Some successful women experiencing ‘imposter syndrome’

Hayley Rodd has a successful career in a software company, travels overseas regularly for work, and gives back to her local region as the co-founder of a community initiative called Sillagong Valley – a project designed to connect and encourage entrepreneurs and professionals in the Illawarra region of NSW.

But despite these obvious successes, the senior partner at Easy Agile is no stranger to imposter syndrome, the phenomena of feeling inadequate despite evidence to the contrary.

“I have struggled with it throughout my career. I often question if I am good enough for the role I hold or if I know enough to warrant the position I am in,” says Rodd.

Rodd believes gender has a role to play, given that as a female in the technology sector she’s often surrounded by “a sea of male faces”.

“When I am chosen to represent my company over my male colleagues, at a conference for example, I often wonder if this is due to the fact that I am female, not the fact that I am a competent, confident member of the team,” she says.

Although imposter syndrome isn’t recognised as a medical disorder, it’s been talked about for decades. The term was coined in 1978 by US psychologists Drs Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes to describe feelings of inadequacy among high-achieving professional women. It’s since been found to be widely experienced by all genders.

But for female entrepreneurs, imposter syndrome is just part of a broader problem.

Dr Tamantha Stutchbury, the director of the University of Wollongong’s business accelerator and incubator program, iAccelerate, says the fact that all-female start-ups receive just a tiny amount of available venture capital funding is a highly entrenched, multifaceted problem.