Inspiring Women Who Work in Tech

I never identified as a girl—not primarily, anyway. To me, I was "Jovelle"—and I happened to be born with the reproductive organs associated with the word "female." I didn’t really care that I was a girl, didn’t care if others were or were not girls, and gender roles weren’t a big deal to me. If you're wondering why traditional gender roles are dying out, picture me.

I spent all of my childhood and teenage years like this. My teachers in school—many of them women themselves—didn’t hold me to lower standards than my male peers. In high school, my mother had different rules for me than my brother regarding dating, but seeing as I didn’t "glow up" until I was 18, this didn’t have much opportunity to surface and cause conflict. No one ever underestimated me because I was a girl—just because I was a girl.

Much like I knew of the word "racism" and its roots but didn’t fully appreciate or even realize its prevalence until the Black Lives Matter movement, I couldn’t have fathomed how real sexism—in every iteration of the word—is in current times.

Alongside the #MeToo movement, which started with women in the entertainment industry, women who work in tech started sharing their professional experiences. It wasn’t long before Silicon Valley started to look like a misogynist’s wonderland.

I’m early in my career, but I’m fairly confident I won’t wind up in Silicon Valley. Technical roles are someone else’s calling. With that knowledge, the immediate assumption is that the misogyny embedded in the tech industry is someone else’s problem, but what if that someone else is a little girl? My sister is in high school, and she doesn’t know what she wants to do after graduation. What if she wanted to work with technology, but she had no way in? It's a male-dominated profession; that fact is unarguable. What if she had no one to look up to?

Reshma Saujani - Founder/CEO of Girls Who Code

Reshma Saujani is the co-founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, the nonprofit with locations all across the United States, teaching girls computer science skills and offering support which they may not find elsewhere. Women aren’t generally expected to take up technical roles, and these societal expectations manifest in a young girl’s developing identity. According to the website, girls who may have an interest in computer science typically lose interest as they grow older. This isn’t helped by, and is probably caused by, the absence of encouragement to pursue it.

"Our economy, our society, we're just losing out because we're not raising our girls to be brave." - Reshma Saujani, "Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection"

Kimberly Bryant - Founder/CEO of Black Girls Code

Kimberly Bryant is the founder and CEO of Black Girls Code, which offers young girls of color the opportunity to learn computer skills and programming. Pointing out that while there are more women who work in tech, there is still a significant diversity gap, and she believes in young women and all they have to offer if they only are given the chance and encouragement.

“Imagine the impact that these curious, creative minds could have on the world with the guidance and encouragement others take for granted.” - Kimberly Bryant, Black Girls Code

Now, Black Girls Code has locations and hosts events throughout the USA, and Black Boys Code is to be launched soon.

In founding these educational organizations, Saujani and Bryant did more than give girls an opportunity to learn to code. They gave them a pathway to break into an industry where they may feel unwelcome and a reason to be confident in their own abilities.

The difficulties women in tech face don’t stop once they’re hired, though.

Kathryn Minshew - Founder/CEO of The Muse

Working in tech is a demanding lifestyle, and women who work in tech must put up with all those demands along with stereotypes that are always working against them. Kathryn Minshew, who has been listed under Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and is the author of The New Rules of Work: The Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career, faced stereotypes such as this when creating the platform The Muse.

“People assume you don’t really want to build a massive company… that your ambitions are small or cute.” - Kathryn Minshew, Interview with Quartz

The Muse is now a popular site that young working women and men turn to for career advice, and Minshew is the CEO.

Maureen Fan - CEO of Baobab Studios

Maureen Fan is the perfect example of women who have created successful careers. While acknowledging that technology and entertainment industries are male-dominated, she hasn’t allowed that to intimidate her. In her career, she’s held titles like intern at Pixar, manager and vice president at Zynga, where she led the creation of Farmville 2, and now, she is CEO of Baobab Studios, a company that creates animation experiences designed for virtual reality.

Erica Baker - Senior Engineering Manager at Patreon

Erica Baker has worked as an engineer at multiple reputable companies, including Google, Slack, and currently, as the senior engineering manager at Patreon.

She also advocates for the empowerment of women and minorities within the industry. She is a member of the Board of Directors at Girl Develop It, a nonprofit that provides affordable web and software development for adult women, and one of the founding advisors of Project Include, a nonprofit that advocates for diversity and fairness in tech companies.

