How men can support women in tech

A few weeks ago I was having dinner with a close friend. She shared with me the following story. 

“I was interviewing for a role at a tech company in Bogota. At the end of the interview the guy who would be my boss said, I need you to commit to not getting pregnant in the next two years. I am serious. The last time I hired a woman for a strategic role she became pregnant, ended up slacking off and cost me a lot of money. I will never make that mistake again.” 

I was furious. My friend is brilliant and extremely hardworking (if anything she is a bit of a workaholic). By the time she told me the story she was ok but the “interview” left her angry, frustrated, and doubting her self worth for several days. 

I love my country and my region but we live in a misogynist society. In this article I will share a few ways that we (men) can support Latinas in tech and build an equitable society we can be proud of.

Why you should care

Diversity and inclusion impact your bottom line. Companies and investors with diverse teams consistently outperform companies and investors that have homogeneous teams. According to McKinsey, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 25% more likely to have above average profitability than companies in the bottom quartile. The impact of diversity in Venture Capital, companies and GDP is also documented by Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and several other organizations. I assume you are a decent human being who genuinely wants women to have successful careers. Even if you are not, you should care about diversity because not doing so is financially irresponsible (and frankly, stupid). 

Let’s assume you believe diversity is important (and not something you “have to do to appease millennials”). How do you go about supporting women in tech?

Talent

Your first step is hiring, developing, and promoting female talent within your organization.

1. Finding talent -  Women are underrepresented in many fields including software development. They also tend to be less aggressive than men when it comes to pursuing job opportunities and taking risks (I invite you to post a job on LinkedIn in Colombia and see how many men send you messages with their resumes). You will need to put in extra effort to find female candidates. You may have to reach out to them directly, you may need to go through your network of impressive female leaders, and you will need to get comfortable with the fact your hiring process might take a bit longer. This does not mean you will “lower the bar” for women. This does mean that even if you have a few impressive male candidates in the pipeline, you should try and find a few female ones and interview them before making your decision.
2. Hiring talent - To the point above, you are not lowering the bar. You should never hire a woman or minority for a job they are not qualified for. That being said, you need to be cognizant of the differences in communication style between men and women. When men are direct they are considered “assertive”. When women are direct they are considered “bitchy”. Be mindful of your own biases when you are interviewing female candidates and make sure you are not disqualifying them due to your unconscious biases. Below are a 3 great ways to make sure you hire the best talent regardless of gender or ethnicity (this article provides more examples):
3. Work samples - Give all your candidates an assignment and see how they perform relative to one another. This is the fastest way to get objective data.
4. Standardize interviews - This sounds boring, hard, and counterintuitive. Nonetheless, by asking the same questions (or very similar) to all candidates, you intentionally prevent yourself from lowering the bar by asking easier questions to some candidates.
5. Reword job descriptions - Words like “competitive” and “rock star” tend to draw men. Words like “collaborative” tend to draw women. Don’t say a job is collaborative if it is not. At the same time, make sure your job description does not sound like an invitation to join The Wolf of Wall Street.
6. Developing talent - Take the time to get to know your employees. Their strengths, their weaknesses, the things they care about, and the things they dread. Regardless of their gender, each person will have their own leadership style. Don’t assume that what worked for you and Juan will work for Maria and Daniela. Create career development plans that cater to your key employee’s strengths. If you are at a hyper growth startup and do not have time for complex career development plans, ask people what challenges they would get excited about, why, and see if you can throw a few of them their way ;)
7. Promoting talent - People hate asking for promotions or salary raises. Men tend to be more comfortable with these conversations though. Be proactive about identifying and promoting brilliant women in your organization. If Juan and Carolina are performing the same role but Juan told you he had a competing offer, do not raise his salary unless you are prepared to do the same with Carolina. If you give Juan a raise, you are sending a clear message that you value people who shop around for competing offers and use them to negotiate with you. That is the fastest way to demoralize loyal employees who are focusing on adding value to the company (as opposed to negotiating salaries).
8. Mentoring and champions - Be proactive about assigning mentors and champions to your female employees. The men in your company might be able to (and enjoy) going to all your late night happy hours where they can build relationships with the leaders at your company. Some of your female leaders might not (especially if after a few drinks your team starts telling sexist jokes or bragging about how many women they have had sex with). Make sure you are deliberate about giving your female leaders the support they need to be successful.
9. Minding your own business - Stop worrying about whether or not women are married, seeing somebody, pregnant or planning to have kids. If you are afraid a key member in your company is going to leave once they have kids have a conversation with them. Nonetheless, you should make the conversation about their ability to meet their goals and manage life changes. Not about their life choices. I know women with 4 kids who outperform most men. I also know single men with no kids who would blow off a deadline to meet their buddies for beer. 

Be a champion, not a jerk

What you do defines you as a leader. You want to be a champion for women. The reason why the smartest people in the industry want to work with you. Not the jerk they need to put up with in order to get a job. Below are a few tips. 

1. Don’t be a misogynist jerk - This one should be simple. Don’t make sexist jokes, don’t objectify women (specially your co-workers), don't humiliate women, and don’t use your position of power to coerce women into having sex with you.
2. Don’t tolerate misogynist jerks - Call people out when you see them denigrating women. If you do not feel comfortable doing so in public, do so in private. If speaking with the person will put your job in jeopardy see if HR or somebody else within the organization can give you guidance on how to manage the situation. In 2017 I had the pleasure of advising a leading startup in Colombia. Part of the company’s employee onboarding, involves a founder taking new hires out to lunch. At some point during the lunch the founder will tell new hires that they do not tolerate sexist language or behavior that denigrates women or minorities. They are explicit on what the consequences are (pretty severe) and that having a respectful work environment is critical to them. Setting expectations from the outset will help create an inclusive culture.
3. Don’t cross the line - When you are interviewing somebody or you are speaking with a prospective vendor you will be in a position of power. Avoid crossing the line. Even if your intentions are good, you will put the other person in an uncomfortable situation.
4. Don’t overdo it - Whereas you do want to be supportive to women, you do not want to be overdo it. Your employees need to face challenges on their own so they can grow. Make sure you are not implementing a double standard as doing so will create a narrative that “women have an easier time than men” which will create a toxic culture.
5. Watch your language - Unless you plan on calling Juan and Pedro “mi rey” and “mi vida”, don’t call Maria and Daniela “mi reina” and “mi vida”. The women who work with you are your co-workers, not your girlfriend or your daughter.
6. Don’t be a wimp - Doing this will be hard. People will make fun of you. You will get pushback and if we are effective in building a more inclusive ecosystem, you will feel like women will be given priority over you every now and then. Resist your impulse to complain about it or back down. Leadership is hard. That is why it is so rewarding.

The startup ecosystem in Latin America is evolving to become more supportive to women. Male leaders such as Daniel Bilbao, Nathan Lustig, Andres Gutierrez, and many others are taking a stand to support women. We also have female leaders such as Christine Kenna, Antonia Rojas, Susana Garcia Robles, Lara Leman, Marta Forero, and many others who are having a massive impact in the ecosystem. I have no doubt we will build a truly inclusive tech ecosystem in Latin America and hope you join us in this effort.