Women of Silicon Roundabout 2016 - The highlights

In October some of the ladies from TheTin went to the Women of Silicon Roundabout event in Kings Cross. We heard from some fantastic speakers and were inspired by the strides women have been making in the industry. On the flip side we were also a little daunted by the progress that clearly still needs to be made. These are our key takeaways from the event.

There were conversations, presentations and panel discussions from Suzanne Timmons and Bjorn Bringert (Google), Melissa Di Donato (Salesforce), Naomi Gwendolyn Smit (Digital McKinsey) and Faz Aftab (ITV) etc. Throughout the event there were a few points that were repeatedly raised: unconscious bias, the importance of mentoring and sponsorship, the lack of role models and that equality in the workplace is not just the right thing to do - it’s also good for business.

Unconscious bias

The bar for women in the industry is much higher than the bar for men. This is subjective and is largely affected by our own biases, but it is a definite blocker for women progressing to leadership roles. Even for the women who do progress to leadership and management positions, the expectations of their role can be defined by their gender. Both Timmons and Bringert called out the tendency within the industry for female managers to be directed towards the “emotional” aspects of the job, which in turn aren’t rewarded as well. There are a couple of ways you can take this information. You could be indignant that after reaching that glass ceiling women are still expected to conform to the same level of gender stereotypes that society has imposed since childhood. Or you can try to understand the value that we can have in a team or as a manager. Yes we do deal with emotional work and we can talk freely about emotions. Yes men and women do deal with situations differently, but those differences don’t lessen our ability to lead. As Dom Price from Atlassian put it, “Great minds don’t think alike, you just need to be in the right frame of mind to hear differently.”

Unconscious bias is something that women face in the industry on a daily basis. It’s not bias based on malice or prejudice but rather unconsciously; based on many factors such as company history and culture. Timmons and Bringert suggested that unconscious bias training should be provided. It should be on a company awareness level, though, and is not to be recommended as remedial training for individuals.

But how do we fix the inherent bias against women in the tech industry when people are still surprised by female coders? When schools don’t push hard enough for young girls to choose to study STEM subjects? When leadership qualities are treated differently in boys compared to girls? Perhaps some of the speakers should take their presentations into schools and colleges or offer mentorship to girls interested in taking that step. If their talks can make a room of women empowered and encouraged to go out and find a mentor/be a mentor maybe they can convince girls that the tech industry is an exciting place to be and that there is plenty of room for them to make a contribution.

Mentoring and sponsorship

The majority of the speakers stressed the importance not only of having mentors and sponsors, but of striking the right balance between the two. To do this you need to be clear on the different roles mentors and sponsors should play in your career. Your mentor should help you to figure out what may be blocking your progress and how you can address this. Mentorship can come from either inside or outside your industry because advice from someone you respect is invaluable regardless of their sector. Your sponsor is there to make sure management are aware of your achievements and the good work you are doing. So you could be overly mentored but still not have the right person to talk you up to others and push you in your career. DiDonato asked us to raise our hands if we mentored someone and very few people did. She wanted to see more.

Do you have a role model?

As women in the tech industry we should always do our best to encourage and raise up the women around us. In her presentation “Inspiring the next generation”, DiDonato stated that 75% felt they had no role models (from a poll of 1000 women in the UK). She noted that women tend to have role models that they have an emotional connection with rather than a professional or achievement based one. Men on the other hand are more likely to say that Nelson Mandela or Alex Ferguson are their role models. Why is this? The answer is simple although the solution may not be… You can’t be what you can’t see. It is encouraging for the future, however, that 65% of women that have had a mentor will go on to be one.

Talent issues - not just women’s issues

In “Women Matter in Tech - How to Benefit from Diversity”, Smit argued that the lack of women in top positions within the industry shouldn’t just be seen as a women’s issue but also as a talent issue. After all, no company can afford to ignore 50% of the talent pool. She made the case that both men and women prefer to work in a diverse environment - and companies with a diverse workforce tend to perform better.

There were a lot of scary statistics and claims made throughout the day, for example, did you know that there are more CEOs called Peter and David (4.2%) then there are female CEOs in total (3.3%) within the industry? That there is only 17% boardroom representation for women? Closing the gender gap at top levels and throughout the industry is the right thing to do - but that really shouldn’t need to be argued. It is also worth a LOT of money. The best case global full potential scenario would add $28 trillion to the economy.

So how does the future look?

Thanks to the ladies from TheTin for contributing their highlights. As you can see there are challenges to be faced but there is much to be encouraged by. It was a very enlightening and inspiring to hear from some women who have faced these challenges and men who understand the need for diversity.

I thought it was a great event and I would love to go again in the future to see the progress that we are making. For me it was discouraging to realise that the emphasis for closing the gender gap was placed almost squarely on women. To fight against unconscious bias and to find mentorship and sponsorship only to be judged against a much higher bar. I would argue that there needs to be equal participation from both women and men because it truly affects us all. As Price put it - “a fish doesn’t know it’s in water”. It would be fantastic to see more men at these types of events. A room full of women learning about the gender gap in the tech industry? Preaching to the choir.

One of the panelists in the “Non-tech women in tech” discussion said that she hopes ‘the future of tech is that one day we will probably not distinguish between tech and non-tech’. While for now I think there is a valid demand for these types of events; my hope for the future of tech is that we won’t distinguish between male or female contribution to it. We’re on the right track but it’s clear there is a way to go.