Cam Kashani - CEO of COACCEL: The Human Accelerator

Known as the “Godmother of Silicon Valley,” Cam Kashani is a speaker with the US State Department and the co-founder and CEO of COACCEL: The Human Accelerator. COACCEL is a coaching business for individuals looking to build and improve their careers.

Much of Kashani’s work involves helping entrepreneurs create successful businesses, and she has a special passion for coaching other women who work in tech.

“I believe that if women embrace their own deeply rooted power, we can collectively shift the energy in business and ultimately create a harmonious environment for us all.” - Cam Kashani, LinkedIn

Sheryl Sandberg - Chief Operating Officer of Facebook

One of the most well-known advocates for working women, Sheryl Sandberg shares her experiences in her widely circulated book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. As the COO of one of the best tech companies to work for in America, she knows what it's like to be a woman in a stigmatized industry. Recognizing that many women are not comfortable being assertive, Sandberg offers advice on adapting to the demanding workplace culture in order to advance their careers, encourages them to be more open to risk-taking, and the possible failure and embarrassment that comes with it, and promises that professional success and overall happiness are not mutually exclusive. She helps you avoid falling into a trap of things successful women don’t do.

"We move closer to the larger goal of true equality with each woman who leans in." - Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Gwynne Shotwell - President of SpaceX

Women are often not expected to tackle difficulties. As the President of SpaceX, however, Gwynne Shotwell does not shy away from challenging projects. SpaceX is known for setting ambitious, seemingly impossible goals that many would deem too ridiculous to pursue. Instead of allowing ideas to intimidate her, Shotwell approaches each problem and issue with logic and determination, proving that women who work in tech can be as capable and tenacious as their male counterparts.

Ellen Pao - Tech Investor and CEO of Project Include

In 2015, before the #MeToo movement and exposure of sexism in entertainment and tech industries, Ellen Pao lost a gender discrimination lawsuit against the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Despite losing, her story brought attention to the culture of misogyny which women who work in tech are subjected to, and she continues to advocate inclusivity and diversity in the tech industry. She has published her book Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change and is now the CEO of Project Include, working toward positive changes in the tech industry.

Susan Fowler - Engineer/ Whistleblower at Uber

"Sexual harassment" is such a vague term, yet women who work in tech are always able to tell disturbingly specific stories about it. Susan Fowler, who once worked as an engineer for the car service company Uber, revealed her experiences with the casual, widely accepted mistreatment of women at the company in a blog post in February 2017. She detailed the unwelcome sexual advances, the dismissal of her complaints, and the victim-shaming.

"To every woman wondering if she should come forward and share her story: the world is listening, the world is ready. You deserve justice." - Susan Fowler, Twitter

After Fowler revealed her experiences, many more women in tech have shared their stories of sexism. Though faced with retaliation by the offenders—men in positions of power, more often than not—women have found the courage to call for change in a broken system.

"I am thankful that we live in a time when women can vote, can be doctors and lawyers and scientists and moms, and can fight for what they believe in.

I am so thankful for all the brave women who fought to make that possible." - Susan Fowler, Twitter

My little brother once said to me, “I thought you were the smartest one in the family.” He followed this with, “You’re supposed to be the smart one.”

I don’t know why he thought that of me. I don’t remember the context. I can’t for the life of me remember how I responded.

I can’t remember because I’m a scatter-brained 21-year-old who needs excessive caffeine and nootropics to focus long enough to write one article. I’m scared of driving, mess up writing checks, and I have a lot to learn, but my brother thinks I’m “smart.” Sometimes I think I should ask him to define “smart,” but it has a positive connotation, and that’s all that matters.

I don’t believe my kid brother sees me as a “girl” or, in his perspective, “not a boy.” He sees me as a person who’s influenced his life, he knows I’m a human with flaws but he still thinks I’m smart, and he’s proof that misogyny is a silly thing. Everyone is nuanced, but everyone has something to offer.

If these old rules and unreasonable, unnecessary expectations would stop getting in their way, women who work in tech would be better able to contribute to technology’s progress. It’s not logical at all to discourage a student from following a career path in the tech industry if she may be good at it, to doubt a young entrepreneur with genuine drive and talent, or to mistreat and hold back a hard worker because she’s a woman.

The women I’ve listed are leaders in a male-dominated field, and they’ve brought attention to and pointed out how the old rules don’t help anyone. When everyone realizes we can change this, maybe everyone will be able to act to the best of their ability and be free to contribute to the progress of technology.