How To Advocate For Inclusion In A Male Dominated Industry
Episode 267 | Author: Jaclyn Mahoney
My name is Jaclyn Mahoney, and in addition to being a woman in the sports industry, I recently joined the Bossed Up Team as a Job Search Coach for HIRED: A Job Search Accelerator. Today, I’ll be taking over as a guest host to offer three practical suggestions for how to advocate for inclusion within a male-dominated industry.
I remember when I first realized that being the only woman at my company would be a challenge. I was exploring the Slack channels my office uses as the primary method of communication, when one of my coworkers posted a well-reasoned opinion about the Philadelphia Eagles’ playoff strategy. As I mentioned, I work in the sports industry so the fact that my coworker posted about football wasn’t surprising. What was surprising, however, was that no one acknowledged his post. No one! Was this co-worker the pariah of the office? Was what I considered a well-reasoned opinion actually an opinion not worthy of acknowledgement? Would my co-workers acknowledge me if I posted something?
What I soon learned was that there was nothing wrong with my co-worker or his opinion. The reaction to his post was consistent with conversational styles that are natural for men albeit unfamiliar to women, like me.
When I accepted a position at my company, I had steeled myself for microaggressions and sexist comments, but I had not prepared for different conversational styles — this was a different kind of challenge. For the past three years, I’ve been working to address this challenge by advocating for inclusion within a male-dominated industry. If you’re in a similar situation, here are three practical strategies you can use to make a difference at your organization and in your industry.
Embrace the Power of Being the Note Taker
While some of us may join an organization in a male-dominated industry at the leadership level, more of us will enter at a level with little to no authority. The good news is that no matter what level of authority you have, you can advocate for inclusion.
To that end, one of my favorite tips is to embrace the power of being the note-taker. Gilda Radner, one of the three women in the original cast of Saturday Night Live, once recounted her strategy for having her jokes incorporated into sketches — she always volunteered to take notes. As she transcribed the brainstorming sessions of comedians like John Belushi or Chevy Chase, she emphasized and de-emphasized certain tropes and proposed new ways to phrase jokes.
Now, imagine you’re in a meeting at your organization, and after the meeting, you take the time to summarize your notes and send them to the team. That is time well-spent. Your summary is now a record of that meeting — a record that people can and will refer to at future decision-making junctures. So why not add a little commentary? Adding note that says “How would this management change affect female employees?” can plant the seed for inclusion.
Cultivate Male Allies
So now that you’ve planted the seed for inclusion, how do you help that seed grow? Let’s talk about male allies. There are plenty of reasons to cultivate male allies but perhaps the most underappreciated reason, especially in a male-dominated field, is that male allies can confer legitimacy. Gaining legitimacy, by which I mean being accepted within an organization, is the first hurdle in building trust and influence. Once you have trust and influence, it becomes much easier to actualize change that promotes inclusion. In male-dominated industries, men are the default in-group, and as anyone who has ever lived through adolescence will tell you — if someone in the in-group accepts you, then it’s a lot easier to convince everyone else to accept you too!
Make the Case that Investing in Inclusion is Aligned with Your Organization’s Strategic Goals
The third suggestion for how to advocate for inclusion within a male-dominated industry is to make the case that investing in inclusion is aligned with your organization’s strategic goals. For example, if one of your organization’s goals is to provide a return for owners and investors, you might want to familiarize yourself with research that shows that diverse teams and inclusive decision-making lead to better business outcomes. Once your organization recognizes goal alignment, it's easier to make the case that investments in inclusive efforts are justified.
So there you have it — three potential strategies for advocating for inclusion within a male-dominated industry: embrace the power of being the note-taker, cultivate male allies, and make the case that investing in inclusion is aligned with your organization’s strategic goals.
But before I leave you, let me offer one word of caution and one word of hope. Be cautious about confusing the fight for inclusion in a male-dominated industry with the struggle of being disrespected in a toxic workplace. The fight for inclusion should feel more like a struggle to challenge systems that have never been questioned than a struggle to go to work every day. The fight for inclusion should feel like you are working toward an industry that values employees of all kinds.
And now let’s end with hope. The struggle and the work that you put in to take notes and to build allies and to make the case for goal alignment — that struggle is worth it. When we do the work instead of grinning and bearing it, it makes it easier for those who come after us. By doing the work of advocating for inclusion, we are truly lifting as we climb.
If you’re feeling othered in a male-dominated industry, I would be happy to continue this conversation! Connect with me on LinkedIn, or follow me on Twitter.
And if you are hoping to pivot into a male-dominated industry but don’t know where to start or are feeling stuck, you can also connect with me via HIRED: our job search accelerator program. To learn more, head to bossedup.org/gethired.