While the number of women in tech grows larger each year, gender inequality remains a pressing — and persistent — issue: According to a 2020 Pew Research Center report on gender inequality, 64 percent of women surveyed said the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights as men.
And that translates to the workplace, too. In a 2017 study by Pew, more than 40 percent of women surveyed said they experienced discrimination in the workplace.
Statistics such as these are why women need allies in the workplace who can advocate for them and give them the space they need to not only share their voices but amplify them.
“Creating an inclusive and diverse workplace doesn’t just happen by watching it come together from the sidelines,” said Alina Shehzad, a product designer at XSELL Technologies. “Everyone has a part to play in making it happen.”
Being an ally for women can mean different things, whether it’s giving women the chance to speak up and share their ideas in a meeting, or making sure women have leadership roles within a company.
Built In Chicago caught up with Shehzad and eight other local women in tech to learn how people can become better allies for women in the workplace.
What they do: Pampered Chef offers a collection of kitchen tools, small appliances and pantry items in an effort to make cooking simpler and more accessible.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
You might think that the best way to be an ally for women is to treat them the same way as you treat men. Yet, it’s not that simple.
The most important thing you can do as an ally, regardless of your own gender identity, is to reflect on, acknowledge and challenge your own gender biases. A widely referenced bias example shared by Sheryl Sandburg is that opinionated women are perceived as being bossy, while opinionated men are perceived as leaders. When we recognize and challenge these implicit biases, we become a strong ally for gender equality.
It’s also important to understand that work-life balance frequently looks different for women than men. Women with kids may inherently have responsibilities and commitments they have to weigh on a daily basis. Allowing flexibility in schedules helps accommodate for this. Pampered Chef provides unlimited vacation and fully covered maternity leave, which have personally helped me not only grow my career but also be present for important events with my children. Having supportive leadership that encourages women to take time off and allows flexibility during working hours — even if that means attending a preschool event — goes a long way in being an ally.
When we recognize and challenge these implicit biases, we become a strong ally for gender equality.”
What does this look like in action?
Men can do their part by making sure they aren’t dominating the conversation or unconsciously interrupting women. Sometimes, a round-robin approach to meetings gives everyone a chance to speak or share their opinion.
However, if you notice women getting spoken over or their ideas not being listened to, you can also call attention to it. I’ve noticed that addressing them by name and saying, “It looked like you had something to say,” is all it takes to give them the floor. In addition, repeating ideas shared by women and giving them credit for that idea can make a big impact. Two or more voices are always stronger than one.
It’s also important for women to see other women in leadership roles. I love the phrase, “If you see it, you can be it,” and I’ve worked with a lot of female leaders that I’ve modeled my career after. Tangibly, this means applying for roles outside your comfort zone, negotiating for salary equality and not letting fear get in the way of what’s possible. It might feel uncomfortable at the beginning but once you flex this muscle enough, it becomes second nature.
What they do: Hudson River Trading offers a scientific approach to trading financial products.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
Listen to women. If a good idea is brought to the table but isn’t heard, amplify it and make sure credit goes to the people who deserve it. It can be hard to build confidence without experience but it’s also hard to develop experience if the work environment doesn’t encourage it. People can support women regardless of their own position by listening and actually taking action to address their needs. Problems are too often dismissed as “the workplace culture” or as being “not as bad as others.” Taking small steps is a great place to start.
People can support women regardless of their own position by listening and actually taking action to address their needs.”
What does this look like in action?
If you hear or receive a good suggestion, it’s important to ensure that you say who that idea came from. Another way to be an ally is to make sure that women are properly valued and aren’t getting shuffled a ton of glue work to do if they’re in a technical role.
Glue work is what holds teams together. It’s onboarding new engineers, directing projects and keeping track of the other team members so someone can step in and fix a problem when it arises. All this work determines the success of an engineering team and often falls to women, whether that’s a conscious choice or not.
Managing all of these responsibilities requires both leadership skills and a greater awareness of the problem in order to develop these solutions. If a person in a technical role chooses to take on this work, it should be noted that they’re achieving goals above and beyond what they’re being asked to do. Glue work should not be invisible and it definitely shouldn’t go to women “by default.” Be aware of what work you’re taking on and what work is silently being taken on by your coworkers.
What they do: 8th Light develops software for a broad range of clients, from healthcare companies to educational institutions.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
Allyship isn’t a fixed trait. Rather, it’s a constant process. I often tell people to think instead about how to act in service of allyship, how to put allyship in practice, or how to keep yourself accountable to your own allyship.
