Obama's inaugural White House staff was drawn from his campaign staff, who were mostly dudes, and the women among the newcomers felt that they were getting ignored or talked over in meetings.
So they devised an "amplification" strategy: whenever one woman put forward an idea, other women staffers would reiterate it, making sure that they gave credit to the idea's originator. The strategy was very successful: "This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own."
"We just started doing it, and made a purpose of doing it. It was an everyday thing," said one former Obama aide who requested anonymity to speak frankly. Obama noticed, she and others said, and began calling more often on women and junior aides.
White House women want to be in the room where it happens
[Juliet Eilperin/Washington Post]
(Image: Pete Souza/White House, public domain)
(via Skepchick)
