Challenging the status quo...

I’ve thought a lot about how women can be vilified for challenging the status quo. And yet, it’s so very often women who do challenge the status quo, because, ultimately we have no choice.?

There are many examples of women throughout history who have had enough, stood up and said no more. Many more examples have gone unwritten or undocumented because guess who writes history? Not women, that’s for sure.

For the history buffs among you, I’ve compiled a short list on my blog, starting in 360 BCE… enjoy.

The cons of challenging the status quo?

The cons for women in speaking up are plentiful, whether it’s at work or in your personal life, the time from which a woman raises an issue (any issue) to her being dismissed as someone who is ‘always complaining’ or ‘nagging’ is approximately… a nano-second!

The ‘authority gap’ is yet another term used to describe how women are left behind when it comes to gender quality.

The ‘authority gap’ can most obviously be seen in the workplace, where research shows:

• Men have more space and time to express their ideas be it in business meetings, in the media or professional forums
• We tend to assume that a man knows what he’s talking about until it’s proven he doesn’t but with women, it’s the opposite
• Men’s accomplishments tend to be evaluated as better than a woman’s, even when they are the same, e.g. same degree, same years or experience, same sales numbers etc

This ‘authority gap’ is inherent, and can be a factor in stopping women from challenging the status quo or speaking up at work, or in their personal lives, and especially online where we’re 27 times more likely to be harassed than men!

And then, when they do, the ‘authority gap’ makes it even less likely that we’ll be listened to.

*side-note if you’re interested in the authority gap, I recommend reading The Authority Gap: Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it by Mary Ann Sieghart, or watch this video if you need something more bitesize.

It’s also dangerous to step away from the masses and speak up, my journey through history took me from 300 BCE when a renowned philosopher and mathematician in ancient Alexandria was murdered for challenging male authority (read more here) through to the 16th-century witch trials.

For literally thousands of years, generation after generation of women are taught to fear speaking up and speaking out, instead, we’ve learned to play it safe - a behaviour deeply rooted in status quo bias.?

We naturally prefer the safety and familiarity of the current state of affairs over the uncertainty of change, even when change could lead to better outcomes.

But, challenge we must!

Of course, there are cons, but the pros of challenging the status quo are worth the fight!

Good Girl Deprogramming is all about recognising where we’re at right now and making small incremental changes to make things a little better. The world won’t change overnight and quite frankly, none of us have the energy for that - please see chapter 6 on Strategic Exhaustion in Good Girl Deprogramming.

It’s not revolution, but evolution to coin a phrase.?

We’ve all got jobs, families, caring responsibilities, an immovable commitment to watching Love Island all summer long and a growing list of ‘stuff to do when everything’s calmed down a bit…’

So, Good Girl Deprogramming is not about becoming a full-time activist for gender equality - unless you want to ??, but more about reflecting on and noticing where good girl behaviours show up in your life.

That is step 1 of challenging the status quo - noticing it and accepting gives you way more power than you think.

If you’re up for doing steps 2, 3, 4 and 5, then I’ve mapped it out on my website, but I think step 1 is always the biggest and best!

Read how to challenge the status quo here.

Up for an even bigger challenge?

If you’re reading this thinking, “I want to do more” then you’ll love the Introduction to Good Girl Deproramming workshops I’m running at the moment.?

We do them online and create a safe, supportive and non-judgmental environment for you to take a step back and consider the good girl conditioning that you’ve gone through. Before looking at ways you can reclaim your power and start challenging the status quo… not, crucially Status Quo. Which is a different project altogether.

Too much? Just take the Good Girl quiz instead, it’ll tell you what areas of your life seem like they’ve been subject to conditioning and then direct you to the exact chapter of the book which tells you what you can do about it.

Finally, big news!

The Audible version of Good Girl Deprogramming comes out on 17 July! Bitesize chapters, structured around each of the ways good girl conditioning shows up and advice on how you can banish it from your life.

Let me know if you want a reminder on the day by emailing me [email protected] with the subject line “Remind me!”