WOMEN AND THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE GLASS CEILING
The glass ceiling, the broken rung, or whatever name you give it, gender inequality at the workplace continues to be a severe issue. The tech industry has a long way to go towards achieving equality in the workplace.
Due to gender disparity, men continue to substantially dominate women in terms of employment in the tech industry. This is primarily because lesser women are known to take up education in STEM. Experts also claim that cultural expectations influence the gender divide causing women to feel pressured to pursue careers in the tech world.
Gender discrimination is unethical; however, it is still heard of abundantly. Women are often asked about their marital and parental status, which frequently leads them to a disadvantage. Several women, therefore, have to resort to intentionally guarding their personal details.
Women in male-dominated fields such as computer technology often lack self-confidence and suffer from an inferiority complex. Their imposter syndrome leads them to believe that it is not actually their job. While issues pertaining to sexual harassment are reported across fields, the situation is, unfortunately, worse for women working in tech. The fact that women tech workers feel unsafe at work illustrates the severity of the problem.
Even when there is enough female majority in the tech sector, the women comprehended show hesitancy to speak out as they think they don’t have the full assistance and support of the staff. The working women, too, come from a family where there is a lot of chaos at times. Both the work pressure and family push them into a bottomless pit from where they’ve been trying to escape for a long time.
Although, women try to keep a balance between work and home. Career breaks are unfortunately still very often an unsaid mandate for several women in almost all sectors, whether it is tech or not. When it comes to fields like technology, women on career breaks could lose touch with the industry trends and lose the required skills to make a successful return to work. Women are tormented to explain the reason for the career break when they plan to make a comeback.
Handling inequality and discrimination in the workplace is hard on its own. But handling it without any support for the chosen career makes things even harder. Improving the quality of family communication can go a long way in ensuring that every female tech employee’s family member understands that their job in the tech industry is vital to them.
Women can overcome gender-based challenges in tech right now by focusing on their skills and staying current with industry trends. They should be confident and brave enough that no one can suppress them. Still, cultural norms need to change in employment, family and educational settings to permanently eliminate the problem of gender discrimination, so every woman can feel confident, supported and safe as they pursue their dreams. As an atmosphere of equality permeates the workplace culture, women will feel satisfied because they know their skills and performance determines their success rather than their gender and college degree. Segregation and imbalance in work towards women should be reported to the higher-ups immediately. The organization should take the issue seriously and try to solve it by sensitizing sexual orientations at the workplace. Social standards should be nullified in business and family to aid the women and support them by wiping out societal norms pushed on them.
Penned by : Ayushee Agarwal
