The Invisible Seat in the Room
Women’s Day has come and gone.
The posts, the wishes, the celebrations — and like every year, it fades quickly into the background of our timelines.
But some moments that women entrepreneurs experience stay permanently stored in memory. They don’t fade away with the hashtags.
One small incident comes to mind.
My husband and I run our business together. For our first cold meetings, sales calls, or initial client discussions, we usually go together. We plan the approach jointly, discuss the pros and cons, and make decisions together. In every practical sense, we are equal partners.
Yet, something curious happens when we step into many client offices.
Most of the people in the room are men. And very often, I become almost invisible.
The conversation is directed almost entirely at my husband. Questions are asked to him. Eye contact stays with him. Even when I add a point or ask something, it is sometimes ignored, almost as if it wasn’t said.
This happens far more frequently than one might imagine.
Interestingly, the few who don’t behave this way are usually people in senior leadership positions. They acknowledge both of us, include me naturally in the conversation, and treat the partnership with equal respect.
It made me realise something simple but powerful.
Leadership is often reflected in how people acknowledge others in the room.
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This isn’t an isolated experience either.
The other day, my niece went with her father to buy an SUV. The salesman spent the entire time explaining the car to her father.
And his closing line was:
“This car is so smooth that even girls can drive it easily.”
That single sentence lost him the sale.
Most of the time, comments like these are not made with bad intentions. But they reveal something deeper — how quietly and unconsciously certain assumptions still exist in our thinking.
And this is why conversations around gender bias still matter.
Despite progress, the glass ceiling hasn’t disappeared.
And gender bias in professional spaces is still very real.
Sometimes it shows up in big ways.
But often, it shows up in something as small as who people choose to look at when they speak in a meeting.
Respect in professional spaces isn’t always about grand gestures.
Sometimes it begins with something much simpler:
Acknowledging every person who has a seat at the table.
