The Paula principle: How and why women work below their level of competence

Abstract

Annai, 42, from Melbourne, believes a lack of self-confidence stopped her from being promoted in the media and advertising worlds. "I used to watch this guy at work," she says. "He wasn't competent but he was the most extraordinary self-promoter I've ever seen. It made me realise how I needed to put myself forward more." This familiar story from the The Sydney Morning Herald in June 2017 appears in a discussion of why women, successfully educated and competent in every way, so frequently end up in a job that doesn’t reflect their ability. It’s one of the questions Tom Schuller asks in The Paula Principle: How and why Women Work Below Their Level of Competence2. The stories Schuller uncovers about women’s experience of the workplace is underpinned by a wealth of data from OECD countries in which it is clear that women have overtaken men educationally at every level and yet somehow this isn’t matched by success in employment. For example, Schuller reminds us that women have overtaken men,  at school leaving certificate level  at top of course in the High School Certificate in Australia  at university entrance level  at attendance in full-time further and higher education  at highest level in university finals  in medical school exams…