Is Women’s Career Advice a Form of Gaslighting?
We all know that the workplace is inherently unfair. Women are being sold on the idea that it is up to them to change workplace culture and to make the workplace more encouraging and nurturing to the women who occupy it and that this is a form of gaslighting. In case you’re unaware, gaslighting is a form of manipulation whose end game is to sow doubt in the mind of its victims. Gaslighting serves to erode confidence and make the target second-guess her every move. By design, gaslighters want the objects of their manipulation to think they are the problem – the crazy ones.
Most women’s career advice revolves around balancing work with family obligations, being assertive, and how to act to be taken seriously:
Be more assertive when you negotiate your compensation.
Dress appropriately.
Modulate the tone of your voice—you don’t want to come off as shrill!
Set high expectations for your team members but don’t be too harsh on them.
Be more ambitious.
Take risks.
All of these put the onus of fixing the problem on the women. What’s even more insidious is the implication here, which is that women are the ones who have caused workplace inequality. That is dangerous, dubious, and wrong.
This goes beyond workplace culture and extends into how women are regarded in general society and culture. Women are told to be mindful of their surroundings, to dress appropriately (not promiscuously!), to watch their drinks when they go out, and not to drink too much, all to avoid being assaulted. Where are the reams of advice and training courses to teach men not to assault women?
Walking down the street, at home, in the grocery store, at work, stopped at the red light. The biases and abuses women face are pervasive and profound; they are too big for individual women to change alone simply by being more assertive. Regardless of where abuses of power occur, women are not responsible for those abuses. The responsibility to fix this is not on the victims but on the system and the institution that enables these mindsets and behaviors.
Our society is all about the quick fix. But presenting women with flimsy, DIY pseudo-solutions to deeply ingrained systemic injustices and cultural biases is not the answer. If it was that easy for women to change the culture in which we operate, don’t you think we’d have done that by now? Here’s a quick fix: Teach men to treat women as equals. Teach men not to harass women. Stop demanding that the victims fix the problems created by the perpetrators.