Women in the workplace: how to promote yourself and how to drive them forward?

Years go by and, even with women integrated into the job market, there is still a way to go to achieve, in fact, gender equity. From unequal pay to an unfair division of responsibilities, women still suffer the consequences, even when they deliver results that are better or equal to those of men.

However, in this scenario, just complaining is not enough. It is essential to start acting. And not only for the cause of Diversity & Inclusion, but also in terms of productivity.

When corporate leaders build good experiences for female employees, results can be doubled, according to a 2022 Accenture survey.

In this article, data and guidance will set the context for the fight for gender equity in the workplace, as well as 4 tips to combat 'imposter syndrome'.

How to boost women in the workplace

Stimulating the well-being and motivating women in the corporate environment can bring more than a warm welcome - it can have a positive impact on business growth.

Leaders have the ability to promote the well-being of employees by showing interest in their experiences, sharing teachings and professional stories.  Moreover, support during the professional trajectory is essential for the success of developing women.

According to Accenture research, potential at work can be measured through the following criteria: emotional, financial, employment, physical, purpose, and belonging. Using these filters, the survey of nearly 7,000 people in 14 countries came up with the following figures about female performance.

Among women, about 20% of them feel unmotivated in the work environment and almost 30% said they have low support in their careers. In addition, the study revealed that if leaders are committed to good management values - such as good communication, diversity, and customer focus, for example - women manage to increase their work potential by up to 5 times.

Another survey by Opinion Box revealed that 57% of women have felt disadvantaged at some point in their career simply because they are women.

Furthermore, 50% of the women interviewed believe that they would have had more job opportunities if they were men; 38% of men agree that they would have had fewer opportunities if they were women; and 65% of the respondents in general think that there should be more women leading companies.

For Accenture's study, it is essential that leaders promote diversity in their areas so that teams can be more productive and engaged. In this sense, it is essential to seek the answers to some questions in order to take steps towards gender equity and greater productivity.

• Are we preparing people with the right skills to transition into higher paying jobs and explore new roles and industries?
• Do our benefits meet the needs of our people in times of crisis and in times of abundance?
• How does our business purpose come to life in our community? How can we ensure that every voice is heard?
• How can we support our employees' mental resilience when they are experiencing a crisis of potential?

Moreover, in the world of work, there are other possible initiatives to boost women, such as investing in inclusive family leave projects, physical spaces for breastfeeding, training programs, equal and transparent salaries, mental health initiatives, among others.

Not only should management leadership make this commitment, but also other employees can become aware of their role in achieving full gender equity.

Male employees, for example, can try to watch their attitudes and notice if they often interrupt female colleagues just to repeat their words and get credit for it.

In other words, there are many ways to impose more accepted behaviors on women in predominantly male environments and thus end up diminishing the reach of their ideas and projects. By being more vigilant about their own behavior when being with women in the workplace, men can help extinguish systemic paradigms of oppression.

Fighting Impostor Syndrome: 4 tips for self-promotion

For social psychologist, lecturer and author Amy Cuddy, not only women, but many people in general feel like a fraud and believe they are not good enough or are afraid that colleagues will find out they are a fake and not as competent as they are.

In fact, this fear affects at least 2/3 of Harvard Business School students. The key, for Amy, is to find the balance between being confident without being arrogant or unfair to yourself. 

Here are 4 tips to counteract this feeling of self-sabotage.

1. Know your values well

Values are what help you stand firm. They are like a guide for living according to what is most important to you. By analyzing your values, it is easier to understand your strengths and weaknesses, and therefore to act in a way that develops yourself and makes you feel more secure professionally.

Every time you doubt your potential, you will feel more capable and less stressed by reading or remembering these positive qualities of yours.

2. Attention to body posture

Right now, if you straighten your posture in your chair and create an image of magnificence and security in your head and project it onto your body, you will find that you naturally convey this image as well.

However, if you sit with your legs crossed tightly, elbows at the waist, hands on your legs, and shoulders hunched, you feel weak and powerless, don't you? According to Amy, this is the posture of most women in business meetings. 

When we feel oppressed or incapable, we tend to bend down and take up as little space as possible in a room. But this is not leadership, it is an image that makes us look weaker than we are. 

So maintain a self-confident posture, because this also sends messages to your brain that you are in fact feeling this way, helping to maintain this positive behavior. 

3. Choose better words

Firmness, warmth, and friendliness are great allies of good business and work meetings. But when it comes to exercising these qualities, many people can get confused and end up expressing little authority or leadership, even if unintentionally. 

We appear more confident when we take ownership and make statements by placing ourselves as subjects of the action.

Following Amy's advice, when giving your opinion at work, choose to turn it into a statement rather than a question. For example, instead of "Don't you think it would be better to do this report the other way?", use "I propose that we do this report the other way", and of course, argue in an objective and pertinent way. 

4. Get to work!

Practice will make you less tense during presentations. When we practice our posture, the way we speak, and think of ways to convey our values, we are more assertive and consistent in our positions naturally. 

For this, anything goes: practicing in front of the mirror, in the shower, or mentally while doing a physical exercise will help you avoid mental triggers that may lead you to think that you are failing in some position.

When we are more 'rehearsed' and know the image we want to portray, we are less affected by external factors and can even answer difficult questions more calmly - even if the answer is not on the tip of your tongue or adds an item to your to-do list.

The most important thing to avoid imposter syndrome is not to know absolutely everything about a subject, but to do your best and recognize that your behavior can help send a more confident message to your leaders and peers who are in a learning process just as much as you are.