Umbrellas

Yet more evidence that the pandemic is a double disaster for women and gender equality in a survey that found that men have been promoted 3 times more than women this year. And that 26% of men have received a pay rise, versus only 13% of women. The Umbrella Theory and men’s generally better grasp of it is coming even more strongly into play as everyone works from home it seems - I guess it was inevitable, given we are all even less visible under our ‘umbrellas’ to our bosses than we are when we are in the office. Now more than ever, women need to remember that, no, it is not enough just to do great work and assume the people above you will notice: your work needs to be visible and you need to be visible. You need to get out from under the umbrella and make sure your boss knows what you are doing and knows YOU. I know many women thought there would be less networking going on by men because they’re not in the office but, I can promise you, not a chance of that. Because men know it’s important and they are finding a way - they may not be ‘popping by’ their manager’s desk, but they are for sure ‘popping up’ on zoom instead. How else do you think they got 3 times more promotions and double the pay rises? We know it’s not because they’re better, more intelligent, more capable.

It’s an umbrella thing.