Is Imposter Syndrome Even Real?

by Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar, Associate Editor

I recently had a small get-together with friends, all of us women. At some point in the evening, we started talking about how we were feeling about our respective professional journeys. One of us, who had just gotten into a competitive PhD program, said she felt like her acceptance was luck. Another spoke about being a first-time manager. She was unsure if she was qualified for the job. A third spoke about how scared she was to launch her new career as a freelancer. Despite her years of experience and study, she wasn’t sure if she’d be any good.

For most people these feelings of self-doubt and insecurity are familiar. There’s a name for them — imposter syndrome — and research shows that women are much more likely to experience it. In fact, psychologists in the late 1970s found that, despite academic and professional brilliance, many high-achieving women still felt that they weren’t as smart and had fooled anyone who considered them successful.  

Today, the question still lingers: What makes women constantly undermine our abilities, talents, and achievements in the first place? 

Last year, HBR authors, Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey addressed this issue in their article, “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome.” They argue that imposter syndrome isn’t about low self-confidence. It’s a result of the systemic discrimination and marginalization that a lot of us, especially women of color, face as we navigate predominately white, male-dominated workplaces.  

Numerous studies show that women get less feedback than their male counterparts, have a hard time negotiating for what they want, and are negatively judged when they don’t fit into neat stereotypes about their social behaviors. So, when women from marginalized backgrounds enter workplaces, they hold themselves up to such a high standard that it can create extra pressure. This becomes more difficult when you’re a woman at the intersection of other marginalized identities, such as race, class, caste, and sexuality.

In part, the reason women don’t feel like we belong is because we weren’t supposed to belong in the spaces we occupy today. “Our presence in most of these spaces is a result of decades of grassroots activism and begrudgingly developed legislation,” Tulshyan and Burey write.

They put forth a powerful idea that feeling like an imposter isn’t an individual failing on the part of women. It’s a systemic challenge of exclusion and bias in the workplace. To that end, the solution lies in fixing systems — not women.  

So, where do we start?

At an individual level, this can look like demanding more transparency from your organization. Ask for data on pay and promotion rates across demographics — race, caste, class, sexual orientation, child status, etc. Then, lobby for more equitable resources for everyone.

As a manager, ending imposter syndrome can start by dismantling male-biased social and leadership styles that equate confidence and power with competence. Understand how bias affects people on your team, particularly women from marginalized communities. Finally, speak up and advocate for your people. By working to reduce bias against all women you can help create a space where everyone feels safe and confident to be themselves. 

Here's a video I want to share with you this week: Christine vs. Work: The Truth Behind Imposter Syndrome by Christine Liu.

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