Gender Gap in Self-Promoting

In the current generation of women entering the workforce, female empowerment is now something that is highly recognized. The female gender is becoming stronger and more confident in regular society. Yet, in the work environment, women are less likely to self-promote compared to men. In the article “Why Don’t Women Self-Promote As Much As Men?” written by Christine Exley and Judd Kessler, this gender gap is investigated further. There are two factors identified as causing this gap, confidence and strategic incentives. As a woman, I agree that these factors can be a barrier for other women to successfully self-promote themselves. In this post I will talk about my personal experiences with this subject, why I believe this gender gap exists and how we could eliminate it in the future.  

Personally, I’ve experienced in my work life an opportunity to self-promote myself. I work at a restaurant back home and I’ve worked there for 3 years now. I worked as a hostess, food runner, bar back and head of the expo line. Last summer when I came home from school and started working again, I felt that I merited a promotion to become a server. I took it upon myself to ask my managers if I could get such a promotion. I’m so happy that I did because right away my manager acknowledged how I excelled in all the other positions I have worked and he too believed I was ready to move up. However, it was extremely tough for me to go to him and ask. I can’t say that I am a very confident person nor do I easily take initiative like this. It was extremely hard to build up the courage to go and ask my manager. I was scared he was going to laugh in my face and tell me I wasn’t ready. In order to push that fear aside, I told myself that I have nothing to lose and what is the worst that can happen if I ask. When I finally did go to him, it was very uncomfortable to talk highly of myself. After talking to him, I did become a server but I also felt like I gained more respect from my manager as well because I took the initiative to ask.

However, this is a bit different than preparing a self-assessment for a self-promotion. If my manager had handed me some type of survey asking how I think I’m performing, I think I would be way harder on myself and maybe not be as confident about my skills. Especially if I had to compare myself to other employees, I know I wouldn’t give myself as positive of an assessment. I would always be thinking of someone else who is more deserving of the position than me because I’m a very encouraging person especially towards my work colleagues.

I think this gender gap between men and women self-promoting themselves exists because of gender stereotypes that society has created. Men have been characterized as the strong, confident providers, whereas women are seen as caring and sensitive. I think because of these stereotypes, in a workplace environment it’s hard for women to break the female stereotypes to be just as confident as men. Confidence is one of the main factors identified in the article that explain this gender gap. Because of their confidence, men have a way bigger ego than women. It’s easier for them to hype themselves up, whereas women normally need someone else to do it for them. The definition of manly is to have courage and strength, which is why it’s easier for men to carry themselves that way especially in a competitive work environment.

Men are always looking for advantages and opportunities to prove themselves as dominant. Compared to women, men are more likely to find a way to cheat the system because they are so confident in themselves. The other factor identified in the article is strategic incentive. In a competitive environment, men are always trying to find ways to impress everyone else, especially women they feel threatened by. From experience, it’s very intimidating most times competing against men. Their confidence is so noticeable that you immediately feel like you are already behind. I’ve also noticed myself holding back sometimes because I’m too afraid of embarrassing myself in front of men. One thing I love about Brescia is that in class if there are no males or it is a female professor, I am definitely feel more willing to speak up.

I believe that in order to eliminate the gender gap in self-promotion, women need to start empowering other women more. A woman’s confidence isn’t lacking because of negativity from men but from other women. Lots of women (me included) can get way too caught up in comparing ourselves to the looks, personal lives and professional successes of other women. We end up blinding ourselves from opportunities to benefit ourselves. Women need to focus on how to work on their individual skills and abilities so that every woman can be the most strong and confident version of themselves. Once we have that level of confidence, we will be better able to recognize the opportunities that are presented to us and have the courage to fight harder for them.