The Myth of Making It: A Workplace Reckoning

by Samhita Mukhopadhyay

A bottom-line case for increased diversity is a much easier sell than convincing these mostly male corporate leaders that ensuring that your company doesn’t have discriminatory hiring practices is the ethical and right thing to do.

I don’t know that we can fairly expect every workplace to address the needs and sensitivities of every staff member, and I don’t think that’s a particularly useful standard to set. But I do think there are more comprehensive steps we can take in the workplace to help people feel seen and respected that have less to do with the language we use and more to do with paying them fairly for their work, including their perspectives on the work and giving them more ownership over that work, giving employees real opportunities for growth, and treating them as equals.

“It’s become apparent that many of the promised rewards of professional striving are never going to materialize. Why, some women are wondering, should I keep trying so hard?”

“That means I’ve been cringing a lot lately, because the Formerly Ambitious Woman is either a symbol of a kind of collective generational anti-capitalist enlightenment or a punching bag.”