Aviation for Women is the flagship member publication of Women in Aviation International. Articles feature women who have made aviation history, professional development ideas, and current-topic articles.
Issue link: https://afwdigital.epubxp.com/i/715635
30 Aviation forWomen S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6 L upita Nyong'o, who won an Acad- emy Award for her work in 12 Years a Slave, said after she was hired for the role, "I was certain I was going to re- ceive a call and they were going to say, 'I'm sorry, we made a mistake.' Every single day." Listen to First Lady Michelle Obama talk about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, graduate of Princeton, top of her class at Yale Law School, with a successful legal career and now the first Latina Supreme Court Justice. She said, "Despite all of her professional accom- plishments, Judge Sotomayor says she still looks over her shoulder and wonders if she measures up." Way back in 1962, world-renowned author Agatha Christie was turned away from a party given in her honor since the doorman did not recognize her. Later in her autobiography, she wrote, "Like a coward, I accepted the rebuff, turned tail and wandered miserably round the cor- ridors of the Savoy, trying to get up my courage to go back…" Another author, Maya Angelou, said, "I have written eleven books, but each time I think, 'uh oh, they're going to find out now. I've run a game on everybody, and they're going to find me out.'" What all these women recognize in themselves is called impostor syndrome. Simply put, it's feelings of self-doubt and unworthiness that make even hyper-accomplished people question their own value. It's estimated that 70 percent of the population has had some fraudulent feelings about their own accomplishments, but women, especially successful women, are said to have these feelings more often. In fact, impostor syndrome was first identified among fe- male graduate students at Oberlin College in 1978 by psychol- ogists and researchers Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Dr. Suzanne A. Imes. Dr. Clance recalled how these female students would express doubt as to their own talent and right to be at the col- lege. One of her students provided impetus for the syndrome's name when she said, "I feel like an impostor here with all these really bright people." I'm no stranger to impostor syndrome. On my first trip to Paris, I wanted to go to the Louvre but I hesitated thinking (stupidly, irrationally) that only people who know a lot about art should visit the museum. Who was I, whose knowledge of FAKING IT Grappling with impostor syndrome