Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Advice for Women in Project Management
ProjectManager.com: Women have elevated their roles as project management leaders and have positively influenced the field over the last two decades. Today, women are leading projects worldwide as proven leaders, advocates for advancement of project management in their organizations and are represented in many global industries such as information technology, healthcare, aerospace, construction (bridges, buildings, highways) and as entrepreneurial consultants.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I really like that this article implies so heavily that a woman in a leadership position is no different. There are so many challenges that come with being a woman, and a battle for respect is certainly one of them. However, several women in this article talk about just learning by watching and also just getting out into the field and networking, and I think that is a good balance. Learn so that you can be justified in your self confidence and then just go out there and do it. As a female person of color there is so many times that I visually I just straight up don’t belong- and I just do my damn thing. And I give it my all. There’s a level of faking it till you make it, making yourself belong until it’s accepted. It’s not ignoring it, it’s embracing that it can exist. Like the conclusion of this article says: get the job done first. Prove that you can. Educate them on oppression when it comes up, but never let their negative attitude towards your diversity get to you. Show them up.
In response to this article’s title “Advice for Women in Project Management”, Sarah told me that her immediate answer was “don’t be a woman”, which I think is sad but true. Even though I’m not interested in pursuing technical direction or stage management, the condescending and disrespectful attitude you receive from boys and men daily while trying to be a woman in any sort of leadership position is anything but encouraging. A lot of the advice given in this article about going for it even though you might not be supported is, I think, unfortunate, but very valuable. I think, a lot of the times, especially in terms of management, direction and leadership, women need to perform at a much higher level in order to get the same level of respect as men do working at an average level. I think that the large majority of girls and women can think of a time where they were made to feel unqualified for something that they most certainly were qualified for, but society deemed them unfit for due to their gender. I have so much respect for women working to break down these boundaries, and I only hope that the climate for female project managers will change within the next several years.
I’ve just recently start to be able to say with confidence that I want to go into technical direction. One thing that is definitely intimidating about my life taking that direction is the fact that it is such a male dominated field as well as a leadership position, otherwise known as the perfect place to receive all kinds of disrespect and discrimination. However, I cannot allow that to intimidate and scare me. The only way the negative stereotypes about women in positions of leader and power will change is if we provide so many examples of excellent female leadership that it inevitably becomes the new normal. We are not there yet. It is why I am so happy to see women taking charge all over Purnell, particularly in the technical direction department. Even beyond our industry setting I think having women across the board being living examples of good, powerful leadership is incredibly important. They are daily creating facts we can use to teach young girls and boys that women are leaders. And we cannot have those examples and facts if we do not give women the opportunity to be in those positions.
I think this article is a great resource for getting the opinions of women in the project manager field and really get a sense of why they chose it, obstacles they have faced, and how they have handled them. I really connected with what Amy Mynhier said about why she chose to join this profession. I have always been a strong believer in passion and how its important to have passion to propel you to do your best. I thought her advice about how passion great, but not enough, and that being a sponge to soak up all of the wisdom she possibly could is great advice! I think she brings up the need for genuine interest, and openhandedness that can be crucial to being the best you can be. Other's advice such as networking, to be observant, to never stop learning, and more can be crucial lessons that many of us just starting out, can overlook or not realize their importance. While this article is simply great, successful women giving their advice, I think a person should always be open to the advice from others, especially those who have learned these lessons first hand.
I was sitting with Megan reading through the names of the articles this week a few days ago, and when she read "Advice for Women in Project Management" my response was, without hesitation "don't be a woman". And we laughed, and the proceeded to talk about how true that was. We have come a long way in respect to women's rights in the past 100 years, that I think sometimes we forget that there is still more work to do, especially when it comes to higher power jobs. While I think my comment above was probably a little cynical, it hardly makes it less true. Every single day in 33 I watch a woman have an idea and be bulldozed by a man, I watch a woman say an idea to her friend next to her but not say anything publicly for fear of being made fun of, I see it everyday, and that's just in one room. Technical theater is a male dominated industry, and while that is beginning to change (shout out to all the female TD's, you're my inspiration)I still go to crew every night and see what feels like is 1000 men for every 1 women. I am not going to become a technical director, but seeing Monica and Kim in the shop every day is a HUGE deal, and a huge victory for me. There are going to be a lot of people who would read that article and say that women have all the same rights as men so they should be able to lead in all the same ways. To those people I would say open your eyes. Leading is not about rights, its about respect. People don't want to listen to you if they don't respect you, and the sad truth of our business, and every business in the world is that when a man walks into a room he doesn't have to earn the respect of the people around him, he has it, just by existing, and as a culture we don't respect women, as people, as intellectuals, as leaders. Right now Simone and Camille have the ear and respect of probably every single person in the building, but I would put money on that it would have been a little easier for them had they been men. We have to admire our female leaders and make sure they know how much we appreciate them, but we also have to start appreciating them a little earlier. And as a women who hopes to make a career out of decent leadership I need to stop letting myself get bulldozed. As women we all need to decide to be another persons inspiration, and we all need to start respecting each other, and demanding that we are respected.
Being a woman in project management seems like one of the most difficult careers to navigate. Currently, women aren’t perceived as leaders. They’re ether looked at as kind and sweet and too docile to lead, or the nagging b*tch who’s uptight. Either way, it’s a dangerous recipe for women who want to take on leadership based roles like in project management. If you do it well, you run the risk of being labeled bossy, if you try hard not to be bossy, you lack confidence and won’t survive. These terrible stereotypes need to disappear in order for women to have equal ground in project management fields. This article is really helpful since it’s advice from women who have made it, who are actively navigating that balance. Women helping other women is the key to making conditions better overall. I also think this advice can be really helpful to me personally. As someone who wants to go into stage/production management, project management skills are a must. And even here at CMU, women face a lot of struggles with gaining/earning respect. It will only get worse in the ‘real world’. So learning these skills now is incredibly important.
Post a Comment