Why women don’t get promoted

As an increasing number of legal teams work between offices, the highly competitive working environment of the legal industry continues to stunt the career growth of women, a psychologist says.

While the industry has evolved from the traditional Old Boys’ Club and firms have invested in support networks to retain female talent, women continue to be overlooked because of one thing: themselves.

According to trained psychologist and performance consultant Shona Rowan, self-promotion, networking and confidence are what build a successful career. 

But, she said, these behavioural traits aren’t instinctive to women like they are for many men.

Women tend to think that their work will speak for itself, but that’s almost never the case.  And in a competitive industry, while the men are out promoting themselves, the female approach doesn’t have a high success rate.

“Everybody is hard working, the standard is so high, particularly in law where everyone is highly educated and intelligent,” said Rowan.

“Now days, your visibility, your self-belief, your ability to promote yourself and the value you bring to your firm and your network is just as important.”

In her workshops, The Psychology of Successful Women, Rowen teaches women the skills to do just that: level out the playing field.

“Women have a different mindset around some of these things so they don’t want to be seen as arrogant,” said Rowan.

Many of the women Rowen meets have to learn the importance of networking, and the importance in making your achievements known within the business.

“Hard work and intelligence is not enough to guarantee you a successful career.

“I meet so many amazing, talented, hardworking, highly educated women, and often they will be overlooked for opportunities and it’s not because they don’t have the talent,” said Rowan.

“Often it’s purely because they’re not visible enough, they don’t have a strong enough brand within the firm, and often they’re not as connected.”