SelfWork YGTG: Maybe Women Don't "Suffer" From Imposter Syndrome After All?
The SelfWork Podcast
Margaret Robinson Rutherford PhD
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2021
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hello and welcome to another five minute interlude or what we call You Get The Gist! YGTG. Today I’m revealing some new thoughts about imposter syndrome – I did an episode on it now years ago. But what I was intrigued to read recently was some research coming out of Harvard – critiquing the whole idea of women "suffering" from this horribly insecure feeling. Now, with the impetus of the #metoo movement, women of all ethnicities are realizing that perhaps it's been the workplace that's been most of the problem. As these Harvard researchers state, "Even if women demonstrate strength, ambition, and resilience, our daily battles with microaggressions, especially expectations and assumptions formed by stereotypes and racism, often push us down."
Important Link:
Harvard article Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, and welcome to Selfwork. I'm Dr. Margaret, and this episode is another 5-minute interlude |
| 0:12.6 | or what we call You Get the Gest YGTG. Today, I'm revealing some new thoughts about imposter |
| 0:18.9 | syndrome. I did an episode on that how years ago it was actually episode 113, and that link |
| 0:24.8 | will be in your show notes. What I was intrigued to read recently was some research coming |
| 0:29.7 | out of Harvard, critiquing the whole idea of women being the ones that suffer the most |
| 0:35.1 | from this horribly insecure feeling. Certainly, a lot of research has come out that imposter |
| 0:40.2 | syndrome, that inner feeling, that at any time you're going to be found out or discovered |
| 0:44.7 | as a fake and you don't deserve to be where you are at work or in some kind of leadership |
| 0:48.9 | role, is tied in with perfectionism. I tend to think that as the perfectionism is doing |
| 0:54.0 | its best to hide the problem, such as efforts of looking like the superhero one or feeling |
| 0:59.2 | as if you have to be right all the time or have the answers, even before the questions |
| 1:03.8 | are asked. Feeling as if you can never ask for help or you work your butt off constantly |
| 1:09.0 | so that you truly do know all the answers you're the expert? Actually, all of that sounds |
| 1:14.0 | exhausting. Certainly, in perfectly hidden oppression, for those of you who've read about |
| 1:18.8 | it or listened to me talk about it, several of the traits that I mention of being overly |
| 1:23.6 | responsible and highly accomplishment oriented, as well as needing a lot of control, does |
| 1:28.4 | sound very much like these ways of managing imposter syndrome. I do think it's two different |
| 1:35.2 | concepts, but they're both helpful to understand one another. But now, here's the new research. |
| 1:41.2 | There are so many excellent points in this article that I can't cite all of them here |
| 1:46.1 | and I urge you to read it, its link is in the show notes. But here are a few quotes. |
| 1:52.0 | The term imposter syndrome emerged in the 1970s. It was made up by psychologists Pauline |
| 1:57.5 | Rose Clantz and Suzanne Eimes. It was in 1978 and it focused on high achieving women. |
... |
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