I‘m not a woman-engineer, I’m an engineer.
“I’m not a woman engineer. I’m an engineer”
This was a quote from the HBO series Silicon Valley (season 2, episode 4).
What led to this epic quote was a conversation between an all-male start-up team. The conversation went like this:
Jared: I think it would behoove us to prioritize hiring a woman.
Gilfoyle: I disagree, O.J. We should hire the best person for the job. Period.
Dinesh: Carla’s not the best.
Jared: Right. Let me rephrase. I think having a woman in the company is important, but hiring someone only because they’re a woman is bad. I would never compromise Pied Piper.
Richard: Okay, just to be clear, our top priority is to hire the most qualified person available, right?
Jared: Of course.
Dinesh: But it would be better if that someone was a woman even though the woman part of that statement is irrelevant?
Why is it that companies have to make an effort to hire women?
There are countless articles and entire websites about why start-ups and companies from industries (such as tech) need to hire more women.
Have you ever just wanted to be hired or hire someone based on merit, rather than gender?
I understand it can be beneficial for us to have hire-women initiatives. I get it.
Sometimes, we are the token.
I’ve been there. In high school I worked at a restaurant where I was the only, female, native English-speaker and caucasian… As a fire fighter, I was often the only woman on scene… I was the only obese player on my college’s tennis team, I’ve been the only Jew more time than I can count, and in an apartment complex where I used to live, I was the only caucasian. I get it. I do.
But it still bothers me that companies (even huge ones like Google) need to be reminded to hire women.
We’re every bit as competent, skilled, experienced, educated as men.
Yet, we’re under-employed (if we weren’t organizations wouldn’t need programs to attract female employees) and under-compensated.
What about when we’re not employees, but we’re the employer – or entrepreneur?
We do this to ourselves, according to a 2014 Forbes article, Study: Women entrepreneurs pay themselves less. Interestingly, this contradicts a 2013 article by the same publisher Women Entrepreneurs Out Earn Men By 14%.
This may sound like venting, although it’s more than that.
Since we are in this position, we need to make a concerted effort to get out of it.
We women need to help each other.
Network with one another.
Share referrals (or leads) with one another.
Mentor one another.
Share resources with one another.
And mostly, get to know one another.
Through relationships with we grow, learn and succeed.
Is that too touchy feely?
Let me put it this way: By increasing our networks, we increase the chances to hear about incredible opportunities, gain personal introductions, and open doors.
