I’ve been thinking a lot about Elizabeth Warren lately, and not because of anything related to banks or consumer protection.
Six months ago, at the urging of my amazingly attuned and supportive dad, I picked up television newswoman Mika Brzezinski's book Knowing Your Value, about the reasons why women are so terrible at obtaining raises, and suggestions for neutralizing the problem. Of all the anecdotes from the successful women interviewed for the book, the story that resonated most with me came from Warren, who talked about obstacles she discovered long before her run-in with Congress and the banking industry.
When Warren started teaching law in Houston, she was asked by her associate dean to teach what she describes in the book as "the lousy course at the lousy hour on the lousy day in the lousy room." Following a familiar pattern for women, she said yes. Later, when she became associate dean, she found that female professors were similarly willing to step up for the sake of the team, while male professors were adamant that they would not be accepting the lousy assignment. In a team setting, Warren tells Brzezinski, women examine a mess or a challenge and think, "Someone needs to do this. Someone needs to mop the floor. Okay, hand me the mop."
That story, like much of Brzezinski's book, hit me like a punch to the gut. How many times, in that week alone, had I set aside my own work, compromised my own deadlines, to help a colleague, even if the request wasn't marked "urgent"? How many times over a career had I sacrificed my own interests for the sake of the team?
Even now I feel guilty just posing the question. Aren't I being selfish for worrying about my own needs ahead my colleagues' needs? Isn't my success intertwined with that of the team? Mustn't I contribute my share if I expect to benefit individually?
This no doubt is exactly the kind of rationalizing that causes women to wind up, so often, holding the figurative mop. And it's not just affecting our careers. I am married to a modern man who has progressive ideas and takes a lot of pride in the work he sees me do. Yet when a glass breaks in the kitchen, or my daughter's latest art project leaves a mess in the living room, I'm usually the one, like a lot of women, who is literally holding the mop.
I've made an early New Year's resolution this year—not for the purpose of putting myself ahead of others at work, nor for the purpose of adding any more tension to the daily give-and-take that is marriage—but to at least be cognizant of when I’m subjugating my own interests or needs for the sake of others, and to examine the reasons why, so that the follow-through leaves me feeling good about myself for being a team player, instead of feeling like the sucker who just can’t let go of the mop.
This tension—so prevalent among women—has huge implications for industry. It impacts advancement, compensation and collaboration; it affects the every day tone of the workplace environment shared by women and men.
Sometimes it helps to know you’re not alone in facing a challenge. That's one of the reasons why I have valued the opportunity to get to know the amazing women featured this month in our ranking of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking, along with our lists of the 25 Women to Watch and the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance. Many of these women have confronted similar issues, and have found ways to conquer the biases and natural tendencies that so often constrain the professional advancement of women. I am inspired by their successes, and I hope you will be, too.
Heather Landy
Editor in Chief
Heather.Landy@SourceMedia.com
