WHY WOMEN ARE OPTING & BURNING OUT OF LEADERSHIP
In honor of #womensday and #womenshistorymonth we at Her Biorhythm ™ want to raise awareness around a core global issue for women.
In recent years, “Gender Equity and Inclusion” has become all the buzz. This is following a staggering mass exodus of women from the workforce in 2021 that raised eyebrows about corporate inclusivity.
In fact, millions upon millions of dollars have been pumped into global corporate structures in the name of “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion”, yet we have made LITTLE TO NO PROGRESS in actually creating working environments that truly INCLUDE women.
Instead of asking questions to uncover the root cause of women’s mass exodus, we question their capabilities and slap a bandaid of DE&I on a hemorrhaging wound - further driving toxic behaviors that push women out of the workforce.
“CAN WOMEN REALLY HAVE IT ALL?”
Is a question that BBC News posed to their global audience after Jacinda Ardern (Prime Minister of New Zealand) stepped down from office in January of this year, stating “I’ve got no gas left in the tank.”
Not only was this a HUGE loss for the world and women leaders globally, but the question “can women really have it all?” is a prime example of TOXIC beliefs that underly NON-inclusive societal infrastructures and systems.
This question and media coverage surrounding the PM’s resignation distracted from the real core issue: Jacinda was not properly supported to thrive in her leadership role.
And in a world who’s economy is now driven by women (majority of consumer spending) it’s amazing how our economic/corporate structures still alienate women and prevent them from achieving/maintaining leadership roles.
This is only a symptom of a much deeper and much more serious issue:
OUR SOCIETAL INFRASTRUCTURES EXCLUDE WOMEN
Why? Because we built our society (structures, systems, beliefs) from DATA, and that dataset is MALE-CENTRIC.
Here’s the deal… We study men, and as a result, we understand men - how they operate and what they need to succeed. Inevitably creating systems and standards that support and align with men (only).
We don’t have the same data on women. We don’t understand women’s basic biological needs. We don’t know how to properly support women. And, by default, we exclude them from our societal systems and standards.
So, even though gender inequalities have been identified, and millions are being allocated to solve it, we will never make progress until we acknowledge that WOMEN AND MEN ARE DIFFERENT and have very different needs that require different environments, infrastructures, systems, and expectations.
We need to fix the root problem: WOMEN ARE NOT UNDERSTOOD
We need to start asking the right questions and collecting women-centric data to inform REAL INCLUSIVE SOLUTIONS.
We can put as many women as we want into leadership positions to “fix the stats” but until we create infrastructures that align with women’s basic biological needs and support their success, we will never see sustainable change.
Until then, women will continue to burn out and/or opt out of the workforce and societal leadership positions.
We need to do better.
#systemchange #womenatwork #womenshealthscience #womensresearch #fempreneurers #genderequity #gendergaps
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kayla Osterhoff, MPH, PHDc
Kayla is a researcher, neuropsychophysiologist, and women’s health expert. She is a true pioneer in her field whose novel research and innovations are changing the landscape of feminine health.
Coming from humble beginnings, Kayla witnessed the true cost and devastation of mental illness in her family. This was the catalyst for her career in the health sciences and led her to eventually study neuropsychophysiology.
Kayla was the first in her family to attend college, earning her bachelor’s degree of science in health ecology from the University of Nevada, Reno. She went on to earn her master’s degree in public health and epidemiology from Nova Southeastern University and then was awarded a fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While there, she served on several emergency responses and led the Global Hearts Initiative efforts in Mongolia, Africa, and Brazil.
After spending several years as a health scientist at CDC, Kayla pivoted to full-time research and pursuing her doctoral degree in neuropsychophysiology at Saybrook University. While there, she earned certifications in clinical hypnosis, QEEG brain mapping and neurofeedback, and integrative functional nutrition - bolstering her holistic view of human health and behavior.
As a woman in a male-dominant field of work, Kayla often found that she had to work in a masculine way that taxed her physical and mental health. Later she discovered that working in this way was not only taxing, but it was unnatural and harmful for her feminine biology.
Through her research, Kayla discovered a blind spot in the understanding of female health and biology – a result of the long-standing gender gap in scientific research. She discovered that women have a very different biological rhythm than men, requiring different support and day-to-day operations in order to thrive. This discovery became the focus of her passion, research, and career.
Kayla has now dedicated her career to empowering women around the world and teaching the science of feminine biology. She believes that women are the greatest untapped resource in modern society and that it is our responsibility as a society to research and support women better.
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