Empowering Bonds: Elevating Women's Workplace Wellness & Wealth

The workplace is evolving, but for women, these changes come with unique and enduring challenges. From navigating professional double standards to combating gender bias, it is clear that women's workplace journeys often require walking a more complex path. Despite these obstacles, women continue to lead, innovate, and inspire, showing resilience and resourcefulness every step of the way.

This blog explores five persistent challenges women face in the workplace, breaks down the societal norms contributing to them, and highlights the importance of community and support systems in overcoming these barriers. Whether you're climbing the corporate ladder, running your own business, or transitioning out of traditional employment, this post is for you.

The critical path to wellness and wealth requires building a community of trust with the best intentions in supporting every woman regardless of her choices. Together, let's empower bonds, champion overall wellness, and redefine success for women in the workplace. Our ability to build community is our superpower. Yet, life and work experiences sometimes show us that this superpower can be flawed or even work against us. Women, in particular, are not exempt from behaviours and practices that undermine this strength and hold us back from creating a powerful community. 

Empowering Women in the Workplace

The workplace can be a catalyst for personal growth and financial independence, but pernicious and insidious gendered barriers call for a more deliberate approach to empowerment. Real change starts with identifying and addressing structural and societal inequalities. By championing equity, inclusion, and respect, women globally can reshape the narrative—demanding recognition not only for their contributions but also for their right to excel professionally while honouring and valuing their choices.

Empowerment extends beyond advocacy. It’s deeply personal, rooted in the small, collective moments when women support women. It’s grounded in mentorship, allyship, and encouraging a mindset that prioritizes wellness alongside wealth. When I support a woman and a woman supports me, we all win.

To understand how we can empower women in the workplace and business, we must first acknowledge the challenges they face. The following is based on research by Herminia Ibarra, Harvard Business School and the contribution of my video podcast guest, Katie O'Malley, founder of (en)couragecoaching.org. Watch my interview with Katie on YouTube. Listen to the podcast. 

Addressing Workplace Challenges for Women

Although women have made impressive strides in professional spaces, five unique and persistent challenges impact how women experience life and work (including the intersection and integration of life and work). It's time to shed light on these hurdles and explore how to overcome them together.

1. The Double Bind 

Exerting your voice, being assertive, or being kind, empathetic, and compassionate. It doesn't seem to matter what we do in the name of "leadership development", we will be admonished and negatively assessed for our leadership potential. This is the double bind—a classic challenge women face when navigating expectations in professional settings. Assertive behaviours admired in male counterparts often earn women labels like "bossy" or "difficult." Empathy and compassion are misunderstood and devalued, often labelled as "weaknesses".

One of the most enlightening examples of the double bind is illustrated by America Ferrera's monologue in the Barbie film. 

"....But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line.”

These opposing expectations put women in no-win situations. If you’ve experienced this, you're not alone, and the first step to overcoming the double bind is calling out and refusing to internalize those labels.

Call to Action: Engage with organizations that champion inclusivity and belonging, where feedback is based on skills and actions, and where women are advanced based on potential rather than proof. Seek out organizations that actively foster a culture free from gender-based assumptions.

2. Only One Seat at the Table 

Have you ever felt like there’s only room for one woman at the table? Many professional women have experienced dynamics where limited opportunities seem to pit them against one another rather than fostering an environment of collaboration.

This scarcity mindset is a direct result of deeply ingrained gender norms. Women-focused communities and allyship initiatives can change this dynamic. Collaboration among women is a potent catalyst for transformative change.

Call to Action: Advocate for programs and platforms that elevate women across industries, ensuring everyone has a voice and a role. The table is big enough for all of us. The room is big enough for more than one powerful successful woman. The world is big enough, ready, and in need of the power of women's leadership.

3. The Weight of Gender Norms 

Gender roles and societal norms often trickle into workplaces, dictating how women are perceived and treated. Expectations tied to caregiving, for instance, regularly impact how working mothers and sandwiched women caregivers are viewed—both professionally and personally. Breaking this cycle requires cultural change.

Call to Action: Use your voice and make government and organization leaders accountable for deconstructing gender norms that do not align with who we are as women. Governments and organizations must develop and implement policies that value and support families while actively challenging biases associated with traditional gender roles.

On a personal level, asking yourself whose expectations you are living up to—and why—can be liberating. Align your professional goals with your vision of who you are as a woman and your criteria for success, not anyone else’s.

