Am taking a break this week from the 10 Weeks of Executive and Leadership Presence Tips to comment on Nina Burleigh’s article in Newsweek, “What Silicon Valley thinks of women.”
It’s not just a “woman in tech” issue
For those of us who have been beating the drum for years, this isn’t news — just more confirmation of a very complex problem without an easy solution. If the problem of not having parity in the numbers of female to males, and inappropriate behaviors in the workplace were easy to solve, wouldn’t this have been solved a very long time ago?
From my perspective as a woman who started her career in the late 70’s, I say REALLY? Yes, I can also regale you with similar disgusting stories, battling sexist bosses and peers and dealing with a corporate culture that appeared determined to keep me in my place. I could play the victim blame game with a multitude of people, places and things. I wasn’t in tech, but worked for a global beauty and cosmetics company in the burgeoning era of young and eager females who tried desperately to move our way up in the business world. Guess what? We were working on the same diversity and inappropriate behavioral issues way back then.
Fast forward, to 2015 and I am puzzled by the slow progress I see. It’s as if we time traveled ahead 40 years and here we are facing the same issues with diversity (we used to call it discrimination!), bad behavior and a significant gender wage gap as we did so many years ago. Isn’t it curious? Or is it sad? Or heartbreaking? Or is it the nature of humans? Reading the Newsweek article about the disgusting behavior that dozens of women in tech are facing, makes me think, have we have taken a step backwards in how we as humans treat each other? Has our “revolution” been largely an illusion?
“It’s provocative because it powerfully depicts the disgusting behavior that dozens of women in tech described to me and that tens of thousands more must navigate on a daily basis.” Nina Burleigh author of the Newsweek article about the cover cartoon.
As for the cartoon depiction on the Newsweek cover, to me, it exemplifies how conflicted the workplace is. Take away the “sex sells” explanation as the reason for using that cartoon cover. That certainly worked to get us all talking. This cartoon represents a female and male amalgamation of a perceived idolized workplace. In my opinion, the woman depicted on the cover is mash up of Kim Kardashian, Sheryl Sanberg, and Merissa Meyer, a fantasized version from both a female and male POV. I find it interesting that the person who created the cartoon is male and the person who approved the cover is female. Take a look at your workplace, does this depict the landscape? From my perspective, this is not who I see every day in my role as a consultant/coach and leadership development facilitator.
So, what do we do? As for improving the female to male ratio in the workplace, there are many reasons we need to keep talking about this. It helps force change, albeit slow, and not accept the status quo. Leaning in, thanks Sheryl for starting the conversation, isn’t the only solution. Remember complex problems need continued awareness and discussion of the facts, not giving up, constant vigilance, exploration of many options, many choices, and not allowing victimhood to stop improvements. And let’s also consider the possibility that the low numbers of women in corporations and on boards may be that many women, deliberately rejecting the values of organizations, are rejecting climbing the corporate ladder in favor of their families, more flexibility and starting their own companies.
As for the disgusting behavior depicted in this article, it needs to stop being tolerated by everyone. No excuses, no victims.
If this blog has piqued your curiosity about the actual content of the Newsweek cover story, you can read it here.
See you next week for #5 tip – Courage.
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