Special Guest Blogger: Marji Guyler-Alaniz, President & Founder – FarmHer
Many times to my benefit, and just as many to my detriment, I have lived life in fast forward, getting where I am going as quickly and efficiently as I can. I’m not sure why, it’s just how I am programmed. I sped through college, graduating with my bachelor’s degree in less than three years, just one day after I turned 21. I was in a hurry to conquer corporate America—and still not sure just why. Soon after graduation I started working in the corporate headquarters of a large agricultural insurance company. It never really struck me then but within that company, and really, the majority of all Corporate America, the upper management of the company was nearly all men. Sure, I worked in proximity to plenty of women, but each and every one of them was in a support staff type of role. As I spent 11 years climbing that corporate ladder, the aptly titled “glass ceiling” of corporate agriculture became closer and closer, yet bigger and more prominent.
Over time, I worked my way up into the Senior Staff level of the company. Throughout my years there, I attended countless meetings and I, along with just a few other women on the invite list, would enter these meetings and promptly take my seat….around the outside of the room, almost never sitting at the table. It wasn’t until many years later upon reading Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In that I realized we were being our own worst enemy. Where you sit in a room will often decide your fate. Are you going to sit around the edge, or are you going to sit at the table?
As I would sit on that outer ring I would listen to the discussion during the meetings. As various issues, problems and ideas were discussed I would think of all of the great things I could say, the many ways I could contribute that nobody else seemed to be thinking about. I would think about these at length, sometimes raising my hand timidly, waiting for a turn to speak. When that turn didn’t come quickly enough I would talk myself right back out of my potentially great idea and it would die right where it had started, in my head. If I could go back and talk to my 25-year-old self, I would simply say, “keep your hand up.” You have an opinion and your voice should be heard just as much as the next person’s. Whether you find yourself in the boardroom or the farm field (or both), keep your hand up until you are heard. Stick with it and believe in yourself….if you don’t, nobody else will either!
The few times that I would actually speak up, I am sure that nearly every time I started out my statement in the least bold way possible, with an apology. Something like “Well, I’m not sure if this is right, but…” or “Sorry to drag this on, but…” or “Sorry, but I have another idea…” It never occurred to me that I was instantly minimizing what I had to say before I even said it. I, not the rest of the guys sitting at the table, but I was my own worst enemy! Never EVER start a sentence with I’m sorry (unless you really are)! Starting with an apology is something we women pick up early on in life and can get too good at. Just taking a second or two as a pause before you start speaking will help so much in correcting a case of the sorry’s…and when you speak, speak up. Don’t lower your voice.
I didn’t do this. I didn’t keep my hand up, I didn’t start with confidence, I didn’t speak up and ultimately I didn’t get the promotions, pay or respect that the others did. Yes, they were all men who were keeping their hands up, speaking firmly and with confidence, but that had little to do with them getting more. Them getting the better office, better title, better pay and more recognition had a whole lot to do with my inability to speak up and speak with confidence.
With time now under my belt, and a lot more perspective, it is still clear that we, as women in agriculture, whether in the farm field or boardroom, will have to work harder, faster, smarter just to prove ourselves because we are women. BUT, if you know your stuff, work hard, speak with confidence, and allow yourself a seat at the table, you can and will prove yourself. Once you do, live up to the reputation you built with hard work, perseverance and determination. Many times things are the way they are just because they always have been that way and we need to step up, stand up, and take a seat at the table to push that change.
Now that I have started my own small business that shines a light on women’s roles in agriculture, I have some perspective and the bonus of surrounding myself with strong, successful and amazing women I can call mentors. Even then, I still sometimes start out with a sorry. I know better, but a lifetime of apologizing can be hard to kick. So, for those times that I still am not quite sure of myself, I just smile and fake it!
For special findings about women in the agricultural workplace, view the results from AgCareers.com’s 2015 market research study Gender Roles & Equality in Agribusiness.
About Marji Guyler-Alaniz
Marji Guyler-Alaniz, President and Founder of FarmHer (www.farmher.com), is a lifetime Iowan and lover of photography. That love combined with Graphic Design, Journalism and Photography degrees from Grand View University, an 11-year career in Corporate agriculture and an MBA from Drake University led her to launch FarmHer in the spring of 2013. Through FarmHer she is updating the image of agriculture by showing the female side of farming, creating community amongst women in agriculture and outreach to young women interested in agriculture. Her work for FarmHer has been featured in an expanse of areas ranging from Public Television and RFD-TV to USDA’s National Ag Day Celebration and O the Oprah Magazine.
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