May 2025 Volume 7

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

Careers and Caretaking One of the most important changes for the population of women in industry is that mothers now regularly choose to raise children while continuing to work. About 65% of parents who took this survey parented children while working in the forging industry. The other respondents who are parents either raised children in a different industry or while taking a break from working in the forging industry. Regardless of participants’ motherhood-status, about two-thirds of participants believed that being viewed as someone who might want to be a mother in the future has or could cause hesitations from managers about acceptance for a role or position. Twenty-three percent of participants believed that it likely did not have an effect. Thirteen percent believed there would not be any hesitancy. Although many women find that they balance caretaking roles with their professional lives, including two-thirds of survey participants who reported taking on caregiving roles at home, it can be a challenge to manage both effectively. Caretaking responsibilities can include child care, elder care, or supporting other family members that require additional care. Impressively, even with the majority of participants taking on caretaking roles, many of the participants reported only feeling conflict between their role at home and their personal role a rare amount of time (26%) or not at all (16%). A quarter of the participants reported feeling conflict between their roles some of the time; a little less than a quarter of participants experienced that conflict often; and about 10% feel that they deal with this conflict constantly. It’s refreshing to see that different company policies and cultures have made a work-life balance more attainable for women in the forging industry, but there still are people who need more help. Having a good balance seems to also be one of the most critical elements of success in professions for the respondents, with 84% of survey-takers noting that improved work flexibility policies are very beneficial for women. Twelve participants went further in the short-response section to mention work flexibility as being critical to them. They and other participants also mentioned other work life balance policies as being a strong influence on their success, such as parental leave policies and annual paid time off. Short-Term Moments and Long-Term Effects One challenge within the experience of women in the forging industry is the need to prove oneself. Many participants believed that women often feel the need to work harder and be more successful to prove themselves as capable in their position compared with men who are in the same role. Only a quarter of participants believed that they work on proving themselves to be capable in the workforce an equal amount to male colleagues. Nineteen percent believed that they always have to work harder to prove themselves, and 32% believed that they often have to work harder. In the short response results, many participants reported feeling the mental strain from having to constantly prove themselves as competent and capable in order to gain respect. The daily life of women in industry also can be a source of

micro-aggressions that can wear down people over time. They can lose confidence and experience burnout. Micro-aggressions are defined in a University of North Carolina article as everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages to the target persons based upon their marginalized group membership1. This includes questions being directed to a male coworker instead of the woman for whom it should have been directed. Eighty-four percent of participants believed this happened at least once in a while. Another example is being asked to “smile” (which 48% of participants reported being asked to do); being talked over; assuming someone’s role/degree based on their gender; being excluded from groups, activities, and meetings; being ignored; and being asked to take notes when that’s not within their job responsibilities. Although these experiences seem small — and maybe even ungendered at first glance — the repeatability of microaggressions can cause conscious or subconscious damage to the receiving individual. Even well intended actions can cause people to lose confidence and adjust their self-image over time. Although many survey participants noted that uncomfortable situations or harassment as less common now than they were in the past, the survey found that 35% of participants have experienced harassment or feeling uncomfortable in their work environment “sometimes,” and 39% reported feeling uncomfortable or experiencing harassment on rare occasion. Only 26% reported never feeling uncomfortable or being harassed. The survey results also showed that these experiences are not always reported for various reasons. Another challenge that women face in the workplace is the lasting presence of implicit bias. The National Institute of Health defines implicit bias as the subconscious feelings, attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes of an individual, developed because of prior influences and imprints throughout the individual’s life2. It is important to note from that definition that subconscious

Figure 2: Breakdown of survey responses to the question asking, "How would you describe the difference between your experience in having to prove yourself compared with your male counterparts"

FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2025 57