Cindy Gallop
Founder, CEO, Ifwerantheworld.com
POINT: Our industry needs more 'bitches,' and they need to speak up loudly
Some years back a research study on women in the U.S. workplace identified that women who do what comes naturally to them at work are seen as weak, feminine and ineffectual. Women who emulate men are seen as domineering, aggressive bitches. The study was titled, "Damned If You Do; Doomed If You Don't." In its coverage of it, The New York Times said, "Women can't win."
We can't, and that 's why my advice to women in this situation is the following: Be the bitch. Not literally -- there is never any excuse for aggressive, unpleasant behavior in the workplace, whatever your gender. But if it comes down to it, risking being seen as the bitch is the lesser of two evils. It'll get you more places and more of what you want than receding invisibly into the background in a charmingly feminine way will.
Right now our industry needs more bitches because bitches need to start bitching, by which I mean, speaking up.
We live in a world where the default setting is always male. Most innate bias and sexism is unconscious. We change that by speaking up. Have a different point of view from the men? Say so. Want that promotion? Ask for it. Facing an all-male leadership team, board, creative department or conference speaker lineup? Challenge it and propose a better balance. Yes, you'll be called a bitch but not by people who know the best new future for our industry is one shaped equally by men and women.