Allyship requires continuous education. It’s important to learn about systems of oppression and intersectionality so you can act on this knowledge.
Allyship is not defined by the number of books you’ve read. It’s best measured through practice. The reality is that you will fail at it sometimes. Regardless of your intentions, you shouldn’t get defensive about it. Practicing allyship means having the humility to listen and learn what allyship might have looked like in that situation and incorporate that knowledge going forward.
This can be uncomfortable and if you’re doing it right, it should be. A lot of the time, it means unpacking your privilege and giving up some of it. This is a tough thing to do. It might sound simple, but allyship isn’t about you. A true commitment to allyship means de-centering yourself and centering others.
A true commitment to allyship means de-centering yourself and centering others.”
What does this look like in action?
Practicing allyship starts with self-reflection. Educate yourself on oppression, feminism and intersectionality and examine how those systems operate in your everyday life. Ask yourself these questions often: Who is not in the room or at the table? Whose voices aren’t being heard or represented? What privileges do I have that others don’t? Am I occupying space that could be occupied by someone who’s less represented or am I creating space?
When you learn about workplace injustices, act against them. Survey marginalized employees often to get feedback and build an environment where they can thrive. Ask for demographic data and try to find ways to influence or improve the hiring process to be more inclusive. Disclose your salary in service of pay equity and advocate for promotions for marginalized coworkers. Ask your leadership team to sponsor anti-bias or DE&I training and raise awareness about microaggressions and emotional labor.
Listen to, read, follow and interact with a variety of voices on the subject of allyship as well as underrepresented voices in your industry. Continuously reflect on where you are in your allyship and don’t stop practicing.
What they do: Sprout Social’s platform is designed to help brands optimize their social media strategy.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
The first step is learning. Educate yourself on why the playing field isn’t equal. Ask yourself questions like, “How did we get here?” and “What are the systemic factors that perpetuate inequality and inequity for women?” I often see these conversations jump to discussions about action but awareness of the past builds empathy that leads to sustainable change. If you want to be a better ally, learn why workplaces aren’t currently equitable to women. It will enable you to have more meaningful discussions about the topic and help you become a better ally.
Educate yourself on why the playing field isn't equal.”
What does this look like in action?
Look for opportunities to give positive feedback to your colleagues’ manager. On the other hand, if you’re in a leadership role, find ways to highlight a strong female performer. In most companies, the days where you could keep your head down, do a good job and expect to get rewarded are pretty much gone. Self-promotion is very important for career advancement and people often confuse it with being arrogant or self-serving. And yes, if done poorly, it can be. However, tactful and strategic self-promotion is a must to get ahead and most men do this naturally, while many women shy away from it. So women need others to be their cheerleaders, manage up and be boisterous about their accomplishments.
What they do: Fetch’s mobile app allows brands to reward shoppers for everyday purchases.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
Educate themselves. Start by seeking to understand the problems facing women in the workplace. While it can feel doom and gloom, understanding the current state of affairs can help motivate you to make a difference. Learn about implicit bias, the wage gap, the leadership double-bind and any other topic you come across. Beyond statistics and theory, try to learn about the experiences of individual women. If you don’t have any colleagues you feel comfortable talking to, follow women in your industry on social media. As you gain a deeper understanding of the issues, you will be surprised how often you see them play out.
Beyond statistics and theory, try to learn about the experiences of individual women.”
What does this look like in action?
Once you are aware of the issues facing women in the workplace, you’ll start seeing the ways to help. You can notice and check your own biases and share resources you found informative to help others educate themselves. You also can speak up for women when you notice other people’s biases.
What they do: ActiveCampaign’s platform enables organizations to harness the power of email marketing, marketing automation and CRM tools.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
Communication is vital to any type of relationship, especially in the workplace. It’s also about listening and making sure others understand what is being said by their coworkers. Women often express frustration at not being able to speak or being disregarded when they do. It can be very frustrating and demoralizing to feel ignored or dismissed. Allies can elevate female voices in the workplace and give women the space to share their perspectives and experiences.
Allies can elevate female voices in the workplace and give women the space to share their perspectives and experiences.”
What does this look like in action?
Communication isn’t always about saying something. Asking women for input in meetings is one simple act that can not only make a difference to the women you work with but give you a great idea to execute on. This also applies to giving and receiving feedback. Small acts of improving communication, whether in group settings or one-on-one meetings, are a great way to be a better ally and create a comfortable environment for women. Closer collaboration with allies opens the lines of communication and also fosters bigger contributions to women-focused employee resource group (ERG) initiatives.
