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Photo ©: © Elnur – Fotolia.comIn her new book, Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg, the CEO of Facebook encourages women in the workplace to behave like men if they want to succeed…..While there are more women in leadership and management positions than ever before, the workplace remains a male-dominated terrain. However, men still hold the majority of top positions in government, commerce and industry.Natalie Maroun, Chief Strategist at South African performance agency LRMG unpacks some of the advice offered by Sandberg in her controversial new book:Two factors hold women backThough Sheryl Sandberg, the CEO of Facebook and ranked as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, is widely-known for her view that women unintentionally tether their own career advancement because of lack of domestic assertiveness, social expectation, poor self-awareness and lack of confidence, Natalie Maroun, Chief Strategist at South African performance agency LRMG says that there are other factors that hold women back – most specifically, an environment that is not inclusive.Societal norms and gender stereotypes”Sandberg says that societal norms and gender stereotypes have influenced how women ‘should’ behave for centuries and that it’s up to women to redefine this. This is certainly true. In the South African context, we are still grappling with women inequity issues far greater than those faced in other similarly globally competitive countries.SA also has highest rape, domestic violence and women abuse statsMaroun comments, “Beyond salary gaps and lack of female representation in leadership in the private sector, we have some of the highest rape, domestic violence and women abuse statistics in the world. As a result, we have large numbers of women who are dealing with the after effects of this including lack of confidence, low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy and inability to trust and build relationships.”It’s going to take more than a self-confidence boost”However, it is going to take a lot more than more self-confident women to redefine this context Continue reading →