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Quick Lift: The 6 Glass Walls That Stop Women's Careers (8-Min Tactical Guide) · Loud & Lifted

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  Have you ever walked out of a meeting thinking,
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  why was that harder for me than it needed to
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  be? Like, you said the right thing, did the work,
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  showed up, prepared, and still somehow got sidelined?
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  Welcome to Loud and Lifted Quick Lift, the under
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  10 minute episode where we turn big insights
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  into small, repeatable moves you can use this
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  week. I'm your host, Betsy Hamm. Today, I'm recapping
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  my conversation with Dr. Amy Deal, author of
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  Glass Walls. And she makes this point that honestly
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  explains so much. We all talk about glass ceilings,
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  but the bigger problem is glass walls, invisible
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  barriers that block women sideways, out of key
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  rooms, roles, relationships, and momentum. She
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  breaks workplace gender bias into six glass walls.
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  Let's hit the highlights fast, and then I'll
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  give you what we can do at the end. The first
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  gender bias is male privilege. This is the foundation.
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  Workplaces were largely built by men for men.
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  So the default setting often favors men. It may
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  show up as the boys club. Relationships and decisions
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  happening in spaces women aren't automatically
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  included in. Examples that Amy shared is the
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  after hours bonding that's sometimes harder to
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  attend if you're carrying home responsibilities.
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  Casual norms like golf outings where trust and
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  access get built. And even language like calling
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  a mixed group, hey, you guys or man hours or
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  councilman. There's a lot of language that has
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  just been masculine. And the quick truth is most
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  of it isn't said with evil intent or to be malicious.
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  It's just how we have been raised. It's just
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  part of our conversation. We talk. It's just
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  how the workforce is. But intent doesn't erase
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  impact. Gender bias number two, disproportionate
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  constraints. Women are allowed in, but their
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  behavior is often more restrictive. The margin
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  for error is tiny. And this is where you'll see
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  women being interrupted or talked over. A new
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  term that I learned from Amy is he peeding. When
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  a woman says an idea and it lands like a dud,
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  and then a man repeats it and suddenly it's genius.
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  I think we can all relate to that one. And then
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  the double bind. If you're confident, you get
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  backlash. If you're tentative, You get dismissed.
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  And lastly, your parents being scrutinized way
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  more than a man. It's exhausting because you're
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  not just doing the job. You're managing the reaction
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  to you doing the job. Gender bias number three,
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  insufficient support. This one is huge. Women
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  often get less mentoring. less sponsorship, and
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  less advocacy, and also less access to informal
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  networks where people are actually selected for
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  opportunities. Amy shared a wild finding. Women
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  can sometimes be more likely to leave when they're
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  ostracized than when they're harassed, because
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  at least with harassment, there's a chance that
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  the organization responds. Ostracism is lonely
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  and invisible, and you can't fix what you can't
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  name. So this just goes back to the more of the
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  reason why it's so important to have support
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  in your network and your organization. Gender
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  bias number four, devaluation. This is when women's
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  work or presence gets subtly treated as less
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  important. And she gave two big examples. First
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  is the office housework. Now, this could be the
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  note taking in the meetings, the party planning
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  for the entire group, ordering food, cleaning
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  up the kitchen, being the helper, doing the work
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  that is important and it keeps things running,
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  but it doesn't get rewarded. And the other example
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  she gave was benevolent sexism. Comments or actions
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  that sound nice, but they shrink you. Like, young
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  lady, sweetie, you should smile more. Or deciding
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  not to offer you a big opportunity because someone
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  just assumes they're protecting you, that you
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  don't have the time or because you have kids.
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  Again, the intent is not necessarily malicious,
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  but the impact is. And this is also where women
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  get judged no matter what. If you're too attractive,
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  you're not taken seriously. If you're not attractive,
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  then you don't have executive presence. It's
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  like you're never allowed to just exist and lead.
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  There's a balance of being too much or too little
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  of any of those things. Number five, hostility.
