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June 5, 2013

Continuation of the Womens Movement

WOMEN-IN-CHARGE-PHOTOTech communities are bubbling up all over the globe.  The same issues we have here in regards to women entrepreneurs or gender balanced companies are also taking place in all of the tech communities.  I do believe that many of the conversations around women are changing.  Certainly there are plenty of women in the tech community where a decade ago there were very few.  More women are graduating from college with computer science skills, more women are starting companies that are built on a technology platform, more women are becoming CEO's of large companies, more women entrepreneurs are getting funded to build their businesses and more companies are striving to be gender balanced. 

One of the constants we see are that women are really beginning to support each other.  There are women groups being formed, cocktail parties being thrown, listservs being built and conferences being thrown to build networks and a support systems.  It is a great but there has to be more.

I heard a story this week from a young woman who had taken a class three years ago that taught the students about women entrepreneurs, women CEO's and women in the workplace.  They had a bevy of high level women come and speak to the class.  One woman talked about how in her workplace, a large financial institution, that when she wanted to go see her childrens sporting events that she would say that she had to take one of them to a doctor instead of the truth.  Yet when the men went to go see any of their childrens events that they would boast about it and look like great fathers.  More than likely every woman in that class was probably shell-shocked.  I would have been too.

Here is my response.  Every woman that thinks that they need to do that is wrong.  Be bold and honest about your personal life.  Why would anyone want to work in an environment where they couldn't be honest.  Until more women start speaking up in a work environment about the realities of their own personal lives we can not move forward.  That woman should say to her colleagues my daughter/son has a soccer game this afternoon so I am going to be leaving early…go team…end of story.

musings
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Comments (Archived):

  1. falicon

    Men should speak up too…take the time to fit in the good stuff on the ‘regular’ days (while still getting your work done) and it won’t be a big deal to the family if/when you have to miss one or two events because of a ‘work crisis’…just make sure everyday isn’t filled with work crisis (and if it really is, that is a bad job, change it)

  2. Lisa Abeyta

    “Be bold and honest about your personal life.” – excellent advice. I have become so aware of the responsibility of women in leadership to be role models, thus propelling new public perceptions of how women lead while staying true to their core values as mothers, wives, daughters and the myriad roles women encompass.

  3. hyjuma

    I am interested and like the movement of women coming together and trying to solve the problem. There definitely is a problem. But for me it feels like hiding. Women should talk to men more, understand their logic, their real motivators and then act accordingly. A woman has natural talent in being able to manage a lot. Women can make a difference very quickly now, they just need to act. For me, all the meetings of females are comparable to working too much ‘in the building’. We should ‘get out of the building’ and just be bold and get what we need and not even question it. Each and every woman needs to contribute to this in her own little/big community.

  4. pixiedust8

    I agree with you, but it’s always hard to be the ground-breaker, you know? It’s true that women aren’t taken as seriously if they show they are parents, but you’re right that only by doing that can you make it seem normal. Still, some work environments are just toxic, and maybe hers was like htat.

    1. Gotham Gal

      toxic environments seep into everything else you do.