The most overlooked group in the workplace?

WHAT’S ON DECK

• Tell Me More: Men get promoted for potential, women for performance

• Troublemaker Spotlight: Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, OBGYN, founder of SheMD and Ovii

• Dear FQ: I want my manager to trust me

• Poll the Pack: Flexibility tops employees’ workplace priorities

TELL ME MORE

Study shows that early career women suffer from ageism more than any other group.

When we think of ageism, we may think of examples that happen to women later in their careers, but McKinsey & Company recently reported that it’s actually happening to women below age 30 at a much higher rate.

Instead of facing these types of challenges later in their careers, young women are experiencing them right out of the gate: With shorter resumes and less experience, a new kind of ageism starts to manifest. 

• 49% of women under 30 report experiencing ageism, compared to 38% of women over 60.

• 59% of women under 30 say they need to provide more evidence of their competence than others. 

• One in three have had others take credit for their ideas, and are constantly mistaken for more junior employees. 

The youngest women in the workforce are getting hit the hardest with age discrimination. Data shows that young men are likely to be promoted based on potential, while young women are promoted based on what they’ve already accomplished. This disparity puts women at a serious disadvantage, denying them the same chances to prove their potential as their male peers. This is where women start falling behind and it’s referred to as the "broken rung", the first step up from individual contributor to manager.  And while progress has been made with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, only workers 40 and older are protected.

Despite these obstacles, this group of women are highly ambitious. What business wouldn’t jump at the chance to leverage that kind of talent and drive? They’re 20% more likely than women over 30 to actively pursue career advancement, but there’s a finite window in which to achieve it. McKinsey researchers call it the "avocado phenomenon": "Not ready, not ready, not ready, ripe, too late!" But broken ladders can be fixed. There’s already been incredible progress for women in the three decades since the U.S. Congress Glass Ceiling Commission released its report. 

• Women have gone from representing 3-5% to 29% of the C-suite. 

• In the U.S., between 2012 and 2022, women’s representation in the C-suite increased by 10 percentage points.

“I was for sure pinned as the resident young person who just knows social media,” shared thirty-year-old Jasmine Khorsandi, a digital marketer. “I found it hard to be seen as an equal or to be respected.” 

It will take Gen Z women (and the Alphas and Betas to follow) advocating for themselves, a task they’ve shown themselves to be more than ready for, and leaders showing up to support them. 

What young women can do: Advocate for yourself. Find mentors who recognize your potential. Know what you bring to the table. And repeat until real change happens.

What managers can do: Check your biases. Are you judging young women and men by the same standards? Listen to the women who are asking for more opportunities and be willing to let them prove themselves with their willingness, not their resume. 

Ageism has no place at any stage of a woman’s career. If we want thriving businesses and a truly innovative workplace, we can’t afford to sideline the very women most ready to learn and lead. They’re ambitious, capable, and ready to prove themselves. Workplaces must meet them with the same urgency and commitment. 

TROUBLEMAKER SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, OBGYN, founder of SheMD and Ovii

Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi has spent 24 years revolutionizing women's healthcare from her Los Angeles practice, where she treats everyone from royalty to reality stars. The board-certified OB/GYN and leading PCOS expert is the co-founder of the SheMD podcast, amplifying women's health stories worldwide. She recently created Ovii, a line of products designed to support women’s hormonal health. From pioneering minimally invasive surgical techniques to becoming a trusted voice for women's health advocacy, Dr. Aliabadi is on a mission to ensure women are heard, seen, and cared for.

FQ: What’s the worst career advice you’ve gotten?

When I was young and starting out as an OB/GYN, one of the top fertility doctors at that time noticed I was working late and said, “It would be easier if you go find yourself a rich husband." 

After all my schooling, all my training, and my residency, I wanted to be the best OB/GYN in the world, and for him to reduce all that to “go find a rich husband” fueled something inside of me.

What’s the best piece of non-obvious career advice you’ve gotten?

“If you follow your passion but it doesn’t support your life practically, that passion will diminish.”

