International Women's Day - But is it really a problem?
Tags: culture, diversity, inclusion, womenintech
Published: 2024-03-08 09:31:58

It was global diversity week last week. Or global women in technology week, or something otherwise well intentioned.
 
I forget the specific honorific that this week in particular has been anointed but yet again I'm left deeply conflicted about the kind of progress we're collectively making about diversity initiatives in technology, and actual corrective actions.
 
Before I get going - this is not a "what's the point in all of this" post. Pitchforks down. We're on the same side.
 
I was just at a dinner at a technology event when an exasperated friend sat down next to me and said they were sick and tired of it happening again.
 
What had happened? Someone had dragged her into a conversation asking her to prove that there really was a gender diversity problem in technology. Asking if it even mattered anyway. Blissfully unaware that his haranguing and devil's advocacy was exactly the evidence required to prove him wrong.
 
No man would have ever been backed into a corner and asked to explain his presence in a space. But the women? Every single time.
 
And you know what? I'm tired too. Tired of the "engineers" that can't read the trivial statistics that explain the problem. Tired with people trying to use the word woke as a pejorative because they don't understand that systematic bias is pervasive in everything they build because they can't imagine writing software for people who aren't them. And I think I might be almost as tired of the trope of asking the exact people who suffer discrimination being asked to do the emotional labour to fix it, without being provided with any of the actual agency to effect change.
 
Every year when diversity week comes around, I cringe a little inside at people trying to be helpful reinforcing the systematic biases at the root of inequality in a lot of our organisations.
 
"Do you want to do a talk about being a woman in tech?"
"Why don't you stay late to facilitate a meeting about how you cope on your journey?"
"Top tips for women in the workplace"
"How would you fix our hiring imbalance?"
 
Every time, pushing additional emotional labour onto the exact groups of people they are, with good intentions, seeking to support.
 
And every single time I watch the LinkedIn Corpo Self Promotion train lurch through the station. And people celebrate women, and then proceed to do exactly fucking nothing. Until next year, when it's time again to "celebrate women and minorities by asking them to tell us how they survive our structural violence that harms them specifically".
 
Well played.
 
--- time passes, and I didn't post this because I know that striking while the iron is hot is often harmful, but this morning it's international women's day again ---
 
So this international women's day? Please be introspective about what you specifically are doing to improve the mostly woeful status quo in our industry.
 
It's fine and well intentioned to share inspirational things about women. It's fine and well intentioned to share positivity. But without real change it's all empty gestures.
 
I have seen too many boards use "best person for the job" as a covering excuse for why their real-life inequality stats change, when the reality is that how you treat your women and diverse folks' today begets your hiring moving forwards, so if there's something meaningful and concrete you can do? Pay these folks properly, be flexible, accommodate for their needs.
 
Because the truth is this - until you can treat folks well yourself, you don't deserve to "correct your statistics". A rising tide raises all ships. This international women's day, do something about it, because yes, it's really a problem.
 
Happy international women's day.
Let's do it differently this time.
 
#internationalwomensday2024 #iwd2024 #diversity #inclusion
 
P.S. I know there will likely be a cavalcade of men getting ready to furiously reply to this, but don't be surprised when people have no interest debating your trite one-sided whataboutisms and "when is intentional men's day" tedium. Be more reflective before you type.