International Women's Day Interview - Jen
Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?
My name is Jen and I am a calligrapher. I work predominantly in the wedding industry and I also work part-time in marketing for a marine recruitment company.
How did you get into what you do?
I started out in the nightclub industry, I worked there for a really long time and then went on to work for a streetwear brand, then a female-led design company.
I had gone to art school and I was always really into calligraphy. At first, I was using it as a stress buster but I’d always wanted to have my own business so it seemed like the right move to pull the two together.
Tell us a bit about your experience of working for so many different companies?
I actually found that when I worked for a female-led company I struggled a lot more. I think that’s because I started in nightclubs that are very male-dominated, so as a result, you need to be quite aggressive and dominant in order to be heard and I found myself turning into a person I didn’t really like, as I was carrying this really masculine energy.
But when I went on to work for the streetwear company, I had a very clear role, I was like the mother of the company, I was able to be nurturing and supportive and it felt right for me.
When I worked for the female-led company I found it to be really corporate, there was actually a lot of misogyny and competitiveness and I couldn’t find my place.
We’d love to hear a bit more about your thoughts on that competitiveness so many of us face on the daily, in a world that teaches us there isn’t enough to go around, is it something you battle with?
I think it’s so important that we move past that competitive energy. In the industry that I am in now, it’s so much more about collaboration. I personally want to do the best for my clients and if they want something that I know someone else can do better, then I will refer them on. That’s why having a network is so important and so valuable, if we come together in collaboration over competition, amazing things can happen.
Have you ever been reminded of your gender in a negative way in the workplace?
I think things are getting better but there was always that thought of being worried about voicing your needs because you don’t want to come across as a nag. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been in meetings where I’ve said “yes that’s great, but what about this?” and get ignored and then two weeks later a male colleague would say the same thing and everyone would respond. It’s that presumption that what we are saying isn’t relevant or that we are hard work, that then makes it even more difficult to stamp your feet about not being heard as then you’re seen as that nag again.
I think those gender bias’s still very much exist, it’d be quite commonplace if I was voicing frustration or annoyance at something to be asked “Are you on your period?” or “do you have PMT?” totally dismisses our emotions and plays everything down to hormones which has you constantly looking over your shoulder and worrying about how you are being perceived.
What is the one thing you’d like to see change when it comes to gender equality in the workplace?
Flexible working, but in order for it to work, we need to reframe how we see equality. It needs to not only be that we make allowances for things like school start and finish times, that we take the wellbeing of our employees seriously enough to help them achieve other things like getting to the gym, or their non-negotiables that support their health. If we really value people in this way, if we show them that we are willing to let them start later, or finish earlier or do a 4-day working week or have a longer lunch so they can go to their gym class, then not only will we see productivity soar but we’ll have a healthier and happier nation!