Pt. 2: Gender, Race, & Workplace
By: Diane V. Nguyen
Tags: Gender Equality, International Womens Day, Workplace Culture, Women, Diversity

International Women’s Day

Q: If inattention to balancing work & play can wreak havoc on our mental & physical health, how else can it unfurl in the workplace?

MADELINE Farquharson, berlin: Unfortunately, I think most women have experienced gender bias in the workplace. I found that this was particularly the case in a couple of my workplaces, and often becomes a problem when working abroad as you’ve got different cultures to take into account. Many women feel even more motivated to push boundaries and stereotypes, but the fact that it needs to come from a negative space is quite sad, to me. It definitely changed the way I work, and I need to always check that I am not censoring myself due to sexism.

Pati Mazurckzak, senior brand marketing manager at hibooks

PATI Mazurckzak, berlin: I have experienced it in Poland (when playing basketball was my job) from a male coach who did not know how to approach female athletes. He would use abusive language, and screaming was his way of correcting players’ mistakes. As an athlete (particularly a female athlete), you always think that you have to stay strong, not show too much emotion and tolerate everything. You’re meant to trust your coach and believe that his advice is for your own good and helps you to be a better player. I was too young to know how to react to those kinds of behaviors. This experience made me quit playing professionally and have a few years [of] break from basketball.

MADELINE Farquharson, berlin: There’s already a conversation in place about how women get negative labels (emotional, bossy, pushy) where men get more complimentary attributes (driven, leader, motivated) for the same actions. I hope that workplaces can encourage proper leadership and sensitivity training, and that companies can cultivate a culture of being conscious of the words we use and the power those words have.

“Gender bias sometimes is not intentional. It just so happens that situations make it look like that.” — Amrita Koley, senior ios engineer at hibooks

AMRITA Koley, berlin: I think most of these discriminations derive from people not voicing these scenarios. If I thought that someone is passing a sexist comment, I would calmly explain it to that person that these things can offend someone so that they are careful next time.

MADELINE Farquharson, berlin: I also would encourage women to speak out when they feel comfortable to confront moments of bias or sexism, a difficult task but a necessary one for change. [In terms of] intersectionality, I experienced strange racial bias in China, but it was not representative of struggles worldwide and I believe it’s more important to uplift the voices for women of color and their stories throughout their career.

LINH Le, berlin: In my childhood, I was often mocked as “Chinese” on the playground… a couple of years ago, I was spit [on] by a random Nazi on the street. So, there are apparently still so-called “no-go areas” in Berlin or East Germany for me, where I feel uncomfortable and unsafe. At the same time, now that Berlin is even more multicultural than before, people address me [first] in English …and react, often surprised, by the fact that I speak German perfectly or was even born and raised in Berlin.

ISABELLA Way, los angeles: Coming from a background as a performer where you are judged primarily on your age, ethnicity, looks and so on, I have always been extremely aware, maybe to a fault, of how I am perceived by others.

“This picture was taken by my former classmate for my friend’s international photography project called CELEBRATE WOMEN. She has photographers around the world take images of women and female-identifying persons with something that they connect with their identity. I chose my travel journal.” — Madeline Farquharson, customer experience agent at hibooks

MORWENNA Loughman, london: As a profession, acting is obviously rife with issues of equality. In terms of gender, whether it’s the lack of roles for women, invisibility of female directors and writers, the kinds of roles that are available, being asked to do inappropriate things in auditions — you name it, the issues are everywhere. It was another reason I stopped acting actually. I was 21 when I graduated from drama school, and whether it was TV, radio, theatre, all the roles for that age bracket were ‘girlfriend of X’, ‘little sister to Y’. None of the female characters even had names.

ISABELLA Way, los angeles: When you, yourself, are the commodity, you have to have a solid understanding of what you are selling and what people are buying, which is not the healthiest way to go through life. Because of that, I really try to bring up and support my co-workers as well as advocating for myself.

During my time as a performer, I have seen the creative landscape change in terms of diversity and I hope that as the casting and voice director at hibooks, as well as [having] my hand in producing [and] production, I can support diverse talent, voices, and stories, through my actions and leadership. I feel like if you are in a position to make that choice, you have to try, as that’s where diversity in media can be changed for the better.

