The other day I decided to compile statistics on the gender balance at my workplace. I found that:
- 0% of leadership (managers and above) are composed of women
- 7% of technical roles are made up of women
- 12% of all employees are women
Now compare this to the 2016 census data. For Ottawa-Gatineau, where my workplace is located:
- 29% of individuals ages 25-64 who majored in computer and information sciences and support services are women
- 18% of individuals ages 25-64 who majored in engineering are women
- 40% of workers over age 15 in professional, scientific and technical services are women
My workplace discriminates against women. It isn’t intentional, but it is obvious. There’s even a physical manifestation of how this office regards women in terms of the washroom layout. Men have four stalls, four urinals, four sinks, and an air dryer. Women get three stalls, two sinks, and a roll of industrial paper towel that’s left on top of the garbage receptacle. The office layout including the washrooms was designed by one of the company’s senior staff, a man.
I’ve tried to discuss the lack of diversity with HR and my manager to no avail. I was told women simply didn’t apply, as if our discriminatory hiring process was the fault of the women. Emails to the corporate diversity person and liaison for the women’s group to get resources went unanswered. This inaction is frustrating as I know that when companies try, they can do much better on gender diversity.
This is the least gender diverse company I’ve worked at, but they are hardly alone. At a previous employer, a tech startup, only 9% of technical positions were filled by women. My own team seemed isolated from that sexism, at 40% women, but I saw those numbers crumble as a new director brought on only employees he personally knew, all of which were men.
On my last day at that startup, an executive confided in me that she had been groped by an employee. Another worker told me she had been passed over for a promotion by the same director who exclusively brought on men, in favour of a less qualified candidate. At the same time that the company sponsored initiatives to improve gender representation, its CTO encouraged the sexualization of women in the company-wide group chat.
This wasn’t remarkable. Anecdotes of impropriety specific to women are common in tech. One just has to listen to the women. On my end alone:
- A manager told a group of us that the reasons that he didn’t hire a candidate was that she was conventionally attractive, and during her interview male employees were gesturing rudely behind her. He was sure hiring her would end with a sexual harassment case. She didn’t get the job because male employees behaved inappropriately.
- A superior jokingly massaged me and another young female developer without our consent.
- A friend told me how employees kept trying to ask her on dates. So did another at a different employer.
- An employee cat called the wait staff during a work lunch. The same employee joked about grabbing women’s breasts without consent at the office.
- Male employees wear t-shirts that objectify women at work and engage in sexually objectifying banter.
- I’ve witnessed different groups of senior employees deride inclusive hiring practices.
The executive who confided in me that she was groped did not report it to HR. Not a single woman I know who has been touched without their consent at work has reported it. For all the policies about workplace harassment, women still have to choose between risking their livelihood and enduring abuse. Every one of these companies had an anti-discrimination policy. They are ineffective.
When women stand up, they’re thought of as unreasonable, as politically correct, as taking fun away. We need the men to stand up with us. Not just in word – the words come so easily – but in deed. To do so proactively. I’ve only met a few men like that in my career.
So to young women interested in getting in tech, know that the work can be amazing. Your team mates can be amazing. Your boss can be amazing. Know too you will have to meet a higher standard than men to get the same job as men. Know you will not be promoted to positions of leadership like men are. Know you will have to put up with workplace behaviours that men will rarely if ever face. Know that other women, powerless to effectuate change, will be there for moral support. That others yet in positions of power will uphold the status quo.
But you know what? A lot of women go through their careers without noticing this stuff and the pay is hella good. So join us. We’ll be here for ya.
