Women-Friendly Tech

“[The tech] industry is risk-friendly, so it’s better to take the chance or take the lead if you think something might work. Just go for it and put yourself out there, because it’s an industry that really responds to that. When you take risks and just go for it, you tend to be rewarded and see things happen.” - Megan Berry, VP of Product Octane AI.

Spot the difference,

“He is the best developer in the team, his accomplishments are only shadowed by the charm and charisma he expresses in his day-to-day life. He takes great initiative during our meetings and is very passionate about putting his points across”

Vs

“She is the best developer in the team, very friendly and easy to talk to. She is very opinionated and tries her best to make sure her points come across in our meetings.”
Women in tech aren’t that many, to begin with, and a fraction of those manage to get to the top of their respective career ladders. Every single one of their struggles, journeys, and determination to succeed is an inspiration to everyone aspiring to get into the tech industry.
But why is it, that in a world where we are fighting for equality, the difference in gender numbers in tech is so extreme? The reasons for it are as difficult to truly understand, as they are to remedy.

Climbing the Ladder

And that is the truth! Efforts for equality in tech have boomed in recent years w.r.t. the entry-level positions. Organizations such as ”Women Who Code”, and “Girl Coders” amongst others are amazing avenues that are promoting women in Tech. But what about after getting their career started? You might say that they must prove themselves like everyone else to go up the career ladder, and you would be right, in an ideal world.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world. The hardships that women in tech have to go through are unlike the ones that men go through. It's a swamp of unconscious and conscious biases, superiority complex, physical and psychological harassment, and social-cultural factors that hound the life of every woman.

Trying to rise in their careers while wading through this swamp is an impossible ask for anyone, yet, this industry asks every one of these women to do so.

A Gap from Work

If it wasn't enough to have to deal with the swamp of hurdles in their workplace, women aren't that much safer away from work either. Familial responsibilities, socio-cultural pressures, and other biological factors, all are constant reminders for women about what society deems should be their priority.

Thus, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes due to pressure from their homes, women might deem it necessary to take a break from their careers to raise their families.

Forgetting the taboo companies consider a gap in the resume, just consider the difficult task of getting back into the workplace after a couple of months or years of taking a break. Imagine the fear of doing so as a developer, everything you remember is already outdated in this fast-paced industry, and the skills you have honed by coding every day, need to be revived from scratch. Most of the time, women are forced to join bottom-level jobs, just to get a foothold in the industry again.

It doesn't matter, even if the woman in question was in a managerial capacity, often, the gap automatically forces her to get back to the fresher level.

Women in the Tech public image

“Perfectionism prevents us from taking double steps in our career. We think we have to be perfect, but we don’t.” - Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls who code.

As any writer would attest, there are unconscious biases that get automatically attached to certain job profiles. A nurse would be a “she”, and a soldier would be a “he”, the unconscious biases, unfortunately, never consider any other pronouns apart from “he” or “she”.

Similarly, most of the time, a coder is considered a “he”. It's a man's job, not because only men can do it, but because only men have been seen doing it so far. Societal and cultural biases are strong motivators for job aspirations.

Children are like sponges, who take in everything the world has to offer them, and as they grow, they reflect these learnings as a part of who they are. Without women superheroes, little girls would never grow up to feel the power women have. Similarly, without women tech influencers being put out in the proper limelight, those same little girls will never consider the path to being a coder a viable career path.

Assertive == unlikeable

"I think it's very important to get more women into computing. My slogan is: Computing is too important to be left to men." - Late Karen Spärck Jones, Pioneering British Computer Scientist.

Perhaps that saying might sound too curt or aggressive, but that’s the point. Everyone has their way of expressing their ideas and opinions, but the biases present in the listeners make the same sentence appear different from different speakers.

It’s a stereotype that has been propagated through stories, media, and culture, that women are supposed to be dainty little princesses who speak softly, are naïve in the face of the world and need protection. So, what happens when this stereotype is broken by a woman speaking her mind, or talking back assertively? Well, stories have an answer for that as well, she must be a villain, a witch, or a troll.

This is rarely a real active thought that goes through people’s minds, it's all in the back of their heads. Something they learned as children, reflecting onto their decisions as an adult without them even being aware of this.

The result? It’s not as simple as calling a man passionate, and a woman opinionated for being assertive. The actual difference comes when it's time for a promotion, a raise, or an assignment.

Harassment at the workplace

The question of the day is, when is it okay to comment on the looks of a woman who is not your wife, girlfriend, family, or even a friend? The answer is never, even if you mean well.

It might be hard for you to understand the reason behind it unless you have truly walked a mile in their shoes. Nonetheless, imagine a situation where you have been brought up with society constantly commenting, observing, and in certain cases controlling your looks.

The truth is, that if you decide to dress to impress, you get looked at with questionable eyes. If you decide to dress mildly or traditionally, you end up not being taken seriously. You cannot choose the way you look, and even if you decide to do so, you are constantly judged for it.

Given this situation, commenting on their looks is paramount to giving them the same judgment as everyone else, while discounting their professionalism.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg, 60% of women in tech report unwanted sexual advances. That’s a hard number to grasp, especially when you consider their cohorts are highly educated and trained professionals.

What’s even worse to think about is that 65% of the advances are from their superiors. The same people who are the avenue for their career growth.

The power play here would dissuade any aspiring girl techy from wanting to consider joining this field.

Not being part of the group

After getting past all the hurdles so far, the biggest challenge that awaits women in tech is that men like to form a men’s club wherever they go. It’s a natural response to our ingrained ancestral behaviours, men gathered together with other men in social groups to hunt. The chances of success were always higher when a group hunted together, rather than separately.

Unfortunately, this groupism doesn’t similarly reflect in today’s world. With men and women working together, the rules of the hunt are no longer the same. While it’s true that there is always an inner circle in any gathering, the difficulty to enter it is exponentially higher for women. Especially when it’s a group of all men, and in the case of tech, that is almost always the case.

66% of the women felt excluded from key social and network opportunities, 59% felt they did not receive the same opportunity as men and 90% reported sexist behaviour during company events and conferences.

So, what can be done about it?

By the end of the day, every promotion is a mixture of capability, likability, and your relationship with your manager. While women on average might be the same as men in the capability criteria, they do not receive the same opportunities for their likability and personal relationship criteria.

The treatment of women, both culturally and professionally, has improved by leaps and bounds in the past century. But before we can make a truly equal society, we must first make it an equitable one. As counter-intuitive as it seems, by providing extra care and support for women in tech today, we will be able to pave the way for the day when it will no longer be required.

But who should be the one making this extra effort? In short, everyone. While organizational policies are crucial in making this transformation a reality, it's even more important for each one of us to constantly keep our biases in check. We need to be on a constant lookout for and call out instances of exclusion, harassment, or unfavourable practices, no matter who perpetuated them. We need to promote women in tech to the forefront of the industry and show them in a flattering light. Make them the inspiration for future generations of children dreaming of getting into tech. It’s time for a new world.

Author: Akash Mehta and Piyusha Gupta, Co-Founders, Apice Tech

Co-Author: Sneha Jois, Apice Tech