Branding. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear of branding is the typical assigning of something a name or label. Branding can be negative or positive depending on the term used to identify the brand. In our case today, we are going delve into negative branding that most women trying to rise to the top in their careers or whichever profession often fall prey of.

Most women in corporates, military and even politics are often afraid of being who they really want to be in terms of how they do their work or in other words leadership skills and often coil back to being reserved in the fear of what people will think of them, in the fear of being negatively branded. You want to be softer to your seniors, juniors and even equals for you not be perceived as a hard one. You want to strive to get along with everyone at the same time exercise authority for things to be done correctly. In such confusing situations, what do most
women do?

In this case, I will use an example of one woman who has by all means broken the corporate glass ceiling and is still excelling at her profession, Ginni Rometty. To me the first thing I think of when I mention the name Ginni Rometty is the company that is in the top 15 at number 12 to be specific in 2018 worlds’ most valuable brands. This company is none other than IBM which is being led by the very capable Ginni Rometty.

When you look at the rise and rise of Ginni Rometty ever since she joined the company in theyear 1981, it is clearly open to everybody that she has had to work hard to get to where she is right now. She once stated in an interview that growth and comfort don’t usually coexist. To succeed one must be willing to push through barriers. This is the barriers that most women in their careers and even those in entrepreneurial stage are afraid of breaking. As a woman, you have to work twice as hard to level up.

Negative branding might come along the way and you might receive all sort of it but most at times they are only meant to slow you down.If you are a single woman, you have to prove that the results of your work define you and not your looks or marital status and if you are a married woman, apart from your looks, you have to
prove that you can multi task and do it good.

You have to be a mom at home and a boss at work and you don’t have any room for letting your personal life get into your work lest people see you weak. This is the daily fight that women trying to rise up to the corporate ladder are dealing with. You always want to prove yourself that you are capable. Quoting Meryl Streep, an American actress often referred to as the best of her generation, she says, ‘People will say to me, you’ve played so many strong women’ and I’ll say, ‘have you ever said to a man, ‘you’ve played so many strong men?’ No! Because the expectation is (men) are  varied. Why can’t we have that expectation about women?’ Why do women have to work extra hard in order to be recognized in their fields?

We want our women to excel but the moment they start doing things out of the normal, the moment they start being brave enough, we start branding them to make them cower and make them feel like they are not ready. It is time women come to the realization that no great woman reached those coveted tittles without obstacles. Negative branding happens to be one of them. We cannot stop negative branding of women at work places or in any growth sector but we can empower our women to rise above it. There is nothing more fierce and determined
than an empowered woman. Through this empowerment, instead of the negative branding acting as a motivation killer, it will in turn act as a motivator itself.

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