Stop Asking Women to Take Notes
You are intelligent, capable, and well-spoken and yet you’re asked to take notes during meetings. Congratulations, you are experiencing what most women in the workplace have experienced during their careers. If reading that made you roll your eyes, this article is for you.
While women entering the professional workplace is not new, the biases around women could make anyone believe a woman with 40+ years experience was a junior employee. Women in all industries regardless of experience level have all had their intelligence questioned by their (typically male) colleagues. Women across every industry face gendered stereotypes in the workplace that create an unnecessary requirement that women prove their intelligence, value, and that they deserve a seat at the table to voice opinions. Not to just take notes.
So, why are women asked to take notes? The answer is unconscious bias.
Unconscious bias most commonly shows up in how we speak. Gendered terms are so ingrained in our language and society, it can be difficult to recognize the damage those terms can carry on our perception of peers. Even well-meaning generalizations can affect our assumptions of someone’s ability. Take terms typically used to describe women like “emotional”, “caring” or “organized”, for example. How can these seemingly innocent terms affect our judgement?
Women are emotional — used when synonymous with “difficult”, “unreliable”, “unstable”. Referring to women as emotional puts into question her ability to make difficult decisions or be relied upon to solve complex problems.
Women are more caring —calling women more caring implies they are more nurturing or supportive, and keeps us from recognizing them as leaders.
Women are more organized— while being organized is an important professional trait, the organized individual is more likely to be assigned administrative tasks rather than leadership tasks.
You never hear men referred to as “bossy”, “opportunistic”, or “indecisive”, instead you hear “competent”, “versatile”, “analytical”. Why do we minimize women with patronizing language while using language indicating clear organizational value for men? The value women can provide to the workplace will remain untapped unless we recognize the the power our words carry and how they affect our hiring, promoting, and assigning behaviors.
In order for businesses to thrive off the inputs and intelligence of women in their workforce, it is critical that gender stereotypes are removed. It is known that businesses with more female leadership outperform those with male-dominated leadership, ringing true across multiple industries.
It’s time to level up your business. Stop asking women to take notes, ask them to lead.