Gender, Poverty, and the Road to Success: Lessons from a Female Businesswoman

International Womens Day 2024: #InvestInWomen, #InspireInclusion

In a world where women continue to face numerous barriers in both public and private spheres, the intersectionality of gender and socioeconomic status can create additional challenges, making this year’s International Women’s Day theme of Investing in Women such an important one. In our guest blog we spoke to Chantelle who defied the odds by overcoming poverty and navigating a male-dominated industry and subsequently launching her own businesses focussing on sustainability. Her story sheds light on the importance of investing in women and supporting feminist change-makers, particularly those facing economic challenges and barriers to entry.

Meet Chantelle

Chantelle shares, "I come from a single-parent background where my family was reliant on the benefit system. Growing up, I always felt fearful that I was going to be 'found out' for being poor". She explained how she would “pull a sickie on non-school uniform days because I didn’t have any clothes that wouldn’t be mocked and I'd whisper ‘I'm on free school dinners’ when collecting my lunch”. Despite, and perhaps because of, financial struggles, Chantelle pursued a career in law, initially unaware of the male-dominated nature of the industry. Reflecting on her journey, she recalls, "Once I got a job offer at a law firm, I felt like a very small fish in a very big pond." However, her experiences in the legal profession led her to realise that escaping poverty was not enough. She explains, "I realised after 12 years of training and practicing that being a lawyer didn’t make me happy". Since this she has founded two female led businesses, her most recent focussing on sustainability. In this blog, she reflects with us her experiences of corporate spaces and why she believes we need to #InspireInclusion and #InvestInWomen. We explore two themes: intersectionality of poverty, class and gender and navigating male dominated spaces.

The intersectionality between poverty, class and gender

Chantelle acknowledges the influence of poverty on her decision-making, stating, "Having nothing creates a mindset that you have to escape from your current situation". It was interesting that because of her socioeconomic experience, at the time she “didn’t consider whether spaces were male dominated as I was just happy to be there”. This relentless focus on basic survival overshadowed the nuances of gender oppression, making it a secondary consideration in her pursuit of financial stability. In this way, poverty served as a form of trauma, shaping her decision-making and relegating gender equality concerns to the background.

Although it wasn’t initially at the forefront of her thinking at that time, it certainly existed. She noted “I've had plenty of experiences where being a woman in a law firm felt like a disadvantage. However, I can't say it's something I thought about a lot early on in my career as I was more concerned with never returning to poverty. In some ways, having the space to consider gender equality is a privilege”. The weight of poverty can be so burdensome that those experiencing it may struggle to recognise wider oppression amidst their fight for survival. Research by psychologists has shown that individuals subjected to chronic stress, such as that induced by poverty or other forms of systemic oppression, often exhibit reduced cognitive capacity and heightened focus on immediate concerns, known as "tunneling effect". This narrowing of cognitive bandwidth can limit their capacity to perceive broader societal issues, including gender inequality, as their mental resources are consumed by the pressing need to meet basic needs. Chantelle's experience echoes this phenomenon, where her primary concern was breaking free from poverty, leaving little room to contemplate the subtleties of gender discrimination in her profession.

Although when she started her career in law it was evident she had moved away from poverty, the binary between her and her peers remained obvious to her, she said “my counterparts were talking about how their parents had given them a hefty chunk of money for a flat in London, whereas I was anxiously waiting for my first payday so I had some money in my account”. Chantelle reflects on the intersectionality of her experiences, stating, "I felt like I had a big sticker on my back saying 'she's poor / working class'”. Comments and stereotypes based on socioeconomic status compounded her challenges in a competitive workplace environment. She recounted numerous experiences including people highlighting her accent, mistaking her for a Human Resources assistant or in one scenario someone suggesting she changed her name to “something more corporate”. It wasn’t only the lack of resource that made her feel like the odd one out, but the intersection between wealth and class became quite obvious to her. She said “I couldn’t participate in certain conversations as I'd never been skiing or I'd not heard of a brand everyone was excited about” as she discussed some of the challenges in relating to her colleagues and peers. Aside from this, there were practical challenges that impacted her ability to integrate within the workplace as a result of her comparative financial situation as she explained; “I was already in debt and fighting fires before I'd even stepped foot in the office. I couldn’t go to certain social gatherings as my card would have got declined”.

However, these experiences also equipped her with resilience, adaptability, and a unique perspective that propelled her towards entrepreneurship. She actively resisted the pressure of fitting in, noting how it would have exacerbated the idea that people like her didn’t belong in the corporate world. She explained “I made a decision that I wouldn’t change my accent or how I spoke. If I outwardly appeared like someone who had come from a higher privileged background, I'd be reinforcing the idea that only people from that background belonged in certain spaces. I wanted others to see that anyone could be a successful lawyer”. In fact, as her confidence in corporate setting grew, she found that her background also gave her some advantages. She told us “in terms of opening doors, I was a better communicator than most of my counterparts as I'd been around a diverse range of people from a young age. I was very good at talking to clients, who were sometimes from similar backgrounds to me. Also, as I didn’t have a clear path set out for me, I developed a number of skills that helped me as a lawyer such as problem solving, outside the box thinking, the ability to work under pressure and many more”.

