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How to Have Meetings That Are Fair to Every Woman At the Table
Let’s adjust the rules so that it works for females as well.
Having a seat at the table doesn’t mean you have a voice.
I’m facing this reality more and more. I recently worked on a project with a bunch of guys, and whether they knew it or not, they made expressing myself feel suffocating. I’d barely find an opening to speak up — and on the rare occasions I did, I’d get pushed back in an instant.
This struggle is playing out all over our modern work environments. Multiple studies confirm women tend to speak way less than men during meetings, they’re more likely to be interrupted, and their ideas are taken less seriously.
Yet, being female shouldn’t influence whether someone can communicate their ideas in a business set-up or any set-up for that matter.
Here’s how we could run meetings where every voice gets heard and respected regardless of gender.
Female Behaviour?
The most obvious solution would be to “empower” women to change. Or, to put it bluntly, blame the problem on female behavior and then head the hell out of the discussion. Forget that the problem has ever existed; women will solve this shit if they want to have a voice.
