Latest / Best of Business / Meena Satishkumar: Tech Beyond Gender founder on why more female and gender-diverse tech professionals are reconsidering roles

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Meena Satishkumar: Tech Beyond Gender founder on why more female and gender-diverse tech professionals are reconsidering roles · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk SEDB. Follow
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  Speaker 1: right now.
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  Speaker 2: Though, a new report into women working in the tech
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  Speaker 2: sector has set off a few alarm bells. The advocacy
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  Speaker 2: group Tech Beyond Gender surveyed two hundred female workers tech workers.
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  Speaker 2: It found more than half have considered leaving their current
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  Speaker 2: positions and over a third of thought about quitting the
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  Speaker 2: sector altogether. Mina Setsh Kumar from Tech Beyond Gender is
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  Speaker 2: with me to explain this finding. Mina, good evening to you,
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for being with.
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  Speaker 3: Me, Good evening, Thanks for the time.
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  Speaker 2: So you've done these interviews, there's some quite some quite
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  Speaker 2: radical claims being made here. Tell me how you've come
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  Speaker 2: to the conclusion. You know, half of the people you've
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  Speaker 2: interviewed have considered quitting do you know?
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  Speaker 1: Whine?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, cool, so let me it's just my correction here
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  Speaker 3: this report we surveyed women and gender diverse professionals working
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  Speaker 3: in New Zealand tech sector. I think it is gener
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  Speaker 3: frustration and a feeling of hopelessness for these people working
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  Speaker 3: in tech sector where more than forty person have experienced
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  Speaker 3: gender based microaggressions in their workplaces, and more than seventy
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  Speaker 3: seventy percentage have reported no training or to create awareness
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  Speaker 3: regarding microaggressions have been provided in their workplaces. And besides that,
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  Speaker 3: more than seventy percentage of them are dissatisfied with paid
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  Speaker 3: transparency and more than half of them feel that they're
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  Speaker 3: not being paid fair, with disparities particularly affecting technical and
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  Speaker 3: migrant professionals.
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  Speaker 2: What do you consider a microaggression? Forty percent say that
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  Speaker 2: they've had gender based microaggressions committed against them. What is that?
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  Speaker 3: So? Microaggressions are subtle, often unintentional comments or behaviors or
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  Speaker 3: actions that communicate bias or stereotype towards a person or
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  Speaker 3: a group. So this is particularly targeted towards marginalized or
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  Speaker 3: minority background.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm sorry, sorry just one. You said that it's
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  Speaker 2: unintentional aggressions and yet it's targeted. How can it be both?
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  Speaker 3: Well, because this is because of the stereotypes that are
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  Speaker 3: so ingrained in our society. There are certain systemic issues
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  Speaker 3: that we have really not addressed. So it's easy to
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  Speaker 3: just assume in a meeting that a woman would probably
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  Speaker 3: be there to take notes or be a people manager
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  Speaker 3: and not see a woman as a front end developer
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  Speaker 3: or a solution architect or a technical lead. So that's
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  Speaker 3: what I meant, because it is very unintentional because we
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  Speaker 3: are so ingrained in those stereotypes.
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  Speaker 2: Right, but what can you give us an example of
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  Speaker 2: what a microaggression is?
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  Speaker 3: So being interrupted in meetings or having ideas appropriated, or
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  Speaker 3: facing some dismissive comments, or like just having some remarks
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  Speaker 3: such as, oh you're surprisingly technical, or even saying uh,
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  Speaker 3: well you're too aggressive? Is being assertive at the moment? Right?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but these things will happen to men too, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you know if so if if somebody, if a manager
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  Speaker 2: interrupts a man, is that a microaggression?
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 3: Possibly. I'm not saying that men do not have any
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  Speaker 3: issues as such. Probably they do face issues.
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  Speaker 2: But then isn't it Isn't that the point though, that
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  Speaker 2: if you know, are there are good managers and there
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  Speaker 2: are bad managers. It doesn't necessarily mean just because somebody
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  Speaker 2: interrupts you that they are success or that they're doing
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  Speaker 2: it because you're you're a woman.
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  Speaker 3: But certain systemic barriers make all of these behaviors very
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  Speaker 3: pronounced for women and gender divers professionals. So because of
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  Speaker 3: the stereotypes that are so ingrained in US, we just
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  Speaker 3: assume certain things and just talk about it without really
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  Speaker 3: thinking about it. So, for instance, if I'm in a
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  Speaker 3: meeting and if I'm actually providing a technical input this
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  Speaker 3: way along with few other men in my team, that
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  Speaker 3: message that I would convey will hold value if it
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  Speaker 3: comes if it is backed by another man.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, MANA, thank you very much for explaining this to us.
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  Speaker 2: I really appreciate it. MENA statist Kumar from the Tech
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  Speaker 2: Beyond Gender, which is an ED advocacy group for women
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  Speaker 2: in tech, I mean, what do you say. I just
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  Speaker 2: think the whole, the whole. I've read the I've read
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  Speaker 2: the release from this group. I just think it sounds
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  Speaker 2: like absolute b Yes, half have considered quitting. Go and
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  Speaker 2: ask any worker anywhere, and half of them will tell
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  Speaker 2: you they have considered quitting their job. It doesn't matter
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  Speaker 2: what gender they are, who their bosses. Half don't believe
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  Speaker 2: they're being paid very well. Go and ask any worker,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't matter what gender they are, and they'll tell you
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  Speaker 2: that they're not being paid very well. Go and ask
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  Speaker 2: how many have had microaggressions, and then define it as
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  Speaker 2: loosely as that, and half will have said that they've
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  Speaker 2: had microaggressions.
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