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  Hostility is the overstuff, the moments that
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  are meant to put women back in their place. This
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  can be sexual harassment, intimidation, sarcasm,
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  or the vibe that you don't belong here. Here's
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  what's sneaky. Hostility doesn't always look
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  like yelling and super aggressive. Sometimes
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  it's just punishment for confidence. If a woman
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  speaks directly, she's abrasive. If she sets
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  boundaries, she's difficult. If she leads with
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  confidence, she's too much. And the goal is the
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  same. Make her smaller, quieter, and easier to
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  ignore. A quick flag for here is listen for language
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  that attacks how she is instead of what she did.
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  And guess what? Most of this is not driven by
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  men. Think about that. Our last gender bias is
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  acquiescence. This one is the result of all others.
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  When you run into walls enough at times, eventually
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  you adapt. It can look like self silencing, shrinking
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  your goals, opting out of promotions because
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  you know that higher level comes with more stress,
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  more judgment and fewer supporters. Or you start
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  thinking it's just not worth the hassle. This
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  is how we hold ourselves back. And it's not because
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  we're not optimistic. And sometimes it's not
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  even because we're not confident. It's because
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  we're realistic. We know what we're going to
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  run into the higher that we climb. So again,
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  this goes into the glass walls before you even
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  get to the glass ceiling. And Amy's point was
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  important. It isn't that women lack ambition.
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  It's women responding rationally to a system
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  that makes advancement. more costly. So listening
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  to those six gender biases sounds a little depressing,
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  right? I mean, how can we get past this? What
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  can we do? Well, the reality is it takes leaders,
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  it takes allies, and it takes women ourselves
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  and supporting each other. The whole point of
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  this podcast. First, if you're a leader, fix
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  the environment. Amy's stance is clear. The primary
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  responsibility sits with the leadership and culture.
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  That means make pay and promotion processes transparent
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  and fair. Reward things like office housework
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  or hire support for it. Don't unofficially assign
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  women all the time. Build real flexibility and
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  family support. Not just the performative, we
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  care. Audit who's getting stretch assignments
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  and visibility and correct it. Translation, don't
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  tell women to be tougher, make the game less
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  rigged. And again, this is being intentional.
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  A lot of times these things have just been set
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  up. It's the way you've always been doing it,
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  but it's taking a step back and really looking
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  at your policies and your procedures, but then
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  also your culture and how is your team actually
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  handling themselves. Next, if you're an ally,
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  interrupt bias in real time. This is simple and
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  powerful. If a woman gets interrupted, bring
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  it back. Hold on, I want to hear her finish that.
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  Or if it's the heap heating, if that happens,
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  just saying, Maria just said that. Can we go
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  back to her point? And if someone makes a bias
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  comment, use Amy's tool. Flip it to test it.
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  Would you say that to a man? Would you tell a
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  man to smile more, to be happier? If the answer
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  is no, you found your bias. And lastly, if you're
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  a woman who sees this or having it happen to
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  her, to fellow coworker, you have to name it,
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  depersonalize it and build other options. Amy's
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  practical strategies is one, learn to recognize
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  bias so you can label it fast. Again, we're just
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  used to this. Two, depersonalize it. It's not
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  you, it's the system. So don't take it personal.
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  Three, build your support network. This again
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  goes back to the importance of who's around you,
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  your mentors, your sponsors, your peers, your
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  circle. Have that support network that you can
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  talk through things, have conversations, get
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  advice. And lastly, keep alternatives on the
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  table. So one boss, one job, one company doesn't
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  get to hold your confidence hostage. It can feel
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  super overwhelming and frankly depressing when
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  we break down these biases. I'm sure we can all
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  relate to more than we want to. It isn't hopeless,
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  however, we just have to continue to make progress
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  and the only way we are going to do that is together.
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  If you haven't listened to Amy's full episode,
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  I strongly encourage you to do so and then send
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  this to a friend or an ally. Please continue
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  to stay loud for what's right and lift each other.