I co-lead the Women of ActiveCampaign ERG, and we constantly collaborate with other ERGs to bring content that is valuable to as many of our employees as possible. To celebrate Women’s History Month in March, we collaborated with our ActivelyBlack ERG on a speed networking event with the Chicago Tech Academy and a women’s history trivia night where we awarded prizes showcasing products from our customers.
What they do: XSELL Technologies helps organizations deliver their personalized digital experiences to their customers.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
Stand up and show up for women. This can mean different things for different people. The important thing here is to realize that, although it can help, you don’t need to launch a huge campaign or change your company logo to show support. True allyship isn’t about what organizations post on social media. It’s about self-reflection. Ask yourself, “To what extent am I an ally?”
It’s about creating a space for women where they feel comfortable enough to speak up and offer their thoughts and opinions. It’s about amplifying the voices of women. It’s understanding that allyship transcends the workplace into social gatherings, like happy hours and virtual meetups. And most importantly, it’s about educating yourself and your organization and recognizing where improvements can be made and constantly making them. Creating an inclusive and diverse workplace doesn’t just happen by watching it come together from the sidelines. Everyone has a part to play in making it happen.
Hire more women. There are qualified women, women of color and LGBTQ+ women in every field.”
What does this look like in action?
Hire more women. There are qualified women, women of color and LGBTQ+ women in every field. If you can’t find them, change your hiring strategy, change where you’re getting your candidate pool from or change the phrasing of your job posting to incorporate more inclusive language.
Create space for all women. Enable women, women of color and LGBTQ+ women to hold positions of power. Include them in meetings where decisions are made and ask for their point of view and then listen to what they’re saying.
Advocate for all women. As an ally, talk about your compensation and benefits package to help eliminate gender inequities, speak up in meetings when someone says something offensive and hold yourself and others accountable when it comes to biases. At my organization, the women came together and created a community group centered around DE&I where we create awareness, hold events and panels and inform policy changes around women’s issues. We have the support and funds from our leadership team and other members of the organizations as allies to drive real, positive change.
What they do: Topstep helps traders of all skill levels safely engage in and profit from financial markets by evaluating their performance in a real-time, simulated account.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
With a leadership team, workforce and advisory board consisting of more than 40 percent women, Topstep has taken strides to provide an equitable work environment void of privilege and bias. As much as we wish it were the same case on a global scale, we also recognize that privilege does exist in the workplace, especially in tech — a historically male-dominated field.
At Topstep, we pride ourselves on being a beacon for diversity and inclusion in the workforce. Yet, as with anything, it can be challenging to recognize where a problem exists, which is why we must all make a concerted effort to help lift up our female counterparts.
In my experience, for our male peers to be better allies to women, it’s crucial to observe and learn with an open mind. That means men should listen to and believe women when they say they’re being overlooked, observe how women are treated in meetings or discussions on Slack and recognize the problems they may be contributing to and adjust their behavior.
For our male peers to be better allies to women, it’s crucial to observe and learn with an open mind.”
What does this look like in action?
When put into practice, it may become apparent that there is a pattern of interrupting the women on our teams more than the men. A conscious behavior change must occur before we can amplify our female colleagues’ voices when others mistreat them. Ultimately, it’s easy to give quick tips on being a good ally, but it’s important to recognize our role in the problem.
We can better help others once we’ve enabled ourselves. Commit to learning about the injustices in your workplace, however small, and take responsibility for changing your behavior if you find you are contributing to that injustice.
What they do: CCC Information Services’ technology offers solutions for organizations within the automotive and casualty insurance industries.
What’s one thing people can do to be better allies to women in the workplace?
One way to be a better ally to women is to avoid making assumptions about what motivates them and drives their career aspirations or how they manage their personal lives.
Don’t hold women back from developmental assignments because you assume it would put too much stress on their personal lives.”
What does this look like in action?
Instead of assuming that women lack the bandwidth to put in extra hours or travel, ask open-ended questions and listen to their responses without judgment or filters. Don’t hold women back from developmental assignments because you assume it would put too much stress on their personal lives. Find out if they are interested and if they are, ask if they need support or flexibility in order to make the opportunity viable. For women who are satisfied at their current level, make sure you continue to provide development opportunities and training to improve their performance, build new skills and prepare them for other roles should their career aspirations change.
