The Sad Truth About Female Mentorships

The LeanIn movement that promotes gender equality and career advancement for women is amazing but I can’t help but feel it is mostly addressing women who are already on a clear path in their careers or women with white-collar jobs. This is just the tip of the iceberg. What can we do for younger women navigating their first jobs, women stuck in dead-end jobs, minority women facing discrimination, women in non-industrialized countries fighting poverty or women re-entering the workforce after a long absence?

Earlier in my career, I wish I would have found mentorship from other women. To be fair, I think I was too shy to ask. I was in awe of women in power and felt intimidated. I thought because I didn't have an Ivy League degree or a background like their own, they wouldn't want to mentor me. Sadly, the successful women bosses I knew didn't help lessen those fears any. Most of them showed little emotion at work and I even suspected they purposely kept a distance from all-female non-managers in the office, maybe to be seen as tough and maintain their coveted boss reputations. Other times, I've seen women be downright mean to one another at work. I dare say men don't treat one another the way women do at work. Why can women unite so well outside the workplace in social circles but not within?

On the upside, many professional organizations offer peer-to-peer female networking and mentoring, such as Ellevate and International Women's Association. Many companies have also started internal initiatives to promote female leadership as well as address women's issues, for example, JP Morgan Chase and Accenture. This is wonderful but it is not only in organized circles where women need support. We still need women to help each other on all levels, at work and beyond.

When was the last time you shared a job opening from your company with your mother’s group, book club, running group, etc? When did you reach out to HR to internally refer a female colleague for a job? Which woman have you recently mentored? Do you support any non-profit women's organization to promote a cause you believe in? Women in power have a lot they can give but not enough of them do it. Women who need support may not know how or whom to ask.

Women doing well, please help women who need career (or other) support! Women who need advice (or help), just ask! Let’s start a #LeanOut movement.

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