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| via Pixabay.com |
Recently, I read an interesting article from
The New York Times that talked about the growing male backlash that has emerged as more women enter the tech industry.
How interesting, I thought,
when there’s been far more
published about the lack of women in the industry. Having just left a field that is primarily filled with women, I have a few thoughts about gender diversity and what it means in the interactive media industry.
When there are few women in the workplace…
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| via Pixabay.com |
It reinforces the
stereotype that females can’t cut it. The infamous
Google memo from earlier this year could've been written decades ago because it reiterates the old belief that females are biologically less capable at science and math. This idea discounts the historical
bias that females have had to overcome in order to succeed in these fields.
Misconceptions are hard to dispel as studies have shown, and this stereotype in particular (that females are not as good as males at the hard sciences) is extremely persistent. We need to acknowledge this bias by allowing girls to explore the world on their own terms, rather than teaching them what is acceptable behaviour for girls.
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It results in a lack of role
models for other females. It's a vicious cycle. One of the ways to encourage more
females to enter the interactive media industry is by having more female role models for them to
follow. It allows them to see that they, too, can one day have a similar career. And
for many women, being able to see other females working in their chosen field enables them to feel confident about the work environment that they will enter, knowing that the industry will support them in their career.
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The talent pool for leadership becomes poorer. In 2016,
an international study concluded
that a corporation is more likely to be profitable when there are more women in
leadership positions. The results weren't meant to indicate that a woman as a CEO would mean success. Rather, it represented the fact that an organization with women in various leadership roles led to more diverse thinking which benefited the company as a whole. What the study didn’t mention were the
particular characteristics that women often bring to the workplace. For
example,
a Forbes article pointed out that women are “more effective at
engaging and developing people” and are able to take a broader approach to problem solving which resulted in more efficient decision-making. These are valuable skills in helping a company achieve success.
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It fails to combat
the idea that gender equality is a zero-sum game. As I mentioned earlier, there is a fear that as more women enter the tech field, men are losing out. But if we look at other industries where women dominate, it doesn’t necessarily mean that men who work in these fields are worse off. For example, I came from book publishing where
a recent study found that in the United States, 78% of the workers were female (which means the percentage in Canada is probably similar). Despite the disproportion,
another US study, published in 2015, noted that 40% of the executives in publishing were male which indicates
that while there are many women in publishing, fewer are being promoted to
leadership roles. This statistic is unfortunate, but it reflects the fact that it doesn't matter if more women are in a field, the inequality still exists.
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Encouraging more women to enter the interactive media space is not only a step in the right direction to address diversity issues, many studies have shown that inclusion has wide-ranging benefits. Not only do companies fare better financially, but workplace culture also benefits from including people who represent their community. If the interactive media industry wants to continue growing (and what industry doesn't?), their best bet is to embrace gender diversity and push for more inclusion at all levels of management.
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