Why I'm fighting for gender equality
Here is a podcast I was on recently If you’re open to some different perspectives on the reason to support initiatives to improve the participation rates of women in tech.
It includes a leader in this area, Reshma Saujani from Girls Who Code who has done amazing work with her team.
I want to put my full voice of support for more diversity in all its forms and especially gender equality.
Why?
Because I’m a white, straight, old (ish), relatively wealthy (mick not mike) from Australia. I know I had lots of advantages growing up. Yes, I worked hard but I also had a head start. I never saw it. I never asked for it. It just happened but it was real and meaningful. I won the privilege lottery and my ‘merit’ is massively influenced by it. How can it not be?
I’ve had dozens of conversations with women I’ve worked with and what I thought was bad and assumed as tough for them was only the tip of the iceberg. Men commenting on fairness and merit lacks actual merit. I encourage you to go talk to 20 different women and then have a think about it.
Do I like quotas? No. But I think we need them. And another 100 initiatives. When things go past balanced and swing over for a few years we can take our foot off the accelerator but we are a long way off.
The habits that lead to this imbalance is thousands of years old. It won’t be easy to break them but it’s worth doing it.
Why do I care so much as a privileged man?
Because my grandmothers lived with massively different opportunities.
My mum had it a bit better but still way, way off close to fair.
My wife and 20+ women I’ve worked with closely have had improvements but still big issues and sometimes worse.
And I have two daughters. I’d love them to grow up in a world much closer to being fair. I’m hopeful but not confident. We’re fighting against a lot of ingrained behaviours. It will take a generation.
I’ve also got a son and do I think my support for women makes his life tougher? Maybe slightly. Maybe he’ll have to work just as hard as his sisters. But it will be a better world he lives in and that is worth it.
I’ll finish by admitting again that I’m a male and have no real idea of what life is like for women or minorities. I also know that because of this, I’m going to get a lot of things wrong. I do want to keep trying, to help and I do want to listen. Please reach out.
Thanks again to the Reshma and the Girls Who Code team for helping set up the podcast.
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