Could you set up a meeting, please?
Hi friend,
๐ and thank you! Last week's edition about masculinity contest culture got by far the most feedback in the short but sweet history of my little newsletter. I appreciate to hear from all of you and it's weirdly comforting to know that we're all facing the same struggles. Many of you also โ rightly โ asked me how to handle these situations. I keep asking myself the same and there's obviously no quick fix. But here are two possible (or rather: necessary) strategic approaches:
1. Male allies
Women can't do it alone. We need men to understand that what helps women helps everybody and that supporting women will not reduce their own opportunities. This is step one. Step two is to encourage them to become active allies. I know a lot of men who would consider themselves feminists and believe in equality. However, few of them actually do something. Either because they are blind to everyday sexism or because they are afraid that speaking up about gender issues would hurt their standing in the company.
The good news, however, is that we can start changing this today. Quartz, for example, published a handy five-step-plan on "how to be a better male ally". Most of it is pretty obvious, but one aspect had never crossed my mind before โ although it seems like an easy, non-threatening course of action: Sharing the non-promotable workload.
A while ago, Margarete Stokowski also published a comprehensive list of "how to be a feminist" (in ๐ฉ๐ช). These are some of my favorites ones to bring to the office (they're easy, too):
7. Interrupt men who interrupt women.
26. Don't laugh about your colleagues' sexist jokes. Remember the following sentence: "I don't find that funny."
37. Don't take part in all-male panels. Suggest a woman from your team instead. Quote female experts.
39. If you believe you deserve applause for caring about the basic principles of gender equality instead of seeing it as being a decent human being โ think again.
As a final note on this, here's my personal last resort I use when I desperately need men to side with me on an urgent gender issue. It's a bit of a dirty trick and I've only used it once so far โ but it worked like magic. It's asking men to relate to the issue on a deeply personal level. As in: "Would you do the same / would you remain just as passive if I was your daughter/wife/mother?"
2. Promoting women
Plenty of statistics and research have proven that diverse leadership teams are beneficial for businesses at large and for the wellbeing of all employees. Looking at the number of women in leadership positions, we're still far from parity and any kind of diversity though. Which leaves organizations with one major task: promoting women and people of color.
How to quickly raise your number of women in leadership positions was just impressively demonstrated by The Atlantic. In 2016, women made up just 17 percent of editorial leadership at the news organization. Three years later, 63 percent of the newsroom leaders are female.
The secret to this striking increase is revealed in this Nieman Lab article: The Atlantic simply started promoting women based on the same principles applied to men, as explained by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. After his wife introduced him to the concept that women are judged on experience and men are judged on potential, he looked at his (female) workforce with different eyes:
๐ Last week I was doubting whether to include food in my #popculturepleasures. You may guess which link was clicked the most. Yes. I hope ya'll enjoyed the veggie Shepherd's Pie! I'm taking the hint and will include more food content in the newsletter and maybe launch a feminist food blog at one point. Baby steps.
To put a feminist spin on the topic already, here's an enlightening piece on how men and women were conditioned to like different foods. Paul Freedman unpacks how a steady stream of dietary advice, corporate advertising and magazine articles have created an artificial division between male and female tastes.
โญ๏ธ Moving on to my actual #popculturepleasures:
Elizabeth Day had a session with a famous Shaman and it was weiiird. Like "she HAS TO be making this up" weird. Her article for YOU magazine hits the perfect spot between funny and moving and it just leaves you wondering ...
I very much enjoyed The Cut author Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz swooning over Dev Patel in this piece. I remember crushing on Patel while watching (and re-watching) Newsroom and whole heartedly agree with: "He doesnโt inspire knee-jerk horniness. Rather, he radiates warmth and beauty, like an expensive candle." And then there's that accent!
Staying on topic, you should definitely watch the Modern Love episode which inspired this ode to Dev Patel. I have been a huge fan of the NYT column for years and thus have approached the Amazon series very skeptically. But: Two episodes in and I'm enchanted!
For my fellow foodies: Make these easy and divine pumpkin muffins! And save me one!
What did you take pleasure in lately?
Have a lovely week,
Anna
PS: See you at Impact Hub Hamburg tonight?