Steph Lam | DEI Practitioner | Writer

Is it imposter syndrome, or is it the memory of you being punished for speaking with the confidence that your team mates were praised for?

Is it imposter syndrome, or is it the lesson you learnt when despite delivering above expectation, someone with less accolades got the promotion promised to you?

Is it imposter syndrome, or is it recognition that your work is consistently questioned when presented by you, yet the exact work is applauded when presented by your peer?

Is it imposter syndrome, or is it just safer to call it so because calling it bias and discrimination will surely have you labelled an overly sensitive killjoy with a victim mindset? 

I love the idea of extreme ownership as a means to overcome any challenge. In the words of Marie Forleo, “everything is figureoutable!” Confidence fosters audacity, audacity invites opportunity, opportunity increases chances of success. 

In the self-help books promoted by the world’s most recognised leaders, we’re told that success comes from having extreme ownership and proclaiming ourselves as the ultimate arbitrators of our circumstances. Therefore, it can seem that ruminating on inequality is disempowering because we are conceding ownership for our circumstances. It can seem that inequality isn’t getting in our way, it’s imposter syndrome. 

What is imposter syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is the persistent feeling that you’re not worthy of your successes and that at any moment, someone is going to find out that you’re a fraud. Symptoms of imposter syndrome include having impossibly high standards for oneself, feeling the need to constantly prove yourself and attributing their success to luck rather than their capability, despite there being clear evidence of the contrary.

Imposter syndrome is attributed to the lack of confidence. Confidence is self-assurance, knowing your worth and having a steady sense of inner security.

Imposter syndrome gets in the way of success because it can make us appear unconfident, which hinders the confidence others have in us.

I’ve seen highly capable people beat themselves up for not being confident enough to overcome their imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is the cage we put ourselves in and the struggle to free ourselves is often a worthy one. However, how often do we falsely claim imposter syndrome when the cause of our challenges, and therefore solutions to them, are something completely different? When it comes to the imposter syndrome experienced by marginalised groups, is it truly imposter syndrome if your concerns are grounded in truth? 

Why marginalised people are forced to pursue impossibly high standards

The myth of meritocracy assumes that most employers have  perfected the art of recruiting people purely based on their capability and fit for the role. 

We often forget the idea of “meritocracy” was originally satire. Studies demonstrate that standard recruitment practices fail at recognising the capability and potential of people from marginalised backgrounds. This means marginalised people disproportionately need to be remarkable to gain access to opportunity afforded to others for less.

For example, researchers found that firms hiring in STEM fields rated minority and female candidates significantly lower than white males. Among STEM majors, to get the same rating as a white male with a 3.75 GPA, a minority or female candidate needed a 4.0 (source). 

Researchers have found that women are punished far more quickly for their mistakes, making perfection feel evermore necessary (source).

Why marginalised people need to repeatedly prove themselves while others are assumed competent

The authority gap, coined by Mary Ann Sieghart, refers to how society tends to undervalue women’s opinions, voices and competence. This authority gap is also experienced by negatively racialised, People with Disability and people from various marginalised groups.

The authority gap leads to marginalised groups being more likely to be interrupted, doubted and overlooked in everyday interactions. Sieghart found that while men are often assumed to be authoritative, women must prove it repeatedly. 

Why the success of marginalised groups are often attributed to luck, despite clear evidence of the contrary

One of the loudest criticisms / myths of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is the claim that it decreases fairness by tokenising marginalised groups; lowering recruitment standards to bring in diversity hires. 

A meta-analysis published in PLOS ONE found that marginalized groups experience bias which contributes to lower rating in competence and fewer job opportunities. This bias contributes to the misconception that individuals from these groups are less qualified (source).

This assumption of tokenism paired with the bias that marginalised people are less qualified, lead to people believing marginalised people are undeserving of the roles they’re in.

So how do we succeed if confidence is not enough?

Viktor Frankl once said “It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions”. 

It isn’t disempowering to acknowledge the unequal conditions that marginalised people disproportionately face. 

The symptoms of imposter syndrome are easy to confuse with the survival tactics of those experiencing inequality. So, it is the easy answer to tell marginalised groups to put mind over matter, take extreme ownership and simply overcome their imposter syndrome. Oh how I wish confidence was the silver bullet to overcoming inequality. 

Taking a stand towards the conditions of inequality is evermore empowering than ignoring them because it prevents us from internalising barriers within our control. 

Taking a stand will look different depending on your circumstances. There are endless ways to make sustainable change. For someone experiencing marginalisation, it could be the somber acknowledgement that for now, it’s likely you must work twice as hard for half the opportunity afforded to others. However, your success supports the changing of stereotypes. Your awareness of bias helps you not be biased to others. 

For me, I’ve found it grounding to list out facts, figures and try to look at my work objectively when I feel imposter syndrome kick in. This helps me recognise if my feelings of insecurity are because I’ve delivered below my expectations, if I’ve delivered above expectation but am not giving myself credit, or if my insecurity is driven by external factors like unreasonable expectations from others. I’ve found that even when faced with intense external criticism, taking this somber approach to look at the facts builds a deep sense of self-assurance. 

For those who have ever been told you need to overcome your imposter syndrome, how do you diagnose what you’re feeling and what you need to do about it?