Today, we celebrate International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to honoring women’s achievements globally, a day for women from all different backgrounds and cultures to band together to fight for gender parity and women’s rights.
As I put pen to paper, I cannot help but reflect on a poignant, transformative experience almost 30 years ago.
Circa 1993.
As a young, rookie engineer, barely a year into my first job at AT&T Bell Labs, I decided to submit my research paper for presentation at a national conference. Even before I was aware of “imposter syndrome,” I felt it in every bone. I mustered up the courage and got ready for a “practice pitch” required of everyone in the Labs that intended to submit a paper. Packed in the auditorium were several who’s who from the Labs – many distinguished technical leaders, other revered “rockstar inventors” and a few fellow rookie engineers from my cohort.
I felt my stomach knotting up and – I wanted to run away as fast as possible. But I was not willing to miss this opportunity to vie for a spot on the team that got shortlisted to present at the conference. As I looked around, I realized I was the only woman in the room.
Was I surprised? Not really. This was all too familiar. In most of my graduate school classes, I had often worked alone as my male classmates met in groups to tackle problem sets and projects together. While I wasn’t surprised by the lack of diversity in representation, I definitely did not expect the reaction from my male colleagues that I was about to witness. More on this later.
Fast Forward to 2021 … Still an uphill climb
For women in tech, gender imbalance is a stark reality. Whether in engineering, entertainment, or venture capital, gender issues continue to dominate a woman’s professional identity.
When International Women’s Day was launched back in 1911, over a million women (and some men) marched in IWD rallies everywhere to stand up for women’s rights. Today, we have female astronauts, CEOs, heads of state, and sports heroes. Girls are not just getting an education – women are in places of power as heads of academic institutions. Undoubtedly, women today can have real choices.
At the same time, the struggles are real.
According to the World Economic Forum’s sobering Global Gender Gap Report 2020, the gender gap will not close until at least 2121 – another 100 years! The report grimly states that economic participation and opportunity have in fact regressed severely with the Covid-19 pandemic.
A September 2020 HBR case study indicates that women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to this crisis than men’s jobs: Women make up 39% of global employment but account for 54% of overall job losses as of May 2020. At the same time, the burden of unpaid care, which has risen in the pandemic, falls disproportionately on women.
Catalyst Research’s March 2021 report reveals that women hold just 6% of CEO positions in the S&P 500.
The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December alone. All of them were held by women.
Fortune 500 company directorships have long been highly homogeneous. However, thanks to the efforts of several national and state level initiatives to increase female representation on public company boards, we are making modest progress on this front. Heidrick & Struggles’ 2020 U.S. Board Monitor reports that almost 44% of non-executive director appointments in the U.S. last year were women, the highest proportion in the 11 years since it first began tracking board appointments.
What can you do?
The corporate society is still largely patriarchal and negatively affects the way it holds women back. Unequal representation in the workforce makes it difficult for women to ensure their ideas are being heard and respected. Deep awareness building alongside actionable steps need to be taken by companies to counter these regressive effects to advance gender equality. And as women leaders we each have a responsibility as well – we need to commit to act with intention every day to fight the gender gap. We need to commit to everyday, small actions in the workplace and at home, to rewire ourselves and help move the needle.
Here are a few suggestions to start with (based on my own mantra):
Commit to going out of your way to helping other women succeed.
Be willing to share fears, struggles and experiences so other women can learn from your mistakes and adapt.
Make yourself available to guide promotion and salary negotiations or connect to others in your network as appropriate.
Don’t hesitate to recommend and endorse accomplished/talented women you know for professional opportunities.
Encourage women to apply for opportunities they may not have self-identified as perfect.
Invest time in mentoring other women, especially those starting out.
Make effort with consistent intentionality.
Lead by example –– be available, transparent, reasonable, and empathetic.
Yes we can! And mentors matter
As for my rookie engineer story – I was heckled and intimidated throughout my practice pitch by the disproportionately large group of men in the room, and I almost gave up till my boss and mentor, an older, 6’4" Australian man, a legendary leader in the company stood next to me and told the audience off, firmly endorsing that my presentation was more articulate and substantive than anyone else and that he was underwriting my sponsorship to the conference! His magnanimity and enthusiastic support that day supercharged my self-belief and catapulted my leadership trajectory in the company. I also ended up bagging the “best paper” award at the conference 🙂
Neythri’s 1st year journey
Neythri was founded exactly one year ago on March 8, 2020, with a vision of catalyzing change as we see how important it is to have more women in the workforce as leaders, founders, investors and contributors across all levels. We are committed to our mission to advance professional South Asian women of all backgrounds and experience. In a time when many of us feel disempowered, given the personal and global issues around us, being part of a community of like-minded women gives us both depth and breadth to move forward. We are committed to creating a safe place for each of us to grow, foster connections, give back, have an impact, support each other, and drive change in the halls of power.
We are grateful to the 1500+ members that have joined this community and are committed to redefining female leadership and making our workplaces equitable. We hope that you will all extend the cascade outward to many other women in your networks and invite them to join this community and participate in the many wonderful programs and forums we present.
Over the last twelve months, we have not only persevered but innovated and gained momentum. We have quickly grown to a vibrant, global community of 1,500+ amazing South Asian professional women of diverse backgrounds, coming together to forge connections, share, support, and learn from each other. We saw over 2,500 registrations across our 60+ high-caliber events. We pride ourselves on our cross-generational, cross-industry emphasis, which brings the richness of a broad diversity of perspectives to our members. We continue to curate a rich, diverse roster of programs for professional development, mentorship & connection, social impact & community leadership, and founders & funders. Together, by accelerating and advancing our programs and community, through learning and cultivating a practice of advocacy and allyship within ourselves, we strive to create a ripple effect that benefits everyone. Let us come together to fling doors wide open and create a better world not just for ourselves but for the generations after us.
This International Women’s Day, I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support and every day sponsorship I see practiced around me by the Neythri team of 100+ remarkable women whose thoughtful actions and gestures move the organization’s collective impact. Their solidarity and commitment to “showing up” serves as an incredible source of strength and motivation for me and my co-founders, Chitra Nayak and Sruthi Ramaswami.
In closing I recall this quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
We look forward to counting on you to help to fuel our growth in 2021 and beyond! We still have a long way to go until 2121, so let’s get to work!
Author Bio Mythili’s 25+ years of experience spans R&D, product management and general management in tech companies as well as nonprofit organizations. Previously, Mythili has served as CEO for startups in technology & event management, and has also led regional operations for the U.S. India Business Council and the American India Foundation. Earlier in her career, Mythili spent several years in research and product management at IBM Research Labs, AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent, eVoice and Palmsource. She is an active angel investor and primarily invests in women entrepreneurs and is an independent board advisor to early stage startups. Mythili serves on the Regional Board of Room to Read, is a mentor for the Duke Technology Scholars program, and a Global Advisor for How Women Lead. She has a MS degree in Physics from Texas Tech University and an Executive MBA jointly offered through the AT&T School of Business & The Wharton School.
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