Joaquin Miguel G.

Manalo INDIVIDUAL PROPOSAL ESSAY

183101
The Myth of Women and Low Self-Esteem in the Workplace Realm
It is irrefutable the fact that men dominate high and senior positions in many areas, most
especially the corporate world. Grant Thornton in his ​Women in 2019 Business Report found that
in 2019, only 29% of senior management roles are held by women, and that too is the highest
number ever on record. Thornton also stated in his report that in 87% of global businesses, there
is at least only one woman in a senior management role (Thornton, 2019).
This is because women are generally perceived not as leaders but merely contributors and
participants. How they act and move in society is deeply ingrained in psychosocial and cultural
structures that persist for generations and are deeply resistant to change. Women are known and
expected to have greater focus on the community needs which is more on the empathic and
humanistic contributions - as oftentimes applied in workplaces, tempering her own drives to look
out for others’ needs and make sure they are okay, which is commonly good (Gourgecheon,
2018). However, when compared to how men usually are, the said trait then becomes derogatory
to women as they are being constrained to the aforementioned. This is due to the fact that it is
customary that men are perceived as driven and possessing natural leadership capabilities.
As it is ingrained within the psychosocial and cultural structures of society, because of
the preconceived gender norms, women therefore are perceived with low self-esteem. Its
manifestation are especially prevalent in the corporate world wherein majority of those with
senior or leadership position are men.The majority of women, on the other hand usually fills up
entry-level to junior roles in corporate workplaces.
According to The Atlantic, there exists what is called ‘confidence gap’ between men and
women which basically says that women are less self-assured than men. As the weight of
confidence is tantamount to competence when it comes to success; women because of their lack
of self-assurance are said to be less successful than men (Kay & Shipman, 2014). Dina
Gerdeman of Harvard Business School, in her article “How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s
Self-Confidence”, she said that women are known to lack confidence in fields that men are
stereotypically believed to perform more strongly in, such as science, math, and technology.
They are also more likely than men to shrug off the praise and lowball their own abilities.
Furthermore, in her interview with Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Katherine B.
Coffman, she said that such weak self-confidence are holding back some women from pursuing
prestigious roles in professions they believe they will not excel in, despite possessing the
necessary skills to succeed (Gerdeman, 2019).
However, a different set data says otherwise but presents the same aspect of sexism and
gender stereotypes about women. Prudy Gourguechon, in her article “Women in the Workplace:
The Myth of the Confidence Gap” in the Forbes website, disclosed about a recent research
explaining that the widely-held idea that women have less confidence in their abilities compared
to men is an incorrect interpretation of appearance. It is for the fact that there exists an inequity
in promotions as well as poor representation of women at the top levels of corporate leadership.
Contrary to the previous notion, women, as a matter of fact are likely to be on equal footing with
Joaquin Miguel G. Manalo INDIVIDUAL PROPOSAL ESSAY
183101
men in terms of confidence. What usually hampers them from exemplifying it in the workplace
is because they accurately perceive that there would be less acceptance if they are to become
more self-assertive (Gourgecheon, 2018). Nonetheless, given the data, the belief and perception
toward women having low self-esteem still persists.
Deviating from what is traditionally and generally believed and expected of them usually
generates unfavorable reactions from most of the society thereby entailing disadvantageous
repercussions. Women are held from fully exhibiting their strengths and capabilities because of
the existence of constraining gender norms. Thus, they are not able to maximize their real
potential. Gender norms establishes stereotypes that is if not complied with, are frowned upon by
society and sub-societies like the workplace. There are acts and characteristics that is when
exhibited by women, usually yields disadvantageous repercussions. The most prevalent being
what is called the “backlash effect” wherein according to Stéphanie Thomson of The Atlantic, it
is basically being less hireable and likable when women exhibits confidence. This is because
rather than being competitive, powerful, and forceful; focusing on accomplishing her self-made
goals and agenda, a woman is expected to concentrate her energy more on and for the
community around her (Thomson, 2019). These then reinforces the perception that women have
low self-esteem because such are what is expected from them.
