VIEWPOINT
JANE KENYON
Girls need role models that inspire them to lead, and a workplace that values female talent
Having spent the past 10 years working with women and teenage girls from all walks of life, my learning curve on female empowerment has been fast and furious. My conclusions, however, are not always pretty or comforting.
Our classrooms are not bursting with girls excited at the prospect of a corporate job.
Even the bright ones destined for blue chip careers are ill-prepared for the misogyny of university life or for the first rung of the ladder, where they will earn less than their male counterparts from day one.
We may have opened the door to equal opportunities over the past 100 years, but we are failing
to equip our girls with the resilience to make it in our 80/20 testosterone-fuelled world.
In 2014, The Future Foundation interviewed 500 girls across the UK. It found that one in four girls between the ages of 11 and 17 now spend more time on their appearance than they do on their homework.
The report concluded that girls are failing to reach their full potential because of low self-esteem about how they look. This could have a disastrous effect on our economy.
The research predicts that by 2050 this national teen identity crisis could cost us well over 300,000 future business women, lawyers, doctors, 60 MPs, and who knows how many entrepreneurs.
And it’s not just the eternal goal to look like a Barbie doll that is disempowering girls. Early sexualisation, the internet, porn, reality TV and a media that tells them they cannot have it all unless they look ‘hot’ and remain the principal child carer and a good wife, all play their part.
This challenging landscape demands super powers in order to survive it unharmed.
As coaches and mentors, what questions should we be asking? Where should the focus of our attention be?
The answer is simple – we should focus on the development and promotion of real role models in the workplace. This means women who can show them a better way, creating a workplace that values women and female leadership.
We need to let girls know that we see and hear them and understand the challenges they face;
that we will support, challenge, educate, inspire and nurture them.
But here’s the reality. Nothing will change unless we demand equality, show zero tolerance for workplace sexism, campaign for more affordable childcare and family leave, create more equal relationships where domestic chores and childcare are a joint responsibility and dump Little Miss Perfect, the People Pleaser and Superwoman.
Now is the time for gumption and courage, not to play it safe. If we do not lift as we climb and change the corporate environment, we risk losing a generation of bright girls from the talent pipeline.
At the moment, we are all playing a part in disempowering the next generation. They may not be listening to what we say, but they are certainly watching what we do.
Jane Kenyon is the author of Diva Wisdom: Find Your Voice, Rock Your World, Pass it On! (Panoma Press, 2015)
Jane Kenyon is a serial entrepreneur, intuitive coach, inspirational speaker, youth advocate, keen blogger and writer, and an ambassador for female empowerment. She passionately believes that the definition of feminism is focused on the equality of opportunity and the right to be free and safe.
www.wellheeleddivas.com
www.girlsoutloud.org.uk