Parliament 51 — Narrowing the Gender Gap in High Tech
The first step in changing your company’s mindset
Gender inequality is a hot topic these days. More and more women are openly talking about direct and indirect discrimination they experience in various situations and simultaneously more and more women are studying and entering the high-tech industry. This positive trend is a result of openness and progress of the recent years, but also a new understanding of women that they deserve more, and that their abilities are no less than those of men. Nevertheless, there are still certain gaps between women and men — such as hiring percentage, wages, types of positions, opportunities for promotion and more.
In this short post I don’t want to talk about numbers and statistics and I don’t want to talk about the reasons that gave rise to the phenomenon, and I will not even make generalizations about the unique abilities of women — I will just talk about what we as influential organizations in the industry can do to narrow the gap.
The inspiration to write this post was my encounter with Parliament 51 (or simply p51) — a social organization founded by entrepreneurs Daniel Ofek and Liri Halperin. Their mission is to create an equal and safe working environment, as well as a favorable workplace for women. In addition to its extensive and varied activities, the organization has written a declaration that will serve the high-tech sector. This statement guides organizations to support principals such as:
- Creating equal opportunities for employment
- Creating equal opportunities for promoting women to management positions
- Equal pay
This statement was extra relevant to me as a woman working at Axonius, a company that has promoted a very similar agenda since day one. Our organizational culture treats all employees as equals and creates a work environment for them that provides the same possibilities for career development and growth regardless of gender. That is why Axonius, in addition to other large and wonderful companies, has proudly signed P51’s Declaration of Intent.
It is true that this is only a declaration of intent, but sometimes the mere fact of raising awareness of a topic already makes a difference and will itself pave the way for a change in perception.
I will conclude by saying that as women in the high-tech industry, we need to see ourselves as leaders and initiators of change. The fact that each of us is here in this industry guides the way for other women to join technology companies, and we will continue to inspire others until equality is reached. This change will not be easy, but it is essential.
I believe that every organization should open its doors, giving men and women the same options so they can move forward side by side. Without open doors, we lose valuable contributions of innovation, creativity, and diversity of opinions from talented women.
Join us and make a difference!
