A Drop To The Top; The Glass Cliff; Manterruptions; and Other Ways Women Still Have it Tough.

International women's day each year reminds us to celebrate all that women have accomplished in the past 100 years.

It also reminds us of how much further we would need to go to build a more equal world of work. If we move at todays pace--we are over 130 years away from gender parity!

So what follows are 6 terms I wish did not exist.

1. Drop To The Top

Refers to the drop of women in leadership roles. This holds true across industries. And is even true for industries where women form the majority at junior levels.

By the way, we didn't really need this table. Go to most organizations CXO meetings, and then come out into the lunch room...

The drop to the top is clear!

2. The Glass Cliff

The glass cliff refers to the phenomenon that women are more likely to be promoted to senior leadership roles when there is a crisis or many things are going wrong. When things are going well, organizations are more likely to promote a man to a senior leadership role. This sets up women for higher rates of failure.

My best guess is that women are often brought into companies in trouble when many other men leaders aren't as excited to take on the role and pass.

Or the CEO or board is desperately trying to shake things up.

None of this is of course conducive to success for women that is.

3. The Bad Decision Penalty

Leaders make bad calls all the time. Yet experimental research time and again shows that people judge bad calls by women leaders far more harshly than bad calls by men.

How much harsher? About three times harsher!

Somehow, I think many women intuitively get this. It makes them want to play 'extra safe'. Do the 'extra due diligence'. Somewhere they know there are high risks to bad calls.

4. Man-terruption

Sigh! This one is personal. As someone who isn't super aggressive when I speak, this is one I struggle with all the time.

Man-terruption, as the term suggests is the far greater likelihood of being interrupted when you are a woman. Believe it or not, even the most influential and high status women have to face it. Think of the former US Supreme Court Justice--Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

As I said--Sigh!

5. Mansplaining

Every woman I know experiences some form of mansplaining pretty much every day or every few days.

In her, oh so brilliant and so delicious essay (with an equally brilliant title) on what it felt like to have her expertise and knowledge brought into question at a party, I give you Rebecca Solnit.

Just because its such a well told story, am sharing a page from the essay right here.

In 2010, Mansplaining was voted as New York Times 'word of the year', and has received the kind of attention few such terms have.

Sometimes men I know stop themselves while talking to me, smile and ask: "Am I mansplaining?" How I love them for even recognising this may be the case.

More recently a video of a pro golfer 'being schooled' in how to swing became viral.

Watch it, and tell me if this doesn't feel too familiar for comfort.

6. Bro-priation

This term is new to me. Though the phenomenon is well documented.

Bropriation is the act of taking credit for an idea that a woman came up with in a meeting.

Research at the University of Michigan, by Dr. Arin Reeves made a count of how often men took an idea that a woman had just shared and repeated it as their own. My best guess is that this happens unconsciously, yet it takes away influence from women, making it that much harder for them to be 'seen as influencers.'

Just read through this observational study by Dr. Arin Reeves to understand how this plays out

Fortunately, there is a way out of this.

If we are conscious of it, then men and women can amplify messages of women that often get lost by simply repeating the phrase, "...as she was saying (add content here)".

Does this Glossary Help?

Frankly, I wish there had been no need for this glossary.

I wish I could wish these phenomena away.

Each of these--in small and not so small ways become the 'friction' women encounter in their daily work.

There are already so many obvious barriers to women doing well in the workplace.

There is societal pressure to shoulder most of the family responsibilities.

There is the motherhood offramp when women choose to spend time with their babies to bring them up.

There are the hundreds of challenges that come with balancing family, and work that come each day.

Workplace sexual harassment, gender-pay gap, and unconscious bias are all real, threatening and well documented.

Is it really a wonder that so many women feel, frankly--just exhausted?

Fortunately, all is not lost.

When you can name something--you can do something about it.

And that is my hope this International Womens Day 2024.

Women do hold half the sky. Let's just make it less exhausting for them as they do so.

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(About me: I lead Unqbe, a think-tank and advisory firm around building future organisations, and building future careers. We track change through commissioned and primary research. We help leadership teams build the new workplace through a culture that supports change and people practices for the future.)