“Inclusivity and gender neutrality in the tech job market”
A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Why Women in Tech Might Consider Just Using Their Initials Online,” by John Greathouse. The article was an opinions piece about how women in the technology field can combat unconscious bias based on one’s sex from potential employers and investors. As my loyal readers (Hi, Mom and Dad!) know, that’s kind of my thing. Imagine my dismay, when I found that the advice from author John Greathouse, an alleged leadership expert, and incidentally a middle-aged white man, was that women seeking success in the technology sector should consider using their initials to mask their gender when cultivating an online presence.
Wait…What?
Greathouse cites the example of blind orchestra auditions to support his reasoning. Before such auditions were blind, 95 percent of orchestra musicians were male. The introduction of a blind audition radically changed the gender and racial composition of orchestras by eliminating bias. He notes that gender parity in professional orchestras has been greatly improved, if not reached, since they made the move to blind auditions.
He goes on to say, “As a reader, I appreciate a book when I don’t know the author’s gender and haven’t formed a concrete image of him or her. If I enjoy a particular work, I then research the writer to better understand how their background and motivations shaped their fiction. It’s a shame that tech investors and hiring managers can’t approach the work-product of women in a similar, nonjudgmental fashion.”
I would hope it goes without saying that this reasoning is absolutely ridiculous, but in case it doesn’t, I’ll say so: It’s absolutely ridiculous. What’s really a shame is not that women aren’t providing hiring managers and tech investors a blind view of their skills; the shame is that there are unconscious biases that make this an even remotely valid suggestion.
Greathouse concludes his article by stating, “Much like a book, people cannot avoid judging their fellow humans by their ‘cover.’ As such, women in tech should consider what they can do to broaden the audience willing to engage with them while mitigating potentially negative misconceptions. A neutral online persona will encourage more people to evaluate your work products and experiences based on their inherent qualities, unclouded by preconceptions.”
I simply cannot see how women in tech should be responsible for “broaden[ing] the audience willing to engage with them while mitigating potentially negative misconceptions,” by hiding their gender through use of their initials. In fact, if we as women simply cultivate online presences marked by our initials and devoid of photos and other potential clues to our gender, we are only being complicit in our own marginalization. Masking the issue is not the answer.
The real solution is to actively challenge the biases that deny women jobs for which they are qualified or the biases that cause investors to put less faith into startups by women. I don’t claim that this transition will be easy, and I’m certainly not blaming men. In fact, studies have shown that both female and male professors will choose the resume for a lab assistant marked with a male name over that marked with a female name even when the resumes are identical.
I challenge every person, regardless of gender, to work on recognizing their own internal biases. Speaking from experience, it’s exhausting and often disheartening when you start to recognize all of the ways you are unconsciously participating in sexist, racist, or intolerant behavior. Changing these behaviors can be even more daunting, but don’t you think it’s worth it? I know I do.
Despite the challenges ahead of me, I am determined to proudly enter the STEM sector as a woman. If we, as women, refuse to mask our identities and instead commit to ending our own internal biases, and if men commit to working to end sexist biases both internal and external, then real change can be enacted.
