Stand in your story. That was the powerful message CEO Sarah Harden shared with a packed room at the inaugural Chief Executive Women’s Summit in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Harden is no stranger to storytelling. As CEO of American Media Company Hello Sunshine, a $1 billion-plus production company co founded with actor Reese Witherspoon, she is on a mission to change the narrative for women, putting women at the centre of every story.
As she shared her personal story of ground-breaking professional success in the media industry in Hong Kong and the US, Sarah reflected on the recent New York Times article that suggested women should stop playing by the rules – that the game is rigged.
Harden told the room of assembled executives that just being part of a system that is stacked against us at every level is revolutionary. We need to stand in this story.
We’ve been let down by the myth of empowerment feminism or corporate feminism for too long. This type of feminism is the idea that if we just work a bit harder, do a few more training programs, be a bit more confident, lean in – that we’ll make it. If we work within the system, the system will reward us.
But as Harden shared, as her career advanced and she continued her humble and capable ‘get shit done’ approach, she was left feeling inadequate, exhausted and racked with guilt. And this is exactly why people are starting to question corporate feminism. Because it puts the onus for gender equality on individual women, without addressing the systemic and patriarchal barriers to gender equality.
It also often doesn’t recognise these barriers are not the same for all women. Gender inequality is compounded by other forms of discrimination – especially for older women, women of colour and migrant women, women from the LGBTQI+ community and women with a disability.
Returning from my third lot of parental leave recently, Harden’s story was familiar and is no doubt familiar to many parents returning to work. Professional, energised and optimistic bu constantly doubting myself, questioning my capability and experience, often feeling guilty about something I have or haven’t done, always tired.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to having a highlighted copy of Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In on my bookshelf, and I’d be naive if I didn’t realise that the last decade of corporate feminism has been beneficial for my career (and for me personally), but I am so glad to see the tide starting to turn.
There is an increasing and growing public discourse first led by Catherine Fox and soon to be propelled by Kristine Ziwica’s new book Leaning Out that shifts the focus from individual capability and personal will, to systemic and organisational-level change. Changing organisations, not women, to deliver structural reform that ensures equity for all women.
And until then, maybe we give up chasing success in an unfair system and instead, stand in our story.
Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden’s powerful message of rejecting empowerment feminism to stand in your story
