality came into being, and carrying through into real life, senior women were more removed from juniors, fearing replacement. Women began to climb those corporate ladders, break through the glass ceiling, and take prominent positions in executive suites.
Power women became a thing to be feared. From Sigourney Weaver in “Working Girl” (1988) ripping off the ideas of an innocent Melanie Griffith, to “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) with the high flying, power hungry woman who was not as scary, but still feared, women as executives and corporate images are often portrayed as overbearing, power hungry, and backstabbing. Even Sandra Bullock, the lady everyone loves, plays a “bitchy” boss forcing her assistant to marry her in 2009’s “The Proposal”.
It did become more common now to find women in all sorts of businesses and they began to find that it was vastly more acceptable. No longer were there scared, sideways glances in their direction. It would not look out of place to have females in high ranking government positions or panels of consultants now giving us all sorts of advice.
Our specific industry is still very male dominated. But recently I have worked with more women who have taken on Operations Management roles, or even General Manager. The owners will still predominantly be male, but the women that are here are becoming more familiar with each other. There are a few that I have worked with that feel the same way. We talk forever when we find each other: talk about the number of men we work with, and how rare it is to find each other. And when we do meet up, it feels like catching up with an old friend.
My General Manager is female. I have learned so much from her. It might have started as tips and training. But it ended up with me becoming a Manager myself and seeing behind that magic curtain. I now employ a lot of the same strategies I remember her using on me. (And now I know exactly what she meant when she would say certain things, or compliment me in certain ways!)
But we bond more in our world than I think males might in an executive role. I think men are still too competitive and threatened by each other clawing their way to the top. Throw women into the mix, and that just becomes too much competition. But look at how alone the elite are in “American Psycho” (2000) or how competitive a field might make people such as 1992’s “Glengarry Glen Ross”.
Women have the ability to lift each other. We can be competitive, and we can be career focussed. But we can be mindful of what each other has already gone through to get here, and we can support each other. I think we have the ability to acknowledge the feelings and use them as a very powerful tool, instead of ignoring them and copying how men have built their universes.
We need more of “The Good Wife” (2009-2016) which although ended on a more familiar note, still showed us women can support each other while working in a man’s world. You don’t have to work in a corporate world to find supportive women. “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” in 1991 brought together four women from very diverse lives and helped them all grow and benefit from each other’s wisdom.
Find a strong woman, who is not threatened by you and fears replacement, see how you bond and connect, and learn from her! You don’t have to fit into the traditional mentor/mentee model. You can just learn from each other. Perhaps your dynamic can work both ways. You both have something to give. You both have experiences to share.
There are many other popular role models that show us strong females, from “Erin Brokovich” (2000) taking on everyone single handedly to help families, to 2001’s “Legally Blonde” and how to completely change your take on life to make yourself a better person. But that still seems lonely. Isn’t it better to have a tribe or mob that supports you and you can help each other gain ground?
You don’t have to get all “Thelma and Louise” on us. 1991’s female buddy road film that seemed to take the bonding too far in the end. There are many options though to help raise each other up, without going over the edge. ‘Womaze’ is an app centred around female empowerment. You can have daily reminders of how fantastic you are, and tools to help look after yourself. ‘The Female Quotient’ brings together women on a global scale to support each other and help propel us into bigger and brighter futures.
So spend International Women’s Day thinking about how you can help another female in your field. Or find one to learn from. Connect with each other on LinkedIn just for that purpose. Not for a business lead or job connection. Just tell someone you are inspired by their story and you want to know more.