Focusing on the Philippine context, although the country is known to be among the
gender-neutral nations, there still exists forms of gender discrimination in the workplace realm
leading to the perception of women as people with lack of self-esteem and capabilities. An article
entitled “The real deal on gender inequality in PH workplace” in the ABS-CBN news discloses
that there is still sufficient evidence supporting that some women still face pregnancy, prejudice,
sexual harassment, and gender pay gap. Furthermore, jobs, in terms of post-graduate and
supervisory levels have gender gap as well because bigger companies have more men on top of
the management (Jobstreet, 2019).
Such reinforces a false notion of inferiority and lack of self-esteem toward women in the
workplace realm. With that, there is a need for a change or an adjustment in the system. Most
women, within themselves, are already empowered and are aware of their strengths and
capabilities. They are cognizant of the fact that what they possess are equal to what men have,
and that they can keep pace with them, or outperform even. While there is still a need for an
advocacy, movement, campaign, and the like in order to empower women and advance their
rights and being, there is as well a need to provide and/or adjust an ideal environment that will be
open and friendly to women. An environment that encourages and normalizes them to be
confident, powerful, ambitious, and self-assertive just as men are.
A short film is recommended in order to spread or disseminate all the aforementioned to
the audience effectively. The film must show all the necessary information in a brief yet
comprehensive manner such as a descriptive show of statistics and research about the
self-confidence of women in the workplace realm. There must also be a realistic demonstration
as to how an idealized environment or society for women can be achieved. According to
Joaquin Miguel G. Manalo INDIVIDUAL PROPOSAL ESSAY
183101
Gourgecheon’s article in Forbes, some of the practices that could be done in order to foster an
ideal workplace environment for women are; (1) Managers could make sure that women speak
first in team meetings—or at a minimum make sure that they speak at all. This is especially
important when calls include remote participants, (2) “talking over” a woman could be framed as
bad for the company and bad for business and called out whenever it occurs; and (3) women
team members could be asked to lead presentations to a larger group whenever possible. The said
practices must be demonstrated in the short film. Lastly, there must be a show of how the
idealized environment would look like. Currently, there are countries and corporations that can
be considered “ideal”. Google Inc. is known to have recently adjusted their environment in order
to narrow the gender gap between men and women, fostering a much more friendly environment
for women to have high confidence and self-esteem (Gourgecheon, 2018). Also, in Indonesia,
there is a flip on gender wag gap as women are paid more than men for the same job (Jobstreet,
2019).
The film would be an effective approach in order to catalyze a movement that will
establish the ideal environment as it is through a communication campaign that will immediately
appeal to the viewers and straightforwardly provide them with the necessary information about
the status of women in the workplace realm, and through the demonstration of practices - what
must be done in order to achieve the ideal environment.
Joaquin Miguel G. Manalo INDIVIDUAL PROPOSAL ESSAY
183101
Bibliography
1. Thornton, G. (n.d.). Women in business: building a blueprint for action. Women in
business: building a blueprint for action (pp. 5–6). Retrieved from
https://www.grantthornton.global/globalassets/global-insights---do-not-edit/2019/women-
in-business/gtil-wib-report_grant-thornton-spreads-low-res.pdf
2. Gourguechon, P. (2018, November 10). Women In The Workplace: The Myth Of The
Confidence Gap. Retrieved November 18, 2019, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/prudygourguechon/2018/11/06/women-in-the-workplace-th
e-myth-of-the-confidence-gap/#5622756c6fd0​.
3. Kay, K., & Shipman, C. (2015, August 26). The Confidence Gap. Retrieved November
18, 2019, from
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/​.
4. Gerdeman, D. (2019, February 25). How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman's
Self-Confidence. Retrieved November 22, 2019, from
https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-gender-stereotypes-less-than-br-greater-than-kill-a-wom
an-s-less-than-br-greater-than-self-confidence​.
5. Thomson, S. (2018, September 21). A Lack of Confidence Isn't What's Holding Back
Working Women. Retrieved November 18, 2019, from
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/09/women-workplace-confidence-gap/5
70772/​.
6. Jobstreet. (2019, September 13). The real deal on gender inequality in PH workplace.
Retrieved November 18, 2019, from
https://news.abs-cbn.com/advertorial/life/09/13/19/the-real-deal-on-gender-inequality-in-
ph-workplace​.