In 2018, The WIMDI Speaker Series is inviting engaging speakers each month to give talks on topics that help women kill it at work.
Welcome to Talk 9 of 12 - Survival Behavior: How Women Get By in Male-Dominated Industries
Many a thinkpiece has been written about the differences between working men and women. Exploring topics from impostor syndrome to communication style, the not-so-subtle implication in many of these articles is clear: women's behavior is ill-informed, maladaptive, inscrutable, or otherwise crazy.
This talk serves as an exploration of specific strategies, behaviors, and habits that women working in male-dominated fields develop and use to help them get by in fields where they are few and far between. We will examine working women's behavior, not as a curious particularity of a gender unfamiliar with certain fields, but in its correct social and biological context: As survival behavior. We'll cover:
- The relationship between survival behavior and trauma
- Adaptive strategies women use to cope in male-dominated workplaces
- Parallels between women's adaptive strategies and those of trauma survivors
- Specific, targeted interventions that work to create safety and space at work for women.
The goal of this talk is to help women and their allies understand the survival imperative behind women's workplace strategies, and to provide concrete steps to help them thrive.
This workshop is facilitated by WIMDI's Founder, Holly Burton, a Leadership Coach for Women in Male-Dominated Industries.
Holly is a leadership coach for women in male-dominated industries. She works one-on-one with ambitious women to help them lead, get promoted, and create the careers they actually want in industries they love.
As a mining engineer for the first ten years of her career, Holly was exposed to one of the most male-dominated spaces -- just 17% female. She uses the unique perspective she gained as a woman in mining, alongside her obsessive nerdiness for all things feminism, leadership, and career to help women create the working world they deserve while they wait for the rest of society to catch up.
Fun fact: She has the world's coolest business cards.
Doors open at 5:30 for mingling and socializing. The official start time is 6pm, with additional networking time to follow.
Hosted by ACL Services.
Attendance Notes:
1) Gender:
This event is open to individuals of any gender identity.
2) Content Warning:
This event will feature discussion of a variety of traumatic situations as well as symptoms and adaptive techniques of trauma survivors. This talk may not be suitable to individuals triggered by this type of discussion. If you have questions about the content, please reach out to Holly at [masked].
3) Children:
Since this event features some complex discussion of trauma, it is not be suitable for children. Please bring your little ones to our next Cafe Night or October's Speaker Series event.