Imposter Syndrome refers to people who are successful by external standards, but have an illusion of personal incompetence. It’s estimated that a whopping 70 percent of people will experience it at least once in their lives.
It’s well documented that many women suffer from this on a regular basis at work, and I can attest to that as a working mother (who has returned to work twice). I suffer from the undeniable feeling that I am about to be rumbled. Constantly.
Nicola Sturgeon recently admitted to feelings of self-doubt saying, “I don't think there is a woman alive, particularly working-class women, who don't experience that at some point in their lives, and probably quite regularly,” It did get me thinking though: surely men experience similar feelings of self-doubt? How gender biased is Imposter Syndrome? Do men and women experience it in the same way, and do they just handle the experience of it differently?
A research paper published in Sept 2018 suggests than men suffer from IP equally and in some cases their experience of it is worse than women’s. The key seems to be how men and women react to the nagging sensation of unworthiness. Women inflict their own feelings of inadequacy on to their performance but men react with ‘Imposter Syndrome’ feeling or symptoms when given poor feedback or put under pressure. This results in decreased effort and poorer performance than females when accountable; in contrast, females increased their effort and did better than males when given negative feedback. So are women more affected than men by the societal pressures and expectations inflicted on them?
It’s important to recognise these feelings, and not to dismiss them; but is it really useful to think of Imposter Syndrome in terms of gender? Perhaps by looking at this problem through too narrow a lens we avoid tackling the wider issues.
A perspective that might be helpful is this: once you recognise imposter syndrome, then you can start to get ‘comfortable’ with feeling uncomfortable. Perhaps we can re-frame the issue as one not of capability but of learning? Maybe feeling out of your depth doesn’t mean you’re not capable – maybe it’s because we don't understand, or have forgotten, what learning feels like?
So instead of overcoming IP, can we learn to manage it and use it as a learning experience rather than a crisis of confidence? Can we learn to feel comfortable with feeling uncomfortable?
Lucy Mediratta,
Senior Associate, Research & Insight
lucy.mediratta@normanbroadbent.com
DDI: +44 (0) 20 7484 0065