Successful women: Please don’t screw up

Women who have made their way to the top of the professional food chain did so by shattering through the tenacious glass ceiling that prevents women from climbing up the rungs of the corporate ladder.

Women who have made it to the top did not make it there by chance. They made it there through undying perseverance, devotion and tenacity. Their accomplishments are nothing short of monumental and should never go unrecognized or uncelebrated. To these women who have managed to find themselves covered in shards of glass and dominating the professional world, I must say two things. First, congratulations. You are an inspiration to driven and hopeful young girls everywhere. Second, please do not screw up.

When women are put into positions of power, they have more to uphold than their own reputations. Not only are powerful females routinely judged on a much less forgiving scale than their male counterparts, but they are also seen as a reflection of their gender as a whole. The misogynistic and narrow-minded individuals who believe that women don’t belong in boardrooms or on the Congress floor will bite at any bait given to them that will further support their antiquated thoughts.

For some reason, these misogynists like to group women together. It seems they have this mentality that tells them, “If one woman did it, all women must do it.” Although this could not be further from the truth, this misconstrued logic has been spewed out time and time again by those who consider female leadership to be inferior to the leadership males can provide.

This illogical explanation for keeping women at the bottom of the totem pole is exactly why successful women need to be alert and on their toes at all times. When a woman makes a mistake, she sets all women back. No matter how much I wish this not to be true, this is the reality that we face, and as unfair as it may be, women who have made it owe it to those of us who are still climbing to not screw up.

When Kellyanne Conway makes up massacres or Hillary Clinton deletes some emails, it doesn’t just hurt their careers; it hurts all of ours. When Hillary Clinton lost the election, many people blamed it on her gender, saying women don’t have what it takes to lead our nation. Unfortunately, every mistake made by Conway will be used to keep women from becoming presidential counselors, and every slip-up of Clinton’s will be used to keep women out of the Oval Office for years to come. It is unfair, it is sexist and it is disappointing, but it is also reality.

In our society, if you are a woman and you have made it to the top, you had better be near perfect. If you’re not, you will be ripped apart, and all other women will be flung even further below the unwavering glass ceiling.

I realize that expecting all successful women to maintain a flawless record is a bit extreme; they have already done so much and worked so hard to get where they are. I do not wish to undermine their achievements. I hope one day we can live in a nation where gender is not stereotyped and women and men can lead side by side. However, until women have a majority or even an equality with men in the professional world, this is the existence that we have to deal with.

Abigail Miller is a UF journalism sophomore. Her column appears on Fridays.