Isabella Way, production coordinator at hibooks

KAVE Bulambo, berlin: Let’s just try to google women of color in tech Berlin and see what comes up. Nothing. You can literally count the number of women of color in tech and then go even further and count the number of black women in tech. The statistics are too embarrassing to share. I believe in the power of representation, and so far, women of color are underrepresented in tech, which results in a mindset of questioning even the few that are in the scene.

LINH Le, berlin: I did have to deal with some prejudices of being a female engineer in a male-dominant work environment, where I had to prove my skills before I was accepted. There was even a colleague, who carried sexist and racist ideas, which gave me a very hard time.

KAVE Bulambo, berlin: My biggest challenge, and I think for all minorities, has been being the loner, which affects one’s ability to express their true selves unless they develop confidence over time. Once one’s personal confidence is affected, it is also seen in their work and their interaction within the organization. So at first, I would like to encourage more women from minority backgrounds to get into tech and to believe that they have a role to play in shaping the industry. Secondly, organizations need to be intentional about their diversity strategies by going beyond campaigns and actually taking concrete measures to increase diversity.

KATELIN Williamson Spector, new york city: When it comes to women, publishing and tech have exact opposite statistics. The publishing industry is about 80% female while tech is the reverse. Strangely there’s a sense in both industries — though for different reasons — that not as many women are in leadership positions as there should be.



MORWENNA Loughman, london: Working in publishing was an interesting shift — the big five publishing houses are seemingly run by women, particularly in editorial where women outnumber men nearly three to one. And yet you look at the people at the tops of those companies, in the senior roles — the CEOs, the executives and the boards — and they’re all men, and that’s just gender.

“Favorite photo: Book Autograph with Lois Lowery.” — Louise Henriksen, product owner at hibooks

Publishing in the UK struggles hugely with diversity in every sense. In the UK childcare definitely plays a huge part, a lot of women in publishing literally can’t afford to go back to work. It’s completely bonkers. It blows my mind that these huge publishing corporations don’t have better provisions for childcare, whether that’s subsidizing it or having childcare facilities onsite.

KATELIN Williamson Spector, new york city: Every company and every industry benefits from having diverse decision makers. We all bring a different set of experiences with us and working together can combine those experiences into the best products for the most people.

VANESSA Chiu, san francisco: Everyone has a unique perspective to bring to the workplace that is invaluably built on personal experiences, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or any other social category. There have been times where, as a female and/or as an Asian American in the legal profession, I’ve felt the bias and inequality because of these social boxes; but more often…the same social categories have been attributes in establishing a connection with a client or navigating dispute resolution.

ISABELLA Way, los angeles: I think women and companies can improve gender and racial equality in the workplace by championing women, by supporting and mentoring them in their overall careers (beyond their current role). I think this can be done by supporting personal development as well as making sure to stay on the pulse of the company.

KAVE Bulambo, berlin: When [my business partner and I] first started My Career Path, the idea was to help migrant women moving to Germany understand the labor market and what possible career options they could have…[Now] we have clients seeking career coaching and we partner with organizations helping migrant women, mostly refugee women, and offer our services at no cost at all.

VANESSA Chiu, san francisco: Our company not only strives for diversity but goes the additional step to foster inclusion for the different perspectives that naturally come from embracing diversity. Promoting diversity is one step; but creating a collaborative environment that values participation is the next step forward.

Morwenna Loughman, senior commissioning editor at hibooks

Everyone’s input is solicited and considered when it comes to improving how our team functions; our workplace culture; and, just as importantly, the quality of our products and interactions with our users. This is evident in our global workforce, how we grow our relationships with authors and our audio storytellers, our catalog collections, and how we communicate with customers.

MORWENNA Loughman, london: hibooks has been a completely different experience, in the very best way. I’ve never worked somewhere so diverse, it’s awesome working with people from all over the world who all have very different experiences and perspectives. Also, to be part of a company from the earlier stages and to be able to, in a small way, help to shape the culture and policies (at least in London). I just wish we could all see more of each other.