Women are frequently advised to project confidence as a means of
advancing their professions, increasing their compensation, and
improving their success at work and urged to balance all of this while
maintaining their likability and warmth by coming across as
unforceful and not dominating individuals. Although confidence is a
gender-neutral idea but, in society, it’s still gendered.
Whether women possess self-confidence or lack of confidence it is a
central factor responsible for the slower progression of women at
work. For example, if a woman shows her confidence through her
work, at her work, or with her peers then, without considering the
outcome, it is often considered dominating and intimidating and it is
one of the main reasons for not considering them for leadership/
authoritative positions or promotions. The irony is, for men,
portraying confidence at work is not considered as dominating or
intimidating, and hence they are often considered for leadership roles
in the organisation. On the other side, a woman lacking self-
confidence is again eventually not considered for leadership roles and
the organisation shrinks to provide them new opportunities in their
work too. In both scenarios, it leads to self-criticism and self-doubt
among women, which can lower their self-esteem and further can
damage their confidence levels.
At a workplace in every aspect both men and women come on an
equal footing, for instance, both are selected on the basis of their
skills, knowledge, and experience, and for the same profile both get
paid equally, etc. Still, why do only women face the physiological
challenge of confidence that men barely face?
According to the research of Harvard Business Review (HBR)
confidence may be helpful in some situations (such as uncertainty)
but expressing humility and vulnerability has a humanizing effect
required to foster reliability and physiological safety in others in
which women tend to be stronger than men.
The effects of confidence are not only limited to depriving of the
opportunity of acquiring a higher, authoritative position, or
promotion, the effects of confidence are more adverse and destructive
such as self-criticism, lower self-esteem, self-doubt, and overall poorer mental health among women.
Source : Harvard Business Review