The Pyramid of Needs of Professional Women
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The Pyramid of Needs of Professional Women

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Managers should already be well acquainted with the concept of hierarchy of needs developed by Abraham Maslow in the 40's, which takes a central part in most managerial trainings. The hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in Psychology often represented as a five-tier pyramid referring to the five stages of human growth.

According to Maslow's theory, some of these stages needs take precedence over others, and an individual supposedly can't reach a level without first fulfilling the needs from the lower layers. Our most fundamental need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on.

The Pyramid of Needs has successfully stood the test of time, and has been part of the curriculum for managers for decades. The model has been indeed successfully applied to create team motivation techniques, project management strategies, and many more.

The present article is an attempt to apply Maslow's theory specifically to female employees, in order to develop techniques and strategies to help women self-actualize in the context of their careers. My hope, and even my claim, is that those techniques are tightly connected to the steps that companies would need to implement to close the gender gap and create an environment free of gender discrimination.

The Pyramid of Needs applied to Women in the Workplace

In order to apply the same model to the career of a female employee, we will have to make the following modifications:

  • "Life" in Maslow Pyramid of Needs becomes a career; "dying", or the loss of life, is replaced by resignation.
  • The "Physiological Needs" become the need for physical safety; the most basic need for a woman going to work is to know that she won't be the victim of sexual harassment.
  • Moral safety takes the place of security: knowing that one's will not be ridiculed or belittled, and will be allowed to perform the tasks she was hired to perform.
  • The concepts of family and friends are replaced by the concept of team. The feeling of belonging to the team is closely related to the ability to being treated fairly, not being discriminated against, and to be given the same opportunities than male peers.
  • In our context, "Esteem" becomes "Sanctity of the Self". This stage is achieved when a woman is able to achieve her career goals without compromising on her femininity.
  • Finally, our version of "Self-Actualization" is "Total Fulfillment": the woman employee knows that she did not get to her current level through random chance. Because she is an accomplished professional, she now seeks to share her knowledge with other women to help them benefit from her experience.

Sanctity of the Body

Failed Status

Mary's stomach hurts every morning as she gets out of bed. As she gets dressed, she opts for the ugliest clothes she has in order not to attract attention from her male colleagues. If she is victim of sexual harassment, she is scared to report it to HR, because she knows she won't be supported, and maybe even fired. Eventually, she decides to leave her job, and maybe even goes into depression.

Desired Outcome

Mary goes at work without the fear of being treated as a sexual object. She feels confident that the company will not tolerate any act of indecency and feels protected as an individual. She feels secure when alone with her boss or a colleague.

Job Safety and Functional Integrity

Failed Status

Nora questions constantly the reasons why she was hired. She is frustrated because she is not given the opportunity to show what she can do. Tactless comments from her colleagues undermine her self-confidence a little more. Soon, she might even start to normalize the way her colleagues treat her.

Desired Outcome

Nora is never asked to perform mundane tasks, like bringing the coffee, taking notes or organizing meetings, based solely on her gender. She gets to do the job she was actually hired to do. She knows she was hired for her skills, not her looks, or as an attempt of the company to show progressivism. She is never vilified based on her gender.

Social Acceptance

Failed Status

Shen feels her job is interesting, but feels like her boss is withholding feedback from her. Even though she does her job well, she keeps wondering if she is actually good enough. She believes she could achieve way more, but isn't given the opportunity to grow. Shen is typically reprimanded for making 'mistakes' that would be perceived as perfectly acceptable behavior from a male colleague. Her assertiveness is viewed as aggression.

Desired Outcome

Shen doesn't feel like she is treated differently than her male peers. She knows she is subject to the same standards as them and is offered the same opportunities as her male colleagues. She is confident that her gender isn't slowing down her career progression, and can now focus on her strengths rather than hedging for her difference.

Sanctity of the Self

Failed Status

Aparna is doing a great job and her manager knows and acknowledges it. However, she can't help but think that in order to get to the next level, she has to adopt traits that are not hers naturally. Because she is unlikely to find a woman role model, she starts modeling her behavior on a male figure of authority, loosing in the process her unique way of thinking. If she ever accesses the executive level, she unfortunately won't be able to bring her feminine twist to the company's strategy. 

Desired Outcome

Aparna's manager is giving her the room to perform her tasks while remaining a woman. He/she understands and acknowledges that, as a woman, she has a different psychology, a different working or management style, and offers opportunities that align with these traits. Aparna starts to feel that she didn't success in spite of her being a woman, but can even identify cases where she was able to overcome challenges thanks to her feminine creativity or communication styles.

Total Fulfillment

Failed Status

Amber is a proud and accomplished professional, and is one of the few women who can brag that they build their career through their own merit. She might even become an authority in her field. However, while she "made it", her environment isn't letting her use her experience to impact and inspire other women to follow her path. Somehow, she got so far because she was 'lucky' to meet the right people, and therefore her status doesn't allow her to act as the role model she longs to be. She will fail at building a legacy, and her company will never use her story to change its processes or politics for the best.

Desired Outcome

Amber is able to achieve her full potential while remaining true to herself. She didn’t have to compromise on her femininity to get there. Her company made the best use of her own strengths to help her grow, and infused her point of view in its culture and strategy. As a consequence, she is able to mentor and nurture other women, and help them grow as women and as professionals. The workplace achieves true parity.

What does it mean for companies?

A Company-wide Strategy

This attempt at a theory doesn't only apply as a model for individuals. It certainly helps me understand better why I didn't really care about negotiating my salary in an environment where I was constantly asked to take notes during meetings, and it does help me understand how to grow the women on my team more efficiently. However, I believe it can be a powerful tool for managers, just like the original Pyramid of Needs.

Company and industry leaders have an important role to play in helping their female employees 'graduate' through the different stages of the pyramid, each at a different level (individual/team/company/industry). For example, to provide the safe working environment that women need to fulfill the needs of the bottom layer, companies need to provide appropriate training for each individual within the company regarding the consequences of sexual harassment, and help each one of them accountable for their actions. As we move up in the pyramid, actions have to be taken at the team's level (through the team manager), then at the company's level (through company culture) and eventually at the industry's level (best practices and standards).

The following table summarizes possible actions that leaders can take to empower their female talent thrive and improve the situation regarding parity at work.

One last Thought...

By empowering a few women to "self-actualize" and reach the Total Fulfillment stage, companies are setting the true path for closing the gender gap. Those woman will constantly strive to act as a role model for other women around them. They become the agents through which long-lasting cultural changes will take place. Because they are already accomplished professionals themselves, they not only have the right skills to mentor and train others, but they are also genuinely motivated to make their company, and their entire industry, a place where other women can grow and succeed.

Servaas de Kock

Founder and Business Owner

2 年

Very interesting view! Please see my reference to your article here - https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6957214140104892416/

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Marc Shafer

CEO at Allied Global Logistics Outposts Worldwide

3 年

Thank you Dr. Jennifer Prendki I really appreciate your application for managers, individuals, teams, corporations, etcetera ??????Truly refreshing?????? #GiveThanks #DOAWESOME!

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