Blushing as soon as you speak, feeling sorry for disturbing people… Women tend to apologise more than men at work. Fear of not fitting in? Of disappointing? What if women finally stopped apologising?

On the 8th of March, for International Women’s Day, Sophie Grenier, CEO of the startup Treeseverywhere, organised a workshop where we discussed this subject, which mainly affects women. We shared our experiences as co-founders of Benoo. When we started Benoo, for example, I used to blush every time I opened my mouth, I used to apologise every time I said a word. It was as if I should not be allowed to have this job, and therefore I would have to be very polite so that, above all, no one would notice the deception, the fraud!

Psychologists call this phenomenon the “Imposter syndrome”. It was revealed in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Susanne Imes. They studied 150 women with degrees who worked in prestigious professions and were recognised for their skills. But these brilliant women did not consider themselves successful. They explained their situation by external factors such as chance or luck, whereas most people of the same level claimed their skills and hard work. These women felt that they were overrated. They were afraid of being ‘found out’, that others would see that they were not as competent as they thought.

At Benoo, we are a 100% women’s team and we decided to test the “sorry detox” in order to discover what kind of daily life we would live if it was no longer paved with excuses. To be continued…

Find more pictures on NotSorry.