Consider this statistic: 56% of women in the technology sector vacate their jobs at the pinnacles of their careers--twice the comparable quit rate for men. And, according to the source survey from the National Center for Women and Information Technology, the majority of these respondents cited “workplace culture” as the primary reason for premature attrition.
My conversations with global CEOs and boards, from Fortune 500 companies to global NGOs, have reinforced the imminent need to address barriers to access and advancement for women in the workplace. Simply ignoring the symptoms results in a continuance of the imbalanced trends--progress will only be realized through concerted action. International Women’s Day presents an opportunity to conceive of innovative solutions, and to think expansively about what organizations, large and small, can do to facilitate and support the career growth trajectory of professional women.
Educational institutions and corporations, alike, have been making moderate strides in this area to create sustainable change. However, recurring organizational episodes and cross-industry crises clearly indicate that there is much more that can, and should, be done. For example, this chronic issue has recently resurfaced in the headlines and generated a viral national discussion--ignited, mostly, by engineer Susan Fowler’s disturbing account of her year-long mistreatment by management at Uber.
To address the need, I recently co-hosted a Women in Technology Leadership Roundtable, in San Francisco, with Columbia Trustee Wanda Holland Greene (who is also the head of the esteemed all-girls Hamlin School). We invited women in leadership positions from companies including Facebook, Google, Tesla, Hewlett Packard, and Bank of America to discuss the issues facing women at different stages of their careers: Where do the pain points in the STEM industries remain, and what can education do to fix them? What educational initiatives are needed to better support women from pre-college through to management? Do they need inspirational leadership, or career models when they first venture into the workforce? Do we need to provide more sponsors as they seek promotions? How do we best equip women to combat the workplace gender gap?
Five themes emerged from the Roundtable:
- Sparking and capturing enthusiasm for success as early as middle and high school;
- Supporting a stage-driven, versus age-driven, career lifecycle;
- Developing sponsorship and mentorship initiatives (and delineating between the two);
- Establishing a clear value for women at the corporate level and creating a culture that opens progressive paths for women in the workplace; and
- Providing greater awareness, flexibility and support during the “sandwich years” (the period when women are often tasked with both childcare and eldercare).
Amy Jackson, SVP Marketing at Bank of America, pushed the need to bring transparency to workplace diversity, and to share the relevant reports and studies publicly. “Put it in print. Companies react to press.”
Mo Fong, Director of Google K-12 Education Outreach, says that companies must “proactively tap women to lead opportunities that are core to the revenue driving functions of the business. This means not only the support functions such as traditional operational roles, but also in business and product development where strategic decisions are being made.” She talks about how companies and educators can work together to address unconscious bias. “We shouldn't lose sight of the long term and continue to invest in K12 education, and in particular, in STEM/CS, where the representation of women continues to be much lower. Only 18% of all Computer Science bachelor's degrees in the US are awarded to women. You can't get to parity if the pipeline isn't there.”
Milo Werner, VP of Hardware Engineering at Off Grid Electric, reflected on her tenure at Tesla, and the need to distinguish between “mentors” and “sponsors.” “While I had mentors encouraging me to believe I could advance, I also needed sponsors who could advocate for me—sponsors to help secure that promotion.”
Diksha Makan, Technology Manager at Iconiq Capital, advocated for strong mentorship programs, and stressed the need for “tools to structure that potential nine-year gap” after having children. She feels that women need encouragement from their peers to avoid feeling they can’t be leaders because they can’t give what they might see is expected. She also discussed the need for a pipeline. “Not only is the pool of talent not there. On top of that, the funnel to leadership narrows. We need to teach women deep competencies, and teach them to pass these competencies forward.”
There is a critical role that educators and academic institutions can, and should, play in addressing these issues--and not just in tech, but across all industries. The aforementioned five themes, as well as other data, are guiding our research, programming, and policy development agenda at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies (SPS).
At SPS, we recently launched the Columbia Girls in STEM Initiative. The focus of this Initiative is to provide underserved middle and high school girls access to STEM, college readiness, and leadership skills. The inaugural year of the program was hosted in three cities in collaboration with corporate host partners including Microsoft, Miami Dolphins (NFL), and Goldman Sachs, along with community partners such as the Boys and Girls Club of America, KIPP Schools, and the Harlem Children’s Zone. Following the success of the first year, the Initiative is expanding to include additional cities, corporate partners, and community liaisons.
While our Columbia Girls in STEM Initiative focuses on pre-college populations, SPS is also launching the Columbia Women in Technology Leadership Initiative to support and advance mid-career professional women. This Initiative will also leverage partnerships to create research and programming that bring greater awareness, solutions, and policy to the specific challenges women face, and simultaneously change workplace culture to better reflect the needs of its talent.
I encourage educators and executives alike to share their experiences. By identifying the most crucial issues and collaborating to enact change, we will build a stronger, more impactful pipeline together.