What We Learned at the Womentech 2022 Global Conference
The Womentech Network is a global community of over 100,000 women, minorities, and allies across 181 countries whose mission is to “make a difference in the world by enabling women’s empowerment in tech through leadership development, professional growth, mentorship, and networking events for professionals”. One of the network’s landmark events is The Global Conference, which took place in June of 2022. Insider sponsored the event.
The Global Conference was a great way to support women in tech, by providing networking opportunities for women and raising awareness around issues that contribute to gender underrepresentation in the technology industry.
Of the many presentations throughout the event, a common theme was that women continue to be underrepresented in the tech sector. Although this trend has improved in recent years, much remains to be done to achieve true equality and diversity in the workplace.
Several Insider employees attended the event. They were in awe at the caliber of women who presented on a variety of technical and non-technical topics. It was eye-opening to learn that in spite of their seniority and technical expertise, many women still faced shortcomings in terms of pay disparity and opportunities for promotion. Many talks resonated with our attendees and offered great tips for women entering the industry, including how to combat the challenges they would inevitably face.
One session, “Girl, Get Promoted”, by Jenny Zhao, struck a particular chord with us. In her presentation, Zhao explained that women are 14% less likely to be promoted than men in similar positions. Reflecting on why a less experienced male colleague of hers had been promoted and she had not, Zhao determined that there are four things a woman can do to help her get promoted.
The first is to build credibility. This means doing good work, achieving goals, and being a resource for others. These are the achievements that a person can use as the basis to prove they can handle the work required at the next level they are trying to reach in their career.
To help workers be recognized for their work, Insider has made efforts towards building transparency in this area through the collaborative creation of a Roles & Responsibilities Matrix. This tool is accessible to everyone in the organization and outlines the expectations of every person within the tech department at Insider. It helps managers and employees achieve greater clarity on job expectations and the path towards promotion.
Zhao’s next piece of advice is to “serve yourself on a silver platter”. Zhao advises people to communicate their goals to their managers and coworkers and to share their own achievements. Doing so makes it easier for the people who evaluate their performance and potential for promotion. Insider encourages every employee to be, in a sense, the CEO of their own career. Insider recognizes contributions with a monthly kudo board, in which team members can publicly commend teammates’ work, and through sprint reviews and demos, during which people share their achievements.
Zhao’s third piece of advice is to build relationships with people who can help you grow. This includes actively seeking mentors, finding a cohort of like-minded colleagues with whom to grow together, and regularly communicating with leadership. Insider supports relationship building through a number of initiatives, including Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), a mentorship program, Lean Coffee, team office hours, and interest groups, such as a book club.
Zhao also advises people to “lean into your superpowers”. This means identifying your specific strengths and what makes you stand out. At Insider, Michelle Martinez Lee, a member of Insider’s Women in Tech (WiT) ERG has been helping women find their strengths and what they stand out for in a series called My Brand Initiative. The series guides WiT members in how to build their brand in a way that advances their personal and professional goals.
Lastly, Zhao advises people to help guide each other through the promotion process. For instance, allies can help each other to communicate their goals and achievements and find opportunities that can help them shine. This idea is a driver of the mentorship program at Insider, designed to help mentors steer their colleagues in the best ways possible to promote their career growth.
We also attended Jenn Donahue’s session, “Do you know what it takes to be a great leader”, in which she advocated for women in tech to find a leadership style that fits them and their teams. She encouraged the audience to look beyond common leadership qualities like being bold, fearless, powerful, and self-motivated that have been popular for many years. Donahue instead cited qualities such as empathetic, inspiring, and having integrity as the top attributes needed to successfully lead teams today. Personality tests are a great way to understand more about yourself and how to evolve into an impactful leader.
Diversity will always strengthen a team and gender diversity in particular is important to allow a team to benefit from a wide range of skill sets, abilities, experiences, and points of view. Insider advocates for raising profiles for women in STEM careers by investing in Learning & Development and supporting the development of Insider’s Women in Tech ERG. Learning and Development investments include hiring a Director of Learning & Development and creating a new framework for outlining learning goals and development plans, called InsiderU. These initiatives are essential to Insider’s commitment to support women in the workplace.
Insider’s Women in Tech ERG has a shared mission to empower all women and like-minded individuals in Technology fields. WiT is a supportive community and a safe space for all, where the group aims to provide leadership experiences, mentorship opportunities, and professional development, ultimately helping lead to systemic change at Insider as it relates to gender equality and representation. This involves sponsoring events, such as knowledge shares, that empower women and allow them to network and develop skills such as those promoted so powerfully at the Global Tech Conference.
This blog post was co-authored by Ariel Jakubowski, Tracey Robinson, Thea Charles, Svetlana Leonova, and Trish Holland.
