Quick Lift: Glass Walls — The 6 Hidden Barriers Holding Women Back at Work (and What to Do About Them)

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Have you ever walked out of a meeting thinking,

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why was that harder for me than it needed to

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be? Like, you said the right thing, did the work,

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showed up, prepared, and still somehow got sidelined?

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Welcome to Loud and Lifted Quick Lift, the under

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10 minute episode where we turn big insights

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into small, repeatable moves you can use this

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week. I'm your host, Betsy Hamm. Today, I'm recapping

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my conversation with Dr. Amy Deal, author of

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Glass Walls. And she makes this point that honestly

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explains so much. We all talk about glass ceilings,

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but the bigger problem is glass walls, invisible

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barriers that block women sideways, out of key

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rooms, roles, relationships, and momentum. She

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breaks workplace gender bias into six glass walls.

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Let's hit the highlights fast, and then I'll

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give you what we can do at the end. The first

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gender bias is male privilege. This is the foundation.

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Workplaces were largely built by men for men.

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So the default setting often favors men. It may

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show up as the boys club. Relationships and decisions

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happening in spaces women aren't automatically

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included in. Examples that Amy shared is the

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after hours bonding that's sometimes harder to

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attend if you're carrying home responsibilities.

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Casual norms like golf outings where trust and

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access get built. And even language like calling

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a mixed group, hey, you guys or man hours or

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councilman. There's a lot of language that has

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just been masculine. And the quick truth is most

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of it isn't said with evil intent or to be malicious.

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It's just how we have been raised. It's just

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part of our conversation. We talk. It's just

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how the workforce is. But intent doesn't erase

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impact. Gender bias number two, disproportionate

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constraints. Women are allowed in, but their

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behavior is often more restrictive. The margin

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for error is tiny. And this is where you'll see

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women being interrupted or talked over. A new

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term that I learned from Amy is he peeding. When

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a woman says an idea and it lands like a dud,

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and then a man repeats it and suddenly it's genius.

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I think we can all relate to that one. And then

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the double bind. If you're confident, you get

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backlash. If you're tentative, You get dismissed.

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And lastly, your parents being scrutinized way

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more than a man. It's exhausting because you're

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not just doing the job. You're managing the reaction

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to you doing the job. Gender bias number three,

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insufficient support. This one is huge. Women

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often get less mentoring. less sponsorship, and

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less advocacy, and also less access to informal

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networks where people are actually selected for

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opportunities. Amy shared a wild finding. Women

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can sometimes be more likely to leave when they're

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ostracized than when they're harassed, because

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at least with harassment, there's a chance that

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the organization responds. Ostracism is lonely

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and invisible, and you can't fix what you can't

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name. So this just goes back to the more of the

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reason why it's so important to have support

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in your network and your organization. Gender

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bias number four, devaluation. This is when women's

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work or presence gets subtly treated as less

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important. And she gave two big examples. First

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is the office housework. Now, this could be the

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note taking in the meetings, the party planning

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for the entire group, ordering food, cleaning

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up the kitchen, being the helper, doing the work

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that is important and it keeps things running,

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but it doesn't get rewarded. And the other example

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she gave was benevolent sexism. Comments or actions

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that sound nice, but they shrink you. Like, young

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lady, sweetie, you should smile more. Or deciding

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not to offer you a big opportunity because someone

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just assumes they're protecting you, that you

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don't have the time or because you have kids.

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Again, the intent is not necessarily malicious,

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but the impact is. And this is also where women

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get judged no matter what. If you're too attractive,

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you're not taken seriously. If you're not attractive,

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then you don't have executive presence. It's

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like you're never allowed to just exist and lead.

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There's a balance of being too much or too little

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of any of those things. Number five, hostility.

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Hostility is the overstuff, the moments that

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are meant to put women back in their place. This

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can be sexual harassment, intimidation, sarcasm,

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or the vibe that you don't belong here. Here's

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what's sneaky. Hostility doesn't always look

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like yelling and super aggressive. Sometimes

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it's just punishment for confidence. If a woman

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speaks directly, she's abrasive. If she sets

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boundaries, she's difficult. If she leads with

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confidence, she's too much. And the goal is the

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same. Make her smaller, quieter, and easier to

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ignore. A quick flag for here is listen for language

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that attacks how she is instead of what she did.

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And guess what? Most of this is not driven by

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men. Think about that. Our last gender bias is

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acquiescence. This one is the result of all others.

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When you run into walls enough at times, eventually

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you adapt. It can look like self silencing, shrinking

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your goals, opting out of promotions because

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you know that higher level comes with more stress,

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more judgment and fewer supporters. Or you start

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thinking it's just not worth the hassle. This

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is how we hold ourselves back. And it's not because

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we're not optimistic. And sometimes it's not

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even because we're not confident. It's because

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we're realistic. We know what we're going to

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run into the higher that we climb. So again,

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this goes into the glass walls before you even

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get to the glass ceiling. And Amy's point was

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important. It isn't that women lack ambition.

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It's women responding rationally to a system

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that makes advancement. more costly. So listening

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to those six gender biases sounds a little depressing,

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right? I mean, how can we get past this? What

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can we do? Well, the reality is it takes leaders,

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it takes allies, and it takes women ourselves

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and supporting each other. The whole point of

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this podcast. First, if you're a leader, fix

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the environment. Amy's stance is clear. The primary

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responsibility sits with the leadership and culture.

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That means make pay and promotion processes transparent

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and fair. Reward things like office housework

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or hire support for it. Don't unofficially assign

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women all the time. Build real flexibility and

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family support. Not just the performative, we

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care. Audit who's getting stretch assignments

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and visibility and correct it. Translation, don't

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tell women to be tougher, make the game less

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rigged. And again, this is being intentional.

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A lot of times these things have just been set

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up. It's the way you've always been doing it,

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but it's taking a step back and really looking

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at your policies and your procedures, but then

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also your culture and how is your team actually

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handling themselves. Next, if you're an ally,

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interrupt bias in real time. This is simple and

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powerful. If a woman gets interrupted, bring

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it back. Hold on, I want to hear her finish that.

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Or if it's the heap heating, if that happens,

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just saying, Maria just said that. Can we go

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back to her point? And if someone makes a bias

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comment, use Amy's tool. Flip it to test it.

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Would you say that to a man? Would you tell a

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man to smile more, to be happier? If the answer

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is no, you found your bias. And lastly, if you're

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a woman who sees this or having it happen to

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her, to fellow coworker, you have to name it,

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depersonalize it and build other options. Amy's

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practical strategies is one, learn to recognize

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bias so you can label it fast. Again, we're just

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used to this. Two, depersonalize it. It's not

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you, it's the system. So don't take it personal.

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Three, build your support network. This again

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goes back to the importance of who's around you,

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your mentors, your sponsors, your peers, your

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circle. Have that support network that you can

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talk through things, have conversations, get

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advice. And lastly, keep alternatives on the

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table. So one boss, one job, one company doesn't

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get to hold your confidence hostage. It can feel

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super overwhelming and frankly depressing when

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we break down these biases. I'm sure we can all

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relate to more than we want to. It isn't hopeless,

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however, we just have to continue to make progress

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and the only way we are going to do that is together.

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If you haven't listened to Amy's full episode,

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I strongly encourage you to do so and then send

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this to a friend or an ally. Please continue

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to stay loud for what's right and lift each other.