It’s something my mom said to me when I was 18 and felt I needed to “know what my passion was” in order to move forward. She sat me down and told me that I had to make smart decisions and couldn’t lead with passion alone. 

What I discovered is that making smart decisions may be the thing that leads you to what you have passion for.

What was a “heartbeat moment” for you in your career?

When I was 48, I figured out that my lifetime risk of breast cancer was 37%, which is extremely high. I begged doctors to remove my breasts and no one would. It took a year of fighting to find someone to do it. I got a call one week after the procedure to let me know I had breast cancer.

The top breast specialists all told me I was crazy, that I was paranoid and wasn't going to get it…and it turns out I already had it.

Women in our healthcare system are too often dismissed, considered crazy and paranoid until proven otherwise. My biggest heartbeat moment was when I took all the sadness, dismissal and frustration from this negative journey of breast cancer and decided to channel it into being the voice for women and starting my SheMD podcast.

Who is one person you’d love to give flowers to from your career that influenced your journey?

Kimmy Ferdowsi, my office manager who has been with me every step of the way from when I signed the lease on my first office 24 years ago, back when I didn’t even know how to run a medical office. She showed me what working hard looks like, she showed me what quality patient care should look like, and she has always worked the longest hours because she wants to make sure every single patient is taken care of before she goes home. Her heart is the biggest I’ve ever known. 

With her hyper vigilance, love, and care, I learned how patients should be treated. I give 50% of my credit to Kimmy, who still works here next to me.

Where have you caused trouble?

I am just getting started with causing some good trouble! But bringing awareness to the lifetime breast cancer risk calculator that saved my life is a big one. Every woman should know her lifetime risk of breast cancer.

We’ve been bringing awareness to this tool with the help of Olivia Munn. Once Olivia told her story, so many people flooded to the calculator that the server shut down. It’s the biggest good trouble I’ve made so far, and I’m not done yet.

Want to nominate a “Troublemaker” you admire? You can do so here.

DEAR FQ

Your burning career questions answered

Lorena Castano of The Female Quotient weighs in:

This is a great question and something that I work on every day, because you don't build trust in a single moment. 

Trust is something that happens through consistent actions. It grows through being reliable and resourceful, anticipating needs, and communicating well. At its core, trust comes from building real relationships, being open, and seeing each person as a whole human being. Here’s what I’ve learned:

• Be consistent. Keep your work quality and attitude high so your manager knows what to expect.

• Welcome feedback without defensiveness. Most managers just want to help you grow; show them you’re open to learning.

• Model your own trustworthiness. Mistakes happen. Own them quickly, share a solution, and move forward.

• Be proactive. If a task or deadline slips (it happens to the best of us), create systems to prevent it from happening again and share them with your manager.

• Always make room to add in some laughter! A little levity goes a long way. Humor and shared moments of fun help humanize the relationship, break tension in stressful times, and remind both you and your manager that you’re on the same team. 

Lastly, focus on building a real rapport. Trust grows faster when you understand the person behind the title, and when they see the real you. Get to know your manager, and let them get to know you.

Be yourself. Invest in the relationship. You got this!

P.S. Got a burning career question? Serve it up here to Dear FQ to score advice from a powerhouse leader in our network.

POLL THE PACK

Rethinking benefits: A snapshot of today’s workforce needs

This data reveals a workforce that's crystal clear about its priorities: Flexibility first. 

When nearly 6 in 10 professionals say flexible hours and remote options would make their work lives better, it’s not a perk, it’s the baseline. Flexibility signals trust. It tells employees: We see you as whole human beings, not just as workers tied to a desk.

Mental health days, learning stipends, and caregiver support all matter too, but the overwhelming call for flexibility reflects the way people want to integrate work and life today. They want to be trusted to manage their time, energy, and productivity in ways that work best for their life-stage.

For companies, the takeaway is clear: Rigid structures belong to the past. Let’s make work work for everyone. 

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, schedule your exam and remember to advocate for yourself in every kind of office.

Xo,

The FQ

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