Alone, in a Room Full of Men
I happened to watch two films starring Meryl Streep over the weekend. The first was “The Iron Lady,” in which Streep plays Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 20th century. The second film was Steven Spielberg’s “The Post,” telling the story of The Washington Post’s decision to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971 and Katharine Graham’s (played by Streep) role in the decision.
Since I saw the two films only 24 hours apart, I was struck by the similarity of two specific scenes in the two films. In a powerful scene in “The Iron Lady,” the young Margaret Thatcher walks into the Houses of Parliament wearing a light blue suit (skirt below the knee), a blue hat, and high heels. Surrounded by men in black suits, she is one colorful dot in a black sea … one woman in a room full of men. In “The Post,” Katharine Graham walks into a room full of men in dark suits at the New York Stock Exchange, to discuss her company’s upcoming IPO. In both scenes, you can feel the awkwardness of being the only woman in the room, the awkwardness of being different, almost out of place.
I watched “The Post” with my 16-year-old son and tried to explain to him how it was a different world back then… a world where women were not expected to work, were not expected to have an opinion. I asked him if he noticed the fact that Graham was the only woman in the room in several scenes.
“Do you understand why it took courage to take a stand as the only woman in the room?” I asked. As we were talking, I realized even though about 50 years have passed since the events depicted in the movies occurred, many of us still find ourselves in these situations — alone in a room full of men.
Although we’re not close to gender parity, if you walk into houses of parliament today, in the UK or in other countries, you will see several women. It’s the same in the NY Stock Exchange, and in the workplace in general. There are many women politicians, lawyers, accountants, reporters, engineers, and so on. But, we still often find ourselves alone in the C-suite, in the venture capital firm, in cabinet, and in the board room, to name only a few places. In other words, we still find ourselves alone in a room full of men when it comes to positions of power. The problem may have “climbed up the ladder,” but it’s still there.
It’s never easy to be “different,” no matter what makes you dissimilar. It’s not easy to be different in school, not easy at work, not easy even when you’re up there at the top. When you’re different, you spend some of your energy trying to “fit in” instead of doing more productive work. When you’re different, you think twice before speaking up. When you’re different, you’re not invited to the “after-school parties.” When you’re different, you’re treated differently.
In the past few years, the topic of diversity has been trending up, accelerated significantly following the #MeToo campaign. I see more VCs and companies actively looking for women and members of other underrepresented minorities to fill senior positions, or join as partners in firms. These initiatives are great, however, just having one woman up there is not enough. It may be a start, but, to have a diverse organization and enjoy the advantages of diverse leadership, you need to do more than hire one member that is “different.” You need to have true diversity and embrace those who are different than you, allowing them contribute their best, bring change and inspire others.
