“How do I look?” — How 4 words can prevent women from succeeding at work
15.5% of entrepreneurs in Europe are female and 53% of female founders consider maintaining mental well-being as a top challenge as a female founder (vs. 35% of male founders according to Atomico’s State of European Tech Report 2020). With regards to #International Women’s Day 2021, I have exciting findings on how to improve your well-being with your body and, in turn, maximize your performance in the workplace, which I’m sure you haven’t heard yet.
1. The body image problem women have
Did you know that the question “How do I look?” alone ties up mental capacities that consequently cannot be used for professional thinking processes? According to a University of Michigan study, circumstances that make a woman feel conscious about how she looks to others can reduce the mental energy she could devote to challenging tasks.This leads to harmful effects: decreased mental performance, increased feelings of shame and anxiety, and the development of eating disorders. According to scientific research, constantly checking your appearance, correcting your hair or tugging at your shirt uses up mental resources that are then unavailable for more relevant mental tasks.
Dissatisfaction with one’s body, particularly feeling too fat, is common among women.
66% of German women consider themselves “too fat” and thus have a negative body perception, even though only 25% are obese. Studies show that the beauty ideal of being slim conveyed by the media is associated with a negative evaluation of one’s own body, this applies to all genders. A high degree of self-objectification is being observed especially among people who use social media. One’s own body is seen and judged from the outside based on subjective, sometimes distorted, characteristics of physical attractiveness, sex appeal and weight in comparison to the images of other people we see online. For women in particular, much online content focuses primarily on appearance and less on skills or personality.
2. The mental health impact of this
Psychological research has long known that the perception of one’s own body is linked to self-esteem. In fact, 63% of women report that weight is the most important factor in their self-esteem — more important than family, school or career. As a result, women are twice as likely as men to suffer from many mental health disorders: 20 million women and 10 million men worldwide suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some point in their lives.
Clinically, a negative body self-image is often not only related to eating disorders, but also to depression and anxiety disorders.
In Germany, approximately 27.8% of the adult population is affected by a mental illness each year. This corresponds to about 17.8 million sufferers, of whom only 18.9% make contact with service providers each year. While workplace health promotion offerings have experienced a hype in recent years in addressing mental health and relaxation, only few are designed to be gender-specific or diversity-sensitive.
3. The effect of a negative body image on work performance
Now lets come straight to the point: Overall, men are 150% more likely than women to feel extremely comfortable with their bodies at work, shows a 2020 study by Horizon Media Inc. Problems with body confidence are felt equally by men and women, but the difference in the degree of well-being is an interesting starting point for this discussion. People with a positive body image are according to the study 75% more likely to say they feel very successful in their careers and twice as likely to be very satisfied with their development and achievements. But we know now, that women are struggling to have a positive body image and to feel comfortable with their bodies.
The study by Horizon Media further highlights that women are more than twice as likely as men to believe that their appearance influences their professional future. Women also see a strong connection between their appearance and overcoming obstacles. Whereas men strongly believe that they can overcome perceived obstacles with their skills. When society as a whole wants more female entrepreneurs who create jobs and solve problems of the world community, instead of focussing on how they look — we need to talk about the taboo topic body image at work not only for future interventions in corporate health and corporate culture, but to empower females into leadership roles. In my view this is a more radical new approach to empowerment, than binding minimum quota for female board members.
Covid-19 has not only dramatically worsened the mental health situation worldwide but also the body dissatisfaction.
A connection that is rarely made: Dissatisfaction with body image has worsened with the transition to home office and associated video calling. Here is the proof: plastic surgeons saw a 100% increase in treatments in 2020 compared to 2019, with most requests for procedures to combat signs of aging and fatigue in the forehead, eyes, and neck. Most people have been exposed to their own faces to a greater degree than ever before due to the pandemic and the desire for self-optimization has also increased in the course of this.
The little blurry image of our face, filmed in part from below, has caused Amazon’s sales of ring lights to skyrocket. YouTube videos register millions of views on explanatory videos on how to look good in video calls with light, make-up and the right height of the webcam. And who didn’t get a comment on their own appearance from their work colleagues in the video call? The appearance of women in this context is judged more often then a men’s appearance and based on a different standard, especially when it comes to signs of ageing. That’s where seeking external advice does good, because no one is as interested in your appearance as yourself, and no one judges your own appearance as harshly as you do.
Let’s conclude: The more comfortable you feel with your body, the better you can be in business.
Body image is a significant contributor to people’s career success. Those who are confident in their body have a significant advantage over those that do not, regardless of gender. Through my years of experience as a bodypsychotherapist, I have some non-obvious, surprising insights on how to improve body confidence.
Currently I am prototyping a toolkit based on scientific research providing online learning videos, self-learning exercises, deep learning virtual group sessions and individual 1on1 sessions to improve your relationship with your body and to maximize your performance in the workplace in return. A clear and calm mind comes as a bonus.
If you don’t feel comfortable in your own body in the company of others online or offline and if you want to be better in business, please sign up here to share your experience or help me as a tester. I’m looking for more insights to help women to feel comfortable with their bodies in business.
About
Marta Michniewicz is a solo entrepreneur and freelancer conducting research in the field of mental health pre- and post-covid with a focus on female leaders and entrepreneurs. My goal is to use relevant insights about the impact of negative body image and body dissatisfaction on productivity in the workplace and to develop solutions for it.
Over the past years, I have developed deep expertise in the healthcare industry, including clinical psychotherapy (Psychosomatic Special Care Unit of the University Hospital Frankfurt, Schön Clinic, Kitzberg Clinic), insurance (AOK Baden-Württemberg, Kaufmännische Krankenkasse), venture capital and startup industry (Heal Capital).
I helped hundreds of patients as a clinical bodypsychotherapist to strengthen their connection to their own bodies, make peace with the past so that future obstacles in work and life can be mastered.