Navigating male dominated spaces

Despite survival initially being her primary focus, she told us how stepping into the corporate law arena, it was evident from the outset: “this was a realm dominated by men”. She explained “when starting a career in law, you usually join a law firm with a cohort of around 40 other trainees. At this level, there is a pretty even split of male and females. As I progressed in my career, I saw that there were a lot less women in senior roles and those that were often seemed to be juggling multiple things”. Her observation is founded in fact as according to a report by the Law Society of England and Wales, women make up around 48% of solicitors in law firms, yet they represent only 29% of partners. Additionally, a study conducted by the Bar Standards Board found that while women account for approximately 51% of new barristers, they represent only 39% of barristers in practice, and this proportion decreases further among senior barristers.

Throughout this time, it wasn’t only the ratio of male and females in positions, she encountered disparities in treatment between male and female colleagues. She said “even at this early stage I noticed differences in how the male and female trainees were treated. The male trainees were a lot more relaxed and spoke less formally to senior members of the team. They seemed to be ‘buddy’ with senior men in the team and got invited to more things. Whereas the female trainees were often more anxious and treated more like interns”. Research sheds light on the varied reactions individuals have to instances of bias based on gender, providing contemporary evidence to support Chantelle's observations. This study, while focused on STEM fields, offers insights into the broader challenges faced by women in navigating professional environments where gender bias may be pervasive. Moreover, studies have shown that societal expectations often dictate different behavioural norms for men and women, with girls typically socialised to be polite and accommodating while boys are encouraged to be assertive and competitive. This societal conditioning may contribute to the perception that female trainees must maintain a more formal demeanour in the workplace, potentially limiting their ability to forge informal connections and network effectively.

When it got to more senior roles she explained “the female Partner's I worked with were often the most impressive. However, the stories they told of how they got there often centred around stress and sacrifice, which made me think it wasn’t a life I wanted”. Studies have consistently shown that women bear a disproportionate burden of caregiving responsibilities compared to men. Whether it's childcare, eldercare, or managing household tasks, women are more likely to take on a larger share of these responsibilities, often at the expense of their career advancement. Research indicates that women are more likely than men to make career sacrifices to accommodate family responsibilities, leading to slower career progression and fewer opportunities for leadership roles. For her, this intersected with her experience of poverty which also impacted her ability to advance as quickly as her counterparts; “I had to start my job a year later than everyone as I had to do my legal practice course part time so I could work alongside it”. Chantelle's observation that female partners often recount stories of stress and sacrifice resonates with these findings, highlighting the challenges women face in balancing their professional aspirations with caregiving responsibilities. The result of being a woman in a corporate world significantly shaped her thoughts on ever becoming a mother herself: “there isn’t one story that affected how I thought about being a woman in business. However, there are many of the same story. I saw many female lawyers struggle working full time in a senior position alongside being mothers. They were constantly spinning multiple plates and always seemed stressed. I couldn’t imagine doing my job and having children alongside. It seemed impossible and made me feel like being a mother wasn’t an option for me”.

She recognised that despite her qualifications, female trainees faced greater scrutiny and fewer opportunities for advancement. She adapted her own behaviour to mitigate this and developed a strategy of becoming “indispensable” as well as actively creating gender-inclusive networking opportunities. She said “I knew I wasn’t going to get invited to client events such as golf days, so I created my own style of business development and client entertaining that were more gender inclusive. I also made sure to network at my level, as I knew clients my age would grow in seniority as I did”. The adaptions she made enabled her to navigate these challenges, although systemic biases continue to hinder women's progress.

Final thoughts and a case for change

Overall, when we discussed how corporate spaces could be more inclusive spaces for women and this year’s International Women’s Day themes which were #InvestInWomen and #InspireInclusion, she had a few final thoughts. “I think that the solution is actually to redefine what a good lawyer is. It doesn’t have to binary, i.e. the amount of clients you have and how many hours you billed (traits usually suited to men). Instead, the measure could be how you increase team morale, being a good manager, coming up with innovative solutions etc. I think that this redefinition applies to businesses more broadly also. There shouldn’t be one measure of brilliance, especially where that measure is geared to promote the success of one gender”.

She added “I don’t think gender equality can be achieved without female led initiatives. This is often lacking in larger corporations where men sit at the top. I've often felt like I was seen as an inconvenience for raising issues of inequality to male superiors. Ultimately, for those it doesn’t affect, gender inequality is often seen as another thing on the to-do list. Gender equality (alongside race, class, sexuality etc.) has to sit at the top of the priority list. It can't be seen as a "nice to have" or a tick box exercise”. On reflection, Chantelle recogniaed that while her primary concern was survival, gender undoubtedly acted as a barrier in her journey. She acknowledges that there were many privileges she did have, which she now recognises, such as being a white woman. Despite the hardships she faced due to poverty, she acknowledges that her experiences could have been even more challenging if she had belonged to a marginalised racial or ethnic group. As such she also discussed how initiatives need to be broader than gender equality and focus on wider forms of oppression led by ‘by and for’ groups and businesses. She finished by saying “female founded, and other by and for led businesses with inclusion and equality at the top (and immovable from) their priority list will inevitably contribute to real change”.