Is Tech Still A Man’s World?
Technology has historically been a male-dominated field, but women are making breakthroughs the world over.
The Ellen Pao vs Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers lawsuit for gender discrimination opened the door to much discussion about the challenges women face in the workplace. Women in the tech workplace is a hot topic, books such as the bestseller “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg, as well as the stories about women earning less than men for equal jobs have brought the subject to the main stage. The shortage of female programmers is also always under discussion.
The Pao-KPC&B lawsuit inspired the research study “Elephant in the Valley” which surveyed over 200 women with at least 10 years of experience in the workplace. The women were mainly from the Bay Area/Silicon Valley, and covered a wide age range, some were mothers, and all held high level roles at companies including Apple and Google.
The results highlighted a set of common concerns women faced on a daily basis. They included:
Aggression – 84% of women find it hard to have a balance of softness and being firm.
Unfair Opportunities – 66% of women felt their male colleagues had better opportunities, felt excluded from company networking and experienced sexist behaviour from men.
Overlooked – 88% of women felt that they were not consulted on important issues, but that their male colleagues were asked instead. Less important tasks were automatically assigned to women rather than men.
Family Plans – 75% of women were asked about their family plans in interviews and 40% of women started hiding their family lives to appear more serious.
Sexual Harassment – 60% of women reported being approached in an indecent way. This resulted in the women feeling scared of how they would be treated if they reported the events.
The interesting side to this is that the survey also showed that most men had no idea this was the way women felt.
While there are many women in tech who feel oppressed by their male counterparts, there are also voices of strong entrepreneurial and tech savvy women who say, so what, stop fixating on all of these issues and instead start focusing on what you want to achieve! Deena Varshavskaya, founder of Wanelo, says “if you start building something of substance, you will find many great supporters in the industry.” She considers herself welcomed in the tech community. Varshavskaya also believes it is much better to use your energy on your work rather than worry about being a woman in this industry. She asks the cutting question:
“Who would you rather be: a woman who talks about promoting female entrepreneurship or fighting gender inequality, or a woman who has built something that shows how powerful female entrepreneurs can be and inspires by example?” In a way, both statements are of the same essence: a competitive nature mostly associated with men.
Cathryn Posey, founder of Tech by Superwomen, gives the advice to push ahead and focus on your goals. She says, “it is amazing what happens when you decide to just go for it.” She also gives the advice to not focus on the fact that there are barely any women in the tech industry, but to focus on working hard and creating something.
A lesson from history
Another encounter tells the story of Jane Lansing‘s experiences in the tech world as a programmer around 30 years ago. At that time Lansing‘s boss would ask a less competent male programmer to review her code. She had a thick skin and let sexual advances bounce off of her, blocking them strongly. She believes that the circumstances for women have improved since her early years, although there is still a long way to go.
Lansing‘s greatest advice is that she has experienced in her own life what it is like as a woman in the tech world, who experiences all the problems but comes out bigger and better on the other side. She goes so far as to say: “In fact, now that I‘ve matured in my field, I think that in some ways women in STEM may have it better than men.” She says as women we stand out; we have a unique perspective which companies need.
The breakthrough moment in Lansing‘s career was when she stopped thinking about how to fit in and started focusing on “How can I be myself in this environment?” She urges women to speak their opinion, show what they know and understand.
As progression in technology continues, so too does the progression of women in the tech workplace. Women in tech: we celebrate you!