Earning Respect as a Project Manager & a Woman

Stephanie is a project process specialist, trainer and mentor. She is the Lead Consultant at Jaeger Consultants Ltd in Nairobi. Stephanie specializes in the human aspect of project management and leadership, and encourages discussion and feedback. She also writes regular blogs on jaeger-consultants.com.

  Career Development  

To celebrate Women's History Month and International Women's Day, we asked some of our contributors to reflect on their experiences being a woman in the project management workforce.

Being a woman in a professional world can at times come with challenges. But getting so upset that you let your work suffer when you feel mistreated or discriminated against does not help. As a friend of mine always says, “Dust yourself off, straighten your crown and continue your journey.”

During my career, I have had quite a few encounters that were humiliating, discriminatory or simply embarrassing. You can imagine that having grown up in a liberated country where women fought long ago for equality (Germany) and now working in a foreign culture (South Africa) that sees things differently can lead to interesting situations.

This has not taken away from my dignity, my knowledge and my professional abilities. I had to learn to pick myself up and soldier on. Instead of going to the streets to shout out loud the inequities to the world, we sometimes just have to learn to walk away. There is no need to justify yourself. If you are doing a great job, your work will speak for you.

From the many stories I could share, one stands out. I was still in my first year of fulltime project management, but slowly gaining confidence in both project management and in handling data …

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