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For women lawyers, social media is an ‘antidote’ to lack of visibility
For a diversity of reasons, female practitioners may have a greater need to be utilising the online sphere for professional branding, says one industry leader.
Jerome Doraisamy
Speaking recently on The Lawyers Weekly Show, GC-turned-change agent Anna Lozynski (pictured) argued that professional branding is fast becoming as important a business skill as tech proficiency, and as essential an educational piece as the Priestley 11.
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All lawyers, she argued, need to be developing their skills on platforms including but not limited to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Clubhouse, thereby creating visibility for their professional selves, given that social influence is fast becoming one of the most important skills for professionals.
Ms Lozynski, for example, said that she lives her “legal life out loud”.
“It allows me to connect on a one-to-many basis, which is one of the advantages of social media. It allows me to meet some really cool people. That then turns into some really great ideas and collaborations, and – ultimately – change,” she noted.
Being visible in such ways is especially pertinent for women in the legal profession, she argued, pointing to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scourge of under-sponsorship and lack of confidence as reasons for females to better promote themselves and their legal advocacy.
“By virtue of the fact that home-schooling was needed, adjustment to remote working [proved more of an] adjustment for many women, and research showed that it meant women were being promoted less. They were more invisible because their time was being utilised elsewhere to the max, to put it simply,” she said.
Secondly, she continued, emerging studies are showing that “women are being over-mentored but under-sponsored”. Better sponsorship is essential moving forward if women lawyers are to be promoted, she said, regardless of whether it means going up in an organisation or moving laterally to a new employer.
Thirdly, Ms Lozynski pointed to confidence: “If a job is advertised, research shows that if a woman ticks 60 per cent of the boxes [listed in the selection criteria], she tends not to apply, whereas a man who ticks 60 per cent of the boxes doesn’t even hesitate, and automatically thinks, ‘I can do this job’.”
In the face of such concerns, social media can be an “antidote” that improves one’s visibility, Ms Lozynski surmised, and acts as a way to showcase what a woman lawyer is capable of.
“Social media is such a powerful tool to show the world what you’re made of. The mantra used to be that it’s who you know, but now, it’s who knows you,” she espoused.
“Opportunities do arise from social media, because people are watching and are more connected than ever before, in the wake of the pandemic.”
Ms Lozynski added that these arguments also hold true for men in law.
“I had a conversation with a senior male lawyer the other week, who said he needs to up his social media game but just doesn’t know where to start and how to find time for it and what it looks like. So, it’s not necessarily segmented to just one gender, but the research does show that there are wonderful opportunities for women in particular to become more visible,” she said.
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Anna Lozynski, click below:
