I grew up believing that feminism and equality had won. As the child of progressive professionals, I watched my mother build a successful international public service career. All around me women were wining. In politics, public service, business, at the highest levels of government and science. All my girlfriends were high-achievers and academically inclined and every one of them has found success. There was no reason to believe that women were held back. This was before we had the knowledge and language around privilege, and I didn’t grasp what it meant to be part of a self-selecting group. But I would soon learn my own lessons on feminism in the corporate world.
When I moved to Canada in the mid-2000s for college and eventually work, my perspective changed. I graduated shortly after the end of the Great Recession and landed in a corporate job on Bay Street (Canada’s Wall Street) in Toronto. This is where I saw the reality of what it means to be a woman in the corporate world today. And even that doesn’t scratch the surface of what women as an entire segment of the population deal with.
As a young upstart in marketing in Toronto, I was living my dream. A disciple of “lean-in” feminism, I believed that the only thing standing between me and success was self-doubt and fear. If I could shed that skin, I’d be on my way to a bright future, where rewards are doled out on merit and circumstances never affect outcomes.
I’ve worked with some incredible men and women in my relatively short career so far. But I’ve seen a few trends in the world of work as they relate to women, in corporate Canada.
1. Racial bias is alive and well in corporate Canada
In 2017, Hadiya Roderique wrote a think-piece in the Globe and Mail titled Black on Bay Street where she chronicled her experience as a Black woman in Canada’s financial hub. The central thesis of Roderique’s article was that although overt racism is rare, it is the more subtle but persistent biases against women and people of color that build up over time.
My own experience of this was in the form of subtle comments made in performance reviews, not about my work or any real metrics of success but about things like “likeability,” with certain older male clients or being a “better fit” with a client who was the same race as me. The most obvious form of this was when I was briefly recounting my wedding to a new boss over lunch. She asked for a picture of my husband and her look of interest turned to shock. “Oh wow, he looks so normal,” she said. What she meant was white. These comments are not common but that they exist at all, in the upper echelons of Canadian society means that inherent biases towards women and people of color still walk the halls of power and money.
2. Women who advocate for other women, earn more than their respect
In my time on Bay street I had several female mentors and sponsors. These women weren’t just talented, they were also fearless. They spoke up for their teammates, protected them from unfair backlash (as is invariably a part of life in the corporate world), made sure their teams had a seat at the table and openly and unreservedly praised juniors for a job well done. I am extra touched when a woman advocates for me because of the many small, invisible biases she fights when doing so. I believe that when women speak up for each other it creates an unspoken bond of sisterhood. And that bond pays in spades over time.
3. Not all women empower others
There are women who advocate for women to break down barriers and there are some who want nothing more than to keep the status quo. They do this, by tearing other women down, wielding nominal power against potential allies. Often, these women are so threatened by even the whiff of someone else’s success, that their only option is to cut the legs out from under them.
I was on more than one occasion at the receiving end of hurtful putdowns by other women — often my superiors. I remember one instance where a senior leader praised me for my work. After she left the room, my boss turned to me and said “I wonder how she knows who you are. No one in senior leadership knows you. Nobody knows who you are.” I walked away from the encounter stung, my pride replaced with embarrassment. Over time, I empathized with her need to protect her ego, albeit at the expense of mine.
4. Lean-in feminism is corporate feminism
I’ve understood this only since I’ve left the corporate world. The lean-in brand of feminism espoused by Sheryl Sandberg in her book of the same name is corporate feminism. The issues, barriers, and biases, although applicable to women on some level in general, apply primarily to a narrow, privileged, self-selecting group of people. Successful women that are already at the top. Even junior women at these places have such a tremendous advantage by being in rooms where discussions around gender bias in the workplace are being had. After I left the corporate world, my definition and understanding of gender and inequality on a larger scale expanded. I understood the subtle ways in which women, women identified, non-binary people and people of color are overlooked and held back at work and just about everywhere else.
5. Women will be some of your biggest champions after you leave
When I launched Women in Our Town, like many women at the threshold of a new venture, I was full of self-doubt. I struggled with imposter-syndrome. I doubted my writing and my right to use the platform to express myself and share stories. The reception and support I received from women — girlfriends, former colleagues, ex-bosses and even strangers astounded me. What started as the germ of an idea, grew into a full-fledged content platform because like me there are so many people who want to amplify women’s voices and understand the real need for it.
Many of the observations I’ve made have been about women and how we interact, especially in a competitive world. A friend of mine recently observed that men create spaces, often hostile, but women are criticized for perpetuating the hostility. It’s true, because the corporate world is inherently male. Made by men and designed for them. Women are still working to carve out their space in that world. Sometimes that space is created by leaning in to the same behaviors that perpetuate racial, gender and economic bias. And sometimes it’s created by dismantling them. But more often than not, incredible things are possible when we come together. With each other and with our allies.
I recently spoke to a mentor, who couldn’t understand my misplaced (in his opinion) belief that women should advocate for each other. He said “it’s not like men promote each other. Do you think men became successful and powerful by supporting each other?” Exactly. And one look at the world we are trying to fix shows us that there may be a better way. I still believe feminism won, it’s just a more inclusive battle that holds men and women accountable for creating the world we are trying to build.
