Female competition and the death of merit

Who holds women back?

I. The narrative about sexism in highly paying fields

The undercurrents of competition between women are invisible to men. A woman may think she’s crazy for seeing them. I’ve since moved from heavily female to male-dominated industries. Like most gender disparity narratives, the story of women’s success in corporate life is incorrect and simplistic, casting women as victims of men. I once believed there were fewer women in the highest-paying technical jobs because of rampant sexism and stereotype threat. But it’s not true. My experience transitioning from recruiting to technical consulting has revealed a more complex reality than the story suggests.

To head the obvious objection off, being a woman in a male-dominated field carries the risk of sexual harassment or otherwise being sponsored by men for reasons other than competence. There are also incidents of actual sexist discrimination that are difficult to prove. But in my experience, women hold each other back more than men do.

The cla…