4. The Dearth of Recognition 

Women often encounter visible yet unspoken barriers to gaining recognition. Their collaborative efforts can be overshadowed by more vocal and domineering colleagues. Their voices and achievements are frequently minimized, trivialized, or attributed to luck rather than skill. Or, worse, their ideas and achievements are claimed by or credited to a male colleague.

Recognition matters.

Call to Action: Ensure your work speaks for your potential by documenting your wins and amplifying your voice. Don't downplay your success. Conversely, be mindful of giving credit to others—you'll set a precedent for collaboration over competition which is aligned with how women lead so effectively. Be sure to acknowledge and amplify women's voices and their achievements, and have the courage to call out subversive attempts to silence women around the table or minimize their contribution.

Support women-owned businesses and female service providers by making mindful spending choices and offering generous tips for excellent service, acknowledging their efforts and contributions.

If you’re in a leadership position, make it your mission to ensure all contributions are seen, heard, and valued. Representation and recognition pave the way for future generations of women leaders.

5. Imposter Syndrome 

Despite earning accolades, many women feel undeserving of their place at the table or they believe they don't belong. This internal dialogue has been given the name "imposter syndrome"—a persistent belief that we are frauds, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It's a fabricated myth, yet it effectively undermines our competence, feeds self-doubt, and, in some cases, justifies feelings of defeat and hopelessness. 

The origins of imposter syndrome are intricate, often stemming from systemic inequality, power dynamics, cultural expectations, and a lack of visible role models.

Call to Action: Don't internalize this myth. Transform these thoughts by acknowledging and celebrating your achievements. Cultivate self-regard and self-trust. Seek mentorship from those who have navigated the path before you, and remain curious about those who are leading, accompanying, and following you in this journey.

Engage in open discussions about the myth of imposter syndrome with peers, but don't let anyone fall prey to the debilitating construct. It's vital to emphasize that imposter syndrome is a construct devised by those in power to keep others in a state of reduced influence. By recognizing this, we can dismantle the illusion and liberate ourselves from its hold.

Remember, your place at the table and your success is not just a right but a well-deserved and hard-earned position.

Building Bonds, Breaking Barriers

Empowering bonds between women in the workplace and around the boardroom is key to navigating and eventually breaking these barriers. At its core, empowerment begins with a sense of community, where collaboration outweighs competition, and systems exist to help women thrive professionally and personally.

Call to Action: Here’s how you can contribute to strengthening these bonds and fostering change:

• Mentor, Sponsor, Refer, and Elevate 

Whether you’re just starting out or at the peak of your career, make time to mentor, advise, and support other women formally or informally. Share your knowledge, celebrate others’ wins, and advocate for opportunities where you see gaps. Sponsor women and make authentic introductions and referrals.

• Speak Up and Step Forward 

Be vocal about workplace and boardroom injustices and work actively to rectify them. Advocate for equitable hiring, pay transparency, equitable policies that align with women's lives and family needs, and leadership pipelines for women across industries and all types and levels of organizations.

• Prioritize Acknowledgement and Appreciation of Women's Wellness and Wealth 

Wellness and wealth should be intertwined. For women, achieving both in abundance requires action that prioritizes both equally, rather than sacrificing one for the other. Explore strategies to harmonize life and work, transforming life and work from competing roles into complementary ones. Advocate for extreme self-care, the eradication of burnout cultures, and work to eliminate the stigma around women's health including mental health in professional settings. The natural changes women undergo throughout their lives are rites of passage, not signs that something is wrong or missing within them.

• Create Space for Authenticity 

Encourage environments where women can bring their full selves to work without shame, self-doubt, or feelings of judgment. Authenticity is powerful—it humanizes and connects us all.

Rewriting the Future of Working Women

The challenges women face in the workplace and around the boardroom may be persistent but are not insurmountable. By breaking down gendered norms, amplifying marginalized voices, and fostering community support that aligns with who we are as women, we can uplift every one of us and reshape professional spaces for the better. 

To every woman reading this, remember: your contributions matter, your voice deserves to be heard, and your wellness and wealth are worth prioritizing. Continue to shatter barriers, pursue your dreams, and construct the future you envision. When our wellness and wealth are prioritized, everyone benefits.

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Listen to the podcast and watch interviews on YouTube with women continuing to contribute their leadership skills in their Executive Encore. In the spirit of empowering bonds and acknowledging Katies' and my contribution, please watch and comment on our interview on YouTube. Listen to the podcast. 

Are you ready to commit to making your Executive Encore the most incredible performance of your life? Contact Maestro to inquire about our Executive Encore programs. Let's remaster your encore phase, create a symphony, and celebrate the rhythm of life!

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