Guys, This Is What You Can Do To See More Women Leaders in Your IT Community
Tech Talk | by Dinuka Jayaweera
Working in the IT industry in Sri Lanka, I’ve rarely seen women in leadership positions. Besides being the minority in IT companies, women seem less engaged in decision-making and even social activities that form part of office life.
Perhaps being the minority IS a major factor. After all, most of these women were fantastic students and are currently superb engineers, so surely they are capable of handling challenge and taking responsibility. But what about taking charge?
It is difficult to master strength to march in front of a pack when you feel like an outsider. That is why men in the IT industry can play an important role in changing the behavior of their female colleagues.
Here I am going to point out four actions that you can take to increase women’s engagement in the tech community by making them feel less like an outsider and more like a valued member of your community.
Include them in your activities. Be persistent about it.
Are girls quiet during your brainstorming sessions? Ask for their opinion. Listen. Acknowledge.
Are they coming to events you participate in? How many women have you seen at your last tech meetup for example? Very few or likely ZERO. Girls don’t feel comfortable going to male dominated environments alone, so invite them to join you and your team. They will feel safe and accepted.
And keep in mind: initially girls may shyly reject your invitations. It’s understandable; stepping outside the comfort zone is difficult. The key is persistence. Invite them to join your activities and contribute during meetings regularly and eventually they will break out of their shell.
Give recognition. Be vocal about it.
Most Sri Lankan women are not confident to code in front of others even if they are great at coding. They are not confident to share their insights in a technical discussion even if they are expert on the topic.
Can you guess why?
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Originally published on www.CreativeSoftware.com/Blog
