A new report by women’s advocacy group Rise has found that 76 per cent of women working in the broadcast technology sector has experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their career.
The Rise Women in Leadership Report, which has been produced in partnership with KTN, is the first of its kind for the broadcast media technology sector and provides an in-depth insight how women can reach their potential and succeed in leadership roles.
The report surveyed 122 women working in the sector anonymously, asking them to share their career experiences.
It classified imposter syndrome as doubting your own abilities and feeling like a fraud. Imposter syndrome can exist for a number of reasons; a lack of visible role models in the sector, experience of direct or indirect discrimination throughout life or in a specific industry, stereotypes of ‘gendered’ roles and other identities as perceived through the media, anxiety, early childhood experiences and more.
Some 75 per cent of report’s respondents identified as having experienced or currently experience imposter syndrome. The remaining 25 per cent have never experienced it. The report adds that women of colour, especially black women, as well as the LGBTQIA+ community are most at risk of experiencing imposter syndrome.
The report lays a number of recommendations for companies to deal with the issue of imposter syndrome, including:
- Internal support networks
- Mentoring
- Role models
- Considering how managers interact with staff
Speaking about the report, Rise’s managing director Carrie Wootten said: “Our goal is to ensure that there is a diverse and gender balanced workforce across our industry, and Rise is pleased to launch this ground-breaking report which will serve as an invaluable tool for our industry. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to Rise’s first Female Leadership Report and to KTN for its partnership and support.”
The full report is available to download from Rise’s website.
