SEXISM IN BUSINESS
?????♀?As a female founder, at the beginning of my career, I encountered a lot of sexism. IT industry is predominantly populated with men mostly. Special attention should be paid to the fact that in countries where religion (Islam and Orthodoxy) plays an important role and influences the established patriarchal structure, there are much more such cases than in others. Also, in some cities, it is more popular to build a career -so the level of market development has also very strong influence.
??I will tell you a few situations that happened to me and the conclusions that I made.
?????♀?In my career, there were situations when I came to a meeting with a client and realized that the client was not interested in buying my company's service from me, he just wanted to drink coffee with me.
??For some time after starting my business, I was looking for options for how I need to look so as not to distract the attention of clients and employees from work - I only wore trousers without makeup. And I realized that this is not what I want. I don't want to look worse on purpose. There were situations when I wanted to put on a beautiful dress for work, but I realized that today there will be a meeting with a client who will be distracted, and I need a solution from him. Therefore, I deliberately looked much more modest.
??There were situations when I hired a person because it seemed to me that we understood each other so well, we speak the same language, and then it turned out that I trusted the first impression, and the guy were just trying to charm me with his charisma, not with his skills.
The tool was necessary to drive the candidate through the standard hiring processes and compare him with relevant candidates.
Conclusion:
1. If I am a woman, I can be beautiful and I can emphasize my beauty because it makes me me. When I went to the office, every day in the morning a stylist came to me and did my styling and makeup. And I chose my bow of the day. But I believe that this should not embarrass the people around me and influence the attitude towards my professional qualities. I stopped associating my clothes and makeup with people's reactions in general: the way people react is just a manifestation of their upbringing and the ability to be aware of their emotions. This is not my responsibility.
2. My desire to work with the company and the company's desire to work with me should not be based on how pleasant I am or how pleasant the client is as a person - we should think of our businesses to bring value and mutually enrich each other. No chemistry, sympathy, etc. should influence the decision. But we are all people and we must understand that if during the transaction people do not understand each other and do not share each other's values, no work will be a joy, even if the contract is very promising.
3. The same goes for employees. Gender and physical appearance should not influence any owner opinion when making a hiring decision. In my case both to my company and to my client's company, where I hire a developer. The person should look neat and be professional, matching the list of hard skills and soft skills.
Do you guys have something to add in my list?