Monday Musing: Do we really have autonomy or are we more susceptible to external factors than we realise?

Women in Parking presented their first webinar in February and it was a real treat to hear Mandy Hickson, a former RAF pilot, speak about the challenges she encountered during her career in an all-male environment and I had some genuine laugh-out-loud moments as well as some thought-provoking ones.

Mandy’s presentation was called “Choose your flight path”, but it was clear to everyone she only had one destination in mind.  Most of us don’t know what we want to do; one certainly doesn’t dream about being in parking!  But we may think we want to be a manager at some point, or develop an app, be an architect or a lighting engineer; careers or jobs that can lead to an association with parking.  Not all careers are clear or visible, and flight paths, as Mandy suggested, are not linear, but have twists and turns that one hopes spiral upwards from experience and knowledge gained.

Mandy’s familial influences shaped her career choice as it does for most of us, and this meant she had a strong affinity to the armed forces and to the planes, but at the time women weren’t permitted to fly a fighter jet.   If it had just been about flying, Mandy could have chosen to fly any plane, however despite the obvious set-back, she chose to continue her RAF training.  I heard the phrase ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’, but this is clearly not true.  Mandy didn’t have a role model to follow, so the message I take from this is, why wait for someone else to be a pioneer?

However, it does take societal attitudes to change in order for women to progress, it cannot be done alone.  Fortunately for Mandy her persistence and support from male co-workers changed attitudes towards women in certain roles, but there were still other challenges to be overcome in the form of aptitude tests, which were found to contain unconscious bias.  This has been a common complaint in similar tests over the years and it is not surprising as men dominated every aspect of life outside the home (and still do).  Tests designed by men to test ….er….. other men!  Even the humble IQ test is biased towards maths and science and was used as the only measure of intelligence at one point.  By noticing patterns, asking questions, challenging stereotypes and recognising cycles of reinforcement these established norms have been broken down.  Intelligence and aptitude measures are now more inclusive, leading to a fairer and more diverse workplace across many sectors.

It would seem though that publishing is one sector that hasn’t moved with the times.  Mandy’s experience of rejection on the basis that ‘plane books are read by men who wouldn’t read a book by a woman’ is all too common.  Women having to hide their identity under a male pseudonym or be reduced to their initials is ridiculous!  Women can only be seen in history if their names are visible.  My aunt, who is 80, had her book published in February under her initials because she too had the same reaction, “men won’t read this book if they know it’s by a woman”.  Is this not a poor reflection of male readership?  Boys read less than girls, but despite this every woman can be excluded from reading a book because of this worn-out trope.  Is that fair?

We heard about team work and the armed forces are undoubtedly experts, honed from centuries of conflict, as well as empowerment to speak up and/or challenge the status quo.  Everyone should feel empowered to do this, but those who are in a position of power and decision making must be open to receiving feedback otherwise this ideal cannot be met.  If I remember correctly, Mahatma Gandhi used to arrive early at important meetings and sit in each delegate’s chair to understand their perspective.  It is in essence a training exercise and by enacting situations we can prepare for challenges and work out a plan to influence proceedings with the ultimate goal of a proportionate and fairer outcome.

In business, women are proving their worth as competent leaders as the latest data shows that companies with female leaders outperform those dominated by men. 

And finally, we self-determine our success measure and this is what can lead us to feel as if we are an imposter, but remember, this is an internal measurement only and not a reflection of the group around you or a measure of your contribution to it.

Happy International Women’s Day.