Like many other ambitious young women, I hope to enter a field dominated by men. But it’s more daunting than I anticipated. I love writing and politics, so if I could make a career out of doing political commentary, it would be a dream come true. As a young woman who wants to enter the political arena, I’m faced with the reality that women are disproportionately underrepresented both in elected office and on the opinion pages of major publications. Even on one of the most liberal new sites, The Huffington Post, only 36 percent of opinion writers are women. This lack of representation has made it difficult to understand my career strategy, simply because there is so much unchartered territory.
Searching for guidance, I opened up Sheryl Sandberg’s famed book, “Lean In,” where I was met with a lot of comforting anecdotes and some unnerving statistics. Sandberg starts the book by referencing a study that asserts: “Success and likability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women.”
Research by political scientists Monica Schneider and Angela Bos support these claims. Schneider and Bos studied stereotypes surrounding women and female politicians. They found that female politicians were described in far more negative words than women not involved in politics. Women in politics are more likely to be described as “uptight” and “dictatorial” and less likely to be described as “sensitive” and “compassionate.” On the flip side, both men in politics and men in the private sector were generally described using the same adjectives. Schneider and Bos concluded that “despite gains in the percentage of politicians who are female, there may still not be enough women in office for voters to form a consensus of stereotypical qualities.”
There’s a pattern in how the most powerful women in the world posture themselves, and I’ve observed one proven pathway to become a successful woman. In a calculated effort borne of necessity, the world’s most powerful women have consistently placed a higher value on showcasing their expertise rather than capitalizing on their charisma. Secretary Hillary Clinton and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher both exemplify this phenomenon. They served as transitional figures. They also had far fewer female role models than I have today. They succeeded despite their lack of role models by committing themselves to ideals of meritocracy and conforming to standards set by men.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher perhaps personified this best, as she was exceptionally qualified. She maintained a cold demeanor gaining her the nickname “the Iron Lady” and underwent voice coaching so she could lower the tone of her voice and to sound more authoritative.
In a “Humans of New York” interview, Clinton addressed her calculated and cold demeanor by talking about an instance where she dealt with sexism. She was taking a law school exam, and some men in the room started insinuating that she shouldn’t be sitting for the test because of her gender. She describes the experience as follows: “I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that’s a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’” Clinton perfectly articulated the dreadful balancing act that most women will deal with.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken a much different approach from Clinton and Thatcher. She is certainly not a charismatic leader, but she doesn’t try to be. She’s often described as an incredibly boring politician.
Like Clinton and Thatcher, Merkel is not a natural politician. However, Merkel is unique because she is unapologetically authentic. As an accomplished chemist, Merkel entered politics as an outsider and an impassioned citizen. Her authentic nature is most apparent when one observes her with her earnest and telling facial expressions, which pundits have been commenting on since her meeting with President Donald Trump. Her career gives me hope because unlike Clinton and Thatcher, Merkel isn’t known for modifying aspects of her personality in order to gain political capital.
I want people to take me seriously throughout my career, but I don’t want to repress facets of my personality, nor do I want to pretend to be something I’m not. Perhaps that is why I look up to Merkel so much. As a young woman entering the workforce, I acknowledge that I have more role models than ever before, but still far fewer than my male colleagues. This is both intimidating and exhilarating. Intimidating because we are still facing negative stereotypes associated with being a powerful woman, but exhilarating because we can evaluate the women who came before us and carve new pathways for the women who will follow us.
