My Paradigm Shift projects are centered around “Confidence Culture” and how it contributes to gender inequalities in the workforce. Encouraging women to be confident enough to “step up to the table” and “fake it till you make it” in order to be successful in their careers has been a recent trend within the last decade (beginning in the early 2010s). While this seems like a positive movement that should motivate people towards equality, it has actually had extremely harmful effects. Instead of empowering women, confidence culture has been increasingly removing accountability from the employers and placing it on working women’s shoulders. In reality, research has dismantled the positive correlation between women and confidence in the workplace. By encouraging women to fake confidence as a power play while society simultaneously sets the standard for women to be warm, likable, unintimidating, undomineering, etc.,  it presents a paradoxical situation that is increasingly difficult to overcome. At the same time, confidence culture has been amounting almost every failure in a woman’s career to a lack of confidence. Didn’t receive a promotion? She doesn’t have enough self-confidence. But if she’s demonstrating high levels of confidence, she’s overdoing it and most likely disliked by her colleagues. 

This topic requires everyone’s attention, especially the people who relate to it the least. The burden of change cannot be placed on the under-represented. Unfortunately, men (specifically white men) receive more privilege than the rest of us– and with that privilege comes responsibility. Meaning, change towards diversity is going to primarily fall on the shoulders of the people with the power to do something about it. 

Baker, Darren T, and Juliet Bourke. “How Confidence Is Weaponized against Women.” Harvard Business Review, 20 Oct. 2022, https://hbr.org/2022/10/how-confidence-is-weaponized-against-women.

• Discusses a study where researchers conducted interviews with successful men and women about career failures and flagged common themes within the two genders’ answers. The research not only exposes the gendered nature of confidence but dismantles the widely-accepted positive correlation between confidence and workplace success (for women).

Gill, Rosalind, and Shani Orgad. “Confidence Culture Is Harming Women: LSE Research.” Confidence Culture Is Harming Women | LSE Research, https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/society/what-is-confidence-culture-and-how-does-it-harm-women.

• Dives into how confidence culture benefits corporations.

Gill, Rosalind, and Shani Orgad. “How Confidence Became a Cult.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 7 Mar. 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/03/limits-women-confidence-workplace-inequality/626562/.

• Analyzes the role of confidence in women’s view of theirselves, specifically in today’s time. Additionally, the article discusses the modern contributors of confidence culture.

Gourguechon, Prudy. “Women in the Workplace: The Myth of the Confidence Gap.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Nov. 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/prudygourguechon/2018/11/06/women-in-the-workplace-the-myth-of-the-confidence-gap/?sh=492ed3576fd0.

• Dismantles the stigma surrounding 1. the difference between men and women’s confidence levels, 2. the importance of confidence in a woman’s success, and 3. the gender roles that contribute to gender inequalities.

Mayne, Mahalia. “Career Breaks Stifling Women’s Confidence at Work, Study Finds.” Home, PeopleManagement, 20 Oct. 2022, https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1802711/career-breaks-stifling-womens-confidence-work-study-finds.

• Details a survey that provides a specific example of the consequences of gender roles when it comes to a woman’s success.

Zenger, Jack. “The Confidence Gap in Men and Women: Why It Matters and How to Overcome It.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 Oct. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackzenger/2018/04/08/the-confidence-gap-in-men-and-women-why-it-matters-and-how-to-overcome-it/?sh=739af1d23bfa.

• Details the different roles confidence plays in men and women, how it contributes to gender inequalities in the workforce, and what we can do to help bridge the gap.

1. Introduction: 

•        You are unable to fight for equality without advocating for the advancement of inclusion of people with disabilities. Normalizing the establishment of wide-spread basic knowledge of American Sign Language is one giant leap in the right direction. It would allow the hearing-impaired to participate in society in a way they are currently unable to and allow society to treat them as normal in a way they are unable to without means of communication. Although, not only would it improve the relationship between the hearing and hearing-impaired, but it would also provide the hearing-efficient with a secondary perspective of the world. 

Thesis: 

•        The hearing-impaired have been forced to be more intune with aspects of the world the hearing-efficient tend to overlook. By bridging the gap between the disabled and more-abled, we are provided with a broader and deeper understanding of the world around us. A great way to exemplify this is by analyzing a recently viral video of the sign interpreter at a Waka Flocka concert who was so enthusiastic about her craft that Waka Flocka himself mistook her for a passionate fan.

1. Body:

• Waka Flocka’s sign interpreter, Holly Maniatty, is one of the most famous and in-demand (self-employed) interpreters.
  • She interprets musical performances for Deaf concert patrons in such a way that awes the Deaf community, hearing-efficient, other interpreters at the event, and even the performer.
    • The performers of the show have jumped off the stage to join her on multiple occasions. In Waka Flocka’s case, he even mistook her for an incredibly passionate fan.
  • The viral video efficiently portrayed to the world that being disabled is nothing less or more than normal. And, that the disabled can enjoy the world in different, but just as fun, ways as everyone else. 

• Deaf people and the hearing-impaired still enjoy concerts by putting the emphasis of their experience on feeling the vibrations of the songs through their sound waves.
  • The same way we can feel the sound coming from a loud speaker or see liquid move with sound

• They rely on other senses due to their lack of hearing.
  • Their senses other than hearing are likely even more proficient than a hearing person.
  • By learning more about the way the deaf experience the world, we can not only begin to bridge the communication gap between us, but also gain a broader perspective of our surroundings. 

1. Conclusion:

• A key aspect in our fight for equality involves shifting our perspective of the disabled from “them” to “us”. Just because they are different does not mean they are separate. We are all different. Instead of avoiding people who are unalike ourselves or avoiding discussing what makes them unalike, we should embrace the awkward. You grow and learn the most by working through the uncomfortable parts of life. Holly Maniatty’s interpretive performance at Waka Flocka’s concert shows us that there are alternative ways to experience the world and that sometimes they can be even better than “normal”.

Sources:

1. 10155286045691648

• The video of Waka Flocka mistaking his sign interpreter for a dancing fan.

1. https://longreads.com/2017/06/27/faster-than-the-speed-of-sound-an-interview-with-holly-maniatty/

• Interview of Holly Maniatty (Waka Flocka’s sign interpreter).

1. https://www.washington.edu/news/2001/11/27/brains-of-deaf-people-rewire-to-hear-music/

•   Article describing how the Deaf experience music.

1. https://www.cpr.org/2019/07/23/sign-language-interpreter-concerts-red-rocks-colorado/

• Describing a sign interpreter’s role and importance at musical concerts.