Girls Versus Girls

Oftentimes, when we think about why gender discrimination exists, we generally pinpoint it on the men in the environment, which clearly is the most prevalent reason, but not the only reason. Gender discrimination can stem from women as well whether for implicit or explicit reasons. In this blog post, I want to take the time to discuss this aspect of the fight for equality that is possibly the one that hinders us the most.

Let's think about it this way. How many times have you heard about girls insulting each other because of some outside reason? How many times have you heard about girls negatively commenting on another girl's ability to self promote and be confident? I can certainly answer yes to these questions, and I would not doubt that you could, too.

In this age of social media, I would argue that this has become even more widespread. On the one side, when I scroll through my Instagram feed, I see posts filled with supportive comment sections, but, on the other hand, especially on work or even sports related posts, I see a lack of those comments.

"For token women, the price of being ‘one of the boys’ is a willingness to turn occasionally against 'the girls'" - A UC Berkeley study.

Researchers at the University of Berkeley in California uncovered that "token women in male-dominated firms may be selected into leadership roles partly on their willingness to be 'team players' who act to protect the status quo." In a male-dominated field like many STEM fields are, from engineering to computer science, this thinking results in women discriminating against themselves just to fit in. In school, STEM classes oftentimes have a stark gender difference. When you are part of the minority, you are less likely to want to stand out. On top of that, when one girl here or there does choose to speak up, the other girls are less likely to support and join her because of the risk of not being a "team player." At a young age, it is difficult to gather the courage and confidence to go against the group, resulting in the punishment of those who do.

"Women (and men to a lesser extent) find self- promoting women less competent, less socially attractive, and subsequently less hirable than self- promoting men" - an article in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

This "team player" mentality can translate to us doubting each other in the workplace. This misogyny is internalized in our minds as young girls. In order to make progress against gender discrimination, we have to stop discriminating against ourselves. This means supporting and empowering those girls around us and uniting in our common fight for equality.