Women in Male-Dominated Fields

Subculture Project*

*For our Strategy and Culture class, we spent an entire semester studying a subculture of our choice.

I’ve lived in Richmond for nearly eight years and have always been inspired by the local business community here. Richmonders are passionate, bold, and loyal—whether they start businesses themselves or support those who do. I wanted to study this community as part of my project. As a woman, I was especially curious about female small business owners. Through conversations, I began hearing about women leading law firms, tech companies, and investment firms—fields I often considered to be "male-dominated".

That raised a bigger question: What can we learn from women who choose to pursue their passions in spaces where they’ve historically been underrepresented?

Research Methodologies

Desk Research Social Listening Event Attendance/Observation 1:1 Interviews Survey

Here's what I learned:

1) We still have progress to make

My survey respondents, specifically those who worked in male-dominated fields, reported that misogynistic comments and male-favoritism are still something they deal with today.

Multiple people have downplayed my experience, and it tends to be men.

I've had a man tell me: "Don't worry your pretty little head"

Men have called me "honey" and assumed I was the paralegal, rather than the lawyer.

I've experienced gender-bias nearly every day. I get spoken over during meetings, get questioned about my ideas, and get ignored.

Final Deliverable

For my final deliverable, I wanted to try something new and created a podcast. I interviewed a female entrepreneur and the OG "woman in a male dominated field" in my own life - my mom. I also produced two solo episodes.

Episode 1 Introduction

00:00 / 08:51

Episode 2 Elisabeth Edelman

00:00 / 26:58

Episode 3Maureen Thomas (my mom!)

00:00 / 14:55

Episode 4Venture Capital Funding

00:00 / 20:51

So, what key traits define a woman in a "male-dominated" field?

I spent an entire semester getting to know my subculture. At the end, these are the main personality traits that stood out.

Women in male-dominated fields...

1) are the type of people to question things that everyone else passively accepts

2) will show up as the most-prepared person in the room 100% of the time

3) have most likely dealt with other types of bias in their professional careers

4) learned early on that it pays off to have thick skin

5) aren't afraid to say or do "the uncomfortable thing" - they'll put themselves out there, even when it's embarrassing or hard, in the pursuit of success