Now more than ever is important to remember the IT sector is still missing gender diversity. In this presentation I want to explain some facts about the gender gap across countries, how the technology sector is missing on the benefits of diversity as well as explore common behaviors in woman and man that we need to be aware of and change to help close the gap.
The occupational gap is probably the most important one because it start changes in all other dimensions.
When companies start hiring and looking to hire more women:
- colleges change their strategies and start focus on getting more of what companies are looking for to adjust to the current context. This impacts directly the education dimension.
As companies have more women in their workforce they start adjusting internal policies and benefits to keep up with their work base needs. Meaning, better salaries, better health benefits, retirement, etc. This benefits not only women but everyone. Companies start being more competitive on what they have to offer to attract talent.
Also policymakers are forced to look to the change and stablish policies to accommodate companies diversification, and encourage economic growth.
Not only is the news not what we had hoped for – some modest progress perhaps – it shows that we are actually going backwards. Instead of taking a mere 170 years to close the gap at our current rate of ‘progress’, it will now take 217 years.
We are lucky enough to be surrounded by awesome female colleagues. Since this is our day-to-to-day reality, we sometimes forget this is a very uncommon situation. Most IT companies are male dominated and I wanted to show the numbers because we still have a lot of work to do, let not think this is improving by itself because unfortunately it is not improving fast enough.
Top 3:
Iceland
Norway
Finland
Bottom 3:
142. Syria
143. Pakistan
144. Yemen
Break the stereotype that women do not perform well in STEM related occupations. Girls in STEM related job are living proof that a STEM job is just like any other job, if you like you can do it.
We need to break stereotypes.
Not saying notes are a waste of time, but it should not be the same person taking notes all the time.
Often I’m surprised about how much it is just assumed at meetings and when I start asking questions and participating I very often get: I didn’t think of that, or I assumed…
One thing I have seen very often too is people ignoring woman proposals. Plain ignoring.
And I’m not saying go find a job right now and apply. This one is more aimed at encourage you to do something if you are interested in it. If you are a “backend” developer but would really like to try to explore the CX practice, raise your hand, you never know, there may be just the right project waiting for you.
it can’t hurt to believe more in ourselves. But in this case, it’s more important that we believe less in what appear to be the rules. Girls are very very well trained to follow rules regarding this type of things, it is engrained in our society, and in this case, it hurts our chances to work on something we would really like to.
I’m also not saying stop being a software engineer and try civil engineering…but as Sheryl Sandberg said: Women sistematically understimate their own abilities. Man attributes their own success to themselves while women attributes it to other factors.
Talk about
Whatever you do, don’t apologize. Countless women have been conditioned to say they’re sorry, especially in situations where they feel they are being unreasonable. Women are very concerned about the comfort and happiness of others, and often feel that, by having their own demands or needs, they are inconveniencing others. The fact of the matter is that these thoughts have no place at the negotiating table. While it’s important to be fair in your ask, you must also unapologetically believe in yourself and your worth.