Margarita M. Phillips 
We hear a lot about the glass ceiling. We hear a lot about the wage gap. We hear a lot about the fight for women’s equality at work. We warn women entering the workforce to expect disparities, sexism and abuse. We warn mothers that they will not be taken seriously if they are absent.
It is all real. Everything is valid. And it is essential to keep in mind.
But here’s what we don’t talk about enough: Women are here to crush it. Not really. Were crushing this.
I don’t mean that in a patronizing “nice job, ladies, you’ve hit the minimum standard and been able to function in a man’s world.” I mean we start to see barriers as arbitrary social constructs. We do not succeed in patriarchal and traditional terms, but on our own terms. We set our own standards. We don’t wait for someone to give us a seat at the table. We pull out a chair or, better yet, build our own table.
None of this minimizes the very real threats that exist – to all women, and especially those with intersecting and marginalized identities. Micro-aggression, exclusion and outright violence happen every day.
We’re a long way from closing that wage gap or running 50% of Fortune 500 companies. I’m certainly not saying we should abandon these efforts – they are essential. And yet, they are not the whole story. These are all measures of success put in place by a structure that was built by, promotes and uplifts men. If we measure our success alone by these standards we will feel inadequate and inferior when it could not be further from the truth.
The problem is to assume that we are only, ultimately equal when we reach these metrics.
Meanwhile, we are here setting and crushing new standards – of thought leadership, decisive action, advocacy, creativity, innovation, adaptability and resilience – all of which do not. are not as easy to quantify and might not get the titles or glossy titles, but make a real and substantial difference.
Of course, they also do this in a very public way. President Biden’s staff are predominantly female – but jobs that are least publicly advertised are no less critical. At the start of 2020, women occupied just over 50% of the US labor market.
And you know what happened next. The pandemic has highlighted a burning truth that has long marked the difference between men and women in the American workforce: It doesn’t matter how many hours women spend in a job considered part of the market. of work, they still fill double or even triple roles as employees and primary caregivers while taking care of the vast majority of household chores.
The idea that women are “behind” in the labor economy is misogynistic at its height. Not only does he force women to meet a standard set by men, he also does so while expecting a lot more at home. and failing to provide the infrastructure to make that long-distance wait reasonable, let alone sustainable without sacrificing mental and physical health. Add to that the discrimination and abuse that women too often suffer in the workplace (the #MeToo movement has made some serious headway but there is a lot of work to be done) and it is an absolute miracle that women are doing well. present each day to do so. And not just show up, but shake things up. It’s no coincidence that the pandemic has seen so many women innovate to help businesses navigate unprecedented upheaval and cross the steep shift to remote working. The world has given us a lot of practice to quickly adapt to situations that were not designed for our comfort or convenience.
So no, we are not “behind”. We are showing the way.
And yet, just because we can pulling off this breathtaking act of juggling household chores and wages while fighting injustice doesn’t mean we should have to.
Perhaps the new advocacy for women shouldn’t be to ensure that we get equal ‘status’ and recognition if that equality means upholding patriarchal norms while ignoring the realities of our lives, our needs and our unbalanced responsibilities.
Ironically, the same pandemic that has disproportionately overburdened women has also opened avenues for respite. Among them: flexibility, reduced commute time, more time spent with family, increased attention to sanity, and far fewer people commenting on the length of our skirts. The workplace has been humanized, with noisy family members and pets and dirty dishes in the background (although to be fair, it didn’t happen the same either, and is not judged equally).
This new workplace everywhere may allow some women to do more in less time. It is not a complete solution, far from it, and it also does not adapt to frontline workers who do not have the possibility of working remotely. But it does establish a foundation upon which many women and American businesses in general can build.
Many people ask women to speak up more, to disagree with respect, to ask for what they need, and not to apologize for their expertise. But this is only the beginning. Encouraging all of this without rethinking the traditional idea and measures of success is tantamount to making women antagonists and disruptors. It always means an uphill battle. I prefer to see an environment where women don’t fight against existing power structures, but rather build new ones of which they are the pillars – not the people who cut corners on those pillars.
If that seems unlikely – or if it sounds like too big a change – just remember how different the business world was 18 months ago. Change is happening. We automate, we secure data and endpoints the same whether they’re down the hall or around the world. The Everywhere Workplace means that much of the existing structure has been dismantled and reconsidered. Now that the business landscape has changed, we have an opportunity to ensure that it will not be rebuilt using the same bricks as before.
