Validity of the Myth
How true is the myth?
Leaning in does not necessarily translate to greater success in the tech world. Especially for women. At Stanford women are provided with this bubble of opportunity and encouragement, but this does not naturally translate to the world outside of Stanford.
The Tech World
Silicon Valley, the epicenter of technological growth across the world has made it its mission to apply its technological advances to all parts of society; whether it be through communication efforts with companies such as Twitter and Facebook, through shopping experiences with Amazon, through banking with Wells Fargo, or through the driving experience with Tesla. This is just to name a few of the companies that have incredible, far reaching power, all with having over twenty billion in assets, with some companies even reaching into the trillions. These companies strive to impart change on the world yet fail to bring about that change through their very practices, rather they simply desire to create the technologies to do the heavy lifting that can serve as the medium to bring about the change, without having to actually implement it themselves.
Silicon Valley Community Foundation claims to engage with donors in Silicon Valley to make the region and world a better place for all through innovative giving strategies. They value diversity, inclusiveness, and public accountability.
The dichotomy of this philanthropic giving institution for Silicon Valley leaders is that the power to affect change already lies within their hands at the organizations they run and manage. They are capable of directly changing the imbalance in inequality in our society through their company's practices.
For example, Google, a company valued by Forbes as over $101 billion, and cited as facilitating $165 billion in economic activity nationwide, is directly influential in impacting change. The company’s mission statement states that it aims to organize the world’s information and make it universally acceptable and useful. This same company though is not making accessible the incredible opportunities it has for individuals at its fingertips. The diversity statistics of the company have it divided at 70% male and 30% female with 63% of its employee population being white, 30% asian, 3% hispanic, and 2% black. This lack of diversity within its members is disheartening as it highlights the discrepancy between what the company claims to impart on the world and what it is actually doing.
Isolating Women
In a study done by Alison Wynn, a Stanford graduate student, and Shelley Correll, a Stanford professor, they explored the recruiting environment for women established by tech companies at recruiting events. Through first hand data they collected from over eighty four recruiting events, they found that the tech companies were all but inclusive through their events. They were often male dominated with an emphasis on the ‘bro-appealing’ aspects of their company from foosball tables, to a low-priority sleep culture, to beer fridges. If women were apart of the presentation, they were often just deemed smiling, corner worthy recruiters who would hand out swag and if they ever did talk would only speak to the company’s culture and the long term hopes, almost as an excuse for the clear execution of gender roles through their presentation. These companies come to Stanford to recruit from a talented and diverse community, but end up polarizing a the female population through their isolating events, and only hurt themselves.
It is natural for people to want to be good at what they do, being good at it definitely makes it more enjoyable and easier. The tech sphere though pushes its intense and unwavering culture on hopeful members and it can be a strong deterrent. The concept of having it all for a woman, does not necessarily mean that they do want it all, but there is the hope to leave all doors open and to make that decision for oneself. The ‘work till 2am’ culture and the exclusive community isolates a women and not only leaves her feeling like she can’t have it all, it makes her feel as though she doesn’t even have the bandwidth to choose what she does want. The cookie-cutter and pre-set path of all who enter the tech world is no fun for those trying to live their own life. This double standard and discrepancy between what is desired and what is the reality of a life in tech reflects J.Z. Smith’s statement that there is a disparity between what people profess and what they actually do.
As previously mentioned, the fast-paced and cookie-cut path of a job in Silicon Valley makes it difficult for women to fit if they have decided to try to have it all. The image of a working mother does not click with the expectations of a job in tech. Venture Capital firms in Silicon Valley have had a hard time reckoning the gap in experience for mothers who have taken maternity leave. Emily Holtz Patterson speaks of her experience in a The Verge article, she was let go a month after coming back from maternity leave. The on ramps that exist in other professional fields to keep the retention of working mothers simply does not exist in tech.
It’s an industry that moves so fast that if you’re not actively always in it and helping to move it along quickly and efficiently, you’re simply side swept for someone else. This same aspect of the industry not only applies to the lack of gender diversity, but also to the lack of racial diversity. It is easier to communicate with someone who has your same background, same race, same upbringing, same socioeconomic class, same language. As terrible as this sounds, it’s true. That does not make it good or right though. The tech industry lacks an added value because of it and it is what keeps the cookie-cutter life path of the tech industry able to persevere.
There are efforts to counter this pervading concept of life in the tech world and to empower women in some capacity. The Technical Women’s Leadership Journey is striving to educate women in leadership roles in the tech sphere. However, as has already been seen though, it is not an issue of education, women are more than equipped and qualified to excel, it is rather the culture that continues to hold them down.
Citations:
https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/blog/post/googles-ever-growing-impact-global-economy
https://www.siliconvalleycf.org/vision-mission-values
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/diversity-stats-10-tech-companies-that-have-come-clean/
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0306312718756766