Championing female voices at work: everyday actions to challenge the status quo.

By Lauren Saving at SpotX.

President Obama was the first president in the history of the United States to call himself a feminist. While this was an important signal for change, it did not erase the challenges many women faced, even within the Obama administration itself. During Obama’s first term, women made up a third of senior aide positions but this group often found themselves excluded from important meetings and even when invited, struggled to compete with the dominant male voices which outnumbered them.

In order to counteract this, the women devised a simple strategy which they called ‘amplification’. Each time a woman made an important point, other women in the room would repeat and acknowledge the idea in order to give credit to the original speaker. This encouraged men in the room to recognise the contribution and stop them claiming the idea as their own. 

Slowly but surely, the method reaped rewards. By the end of Obama’s second term, women had reached a parity with men and the President himself was regularly requesting the input of both senior and junior women more frequently. This change was not achieved through a dramatic call to arms, rather a simple yet powerful initiative agreed between women to help achieve the equality they deserved. 

While you may not be familiar with the upper echelons of American politics, you may know what it means to be outnumbered or feel unheard at work. It can be overwhelming to try and change this, especially when your day job keeps you busy enough. But what the strategy of ‘amplification’ can teach us is there are small and simple ways you can change the world of work for both yourself and other women without the pressure of devising complex programmes or overcommitting yourself to unrealistic goals.

With this in mind, I spoke to women within my own network, to hear their stories of support and offer advice to those hungry to challenge the status quo and create positive change for all. 

Remember the reality.

For many women starting out in their career, the realities of work can be a challenge both logistically and economically. There are ways though to make it less stressful for those finding their feet, particularly if you are in a position to impact company policy. Angela Acquaye, a Senior Account Manager at WITH, explained to me how thoughtful policies introduced by her female boss, made starting her career in PR possible. “At the beginning of my career, I relocated to London from Sheffield. The CEO at my company took an active role in my development, mentoring me through every aspect of the job. Most importantly, she put her values into practice with considerate company policies. The annual travel card given to employees was a gift from the gods for a newly relocated graduate in London and made my transition much easier.”

Make a small gesture, create a big difference.

Fran Cowan, VP of Marketing for the International Advertising Association (IAA) and Advertising Marketing Director at Twitch, told me how seemingly small gestures from people in her network have impacted her career. “Helping other people doesn't need to be a 'big lift' or long term commitment. A thoughtful introduction can be transformational: both my involvement in the IAA and the connection which led to my current job started with someone in my network including me in a meeting because they knew it would be mutually beneficial. Equally, while navigating the current WFH minefield, making a point of ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate is crucial. If you can see that someone has something on the tip of their tongue but lacks confidence or keeps getting interrupted, a well timed - ‘what do you think?’ or ‘let's let X finish her point’, goes a long way.”

Provide a platform for others.

A lot of women find recognising other people’s value easier than realising their own. Rather than fight this, a good way to diminish the dreaded imposter syndrome is to provide women you work with a platform to showcase their ability. Alex Ong, a Strategic Business Development manager at Adobe, explained how female colleagues have helped her realise her own power and value within their organisation. “Working with smart and tenacious women in the past has given me the opportunity to build my brand both internally through speaking opportunities at company summits, but also externally at industry events. With their support and encouragement, I have been able to go beyond what I thought I was capable of and realise my true potential.”

Invite someone to join in.

It’s easy after a couple of years of attending industry events to forget how intimidating walking into a room full of strangers can be. Inviting a junior woman in your team to join you at an event, making introductions and ensuring they feel included can have an enormous impact on how they approach events and networking in the future. Millie Fairbank, International Manager, Self-Serve Advertising at Spotify remembers how a female contact helped give her the break she needed. “I was fresh out of university, in a new country and still unsure about what I wanted to do. A woman who I had been connected with, took me under her wing and brought me to a series of conferences. It was at one of these events where I met the CEO of my previous company and my career began.”

Find your squad.

It can feel isolating to try and challenge inequality on your own, which is why it makes sense to tackle things as a collective. “The best advice I was given was to find your squad, the women who will support you and have your back, women who you can laugh, cry and rant with,’  Fern Potter, Executive Vice President and Global Strategy Officer at FCB/SIX explained. “It’s so much easier to challenge and create change when you work alongside others. It means you can go into everything from negotiation to networking with a solid foundation behind you.”

Challenging the way things have always been done can feel overwhelming, especially if you are in an environment resistant to change. However, rather than overcommitting to programmes or policies that feel unsustainable, making a small one-off gesture can provide a woman you know with the spark they need to fuel their own success. If the women in Obama’s administration can teach us anything, it’s that choosing to challenge doesn’t always mean blowing the door off the hinges. Sometimes, if enough women are knocking together, the door will open all by itself.

Lauren Saving is the EMEA Marketing Director at SpotX - one of our 2021 annual partners.