For
the
first
years
of
my
career,
I
did
not
quite
understand
the
benefits
of
attending
women-only
events.
Surely,
if
74%
of
industry
professionals
are
men,
I
would
prevent
myself
from
accessing
opportunities
if
I
would
only
attend
women-focused
events.
This
reasoning
pushed
me
towards
getting
out
of
my
comfort
zone
and
connecting
with
male
professionals
who
had
built
the
careers
I
was
aspiring
to
have
myself.
As
a
result
of
not
attending
women-focused
events,
of
not
proactively
networking
with
women,
not
even
one
of
my
mentors
identified
as
being
a
woman.
During
some
parts
of
my
career,
I
did
not
even
know
any
women
in
tech
beyond
their
social
media
profiles.
And
this
is
exactly
what
happens
to
so
many
people
in
the
industry.
Many
would
not
be
able
to
state
off
the
top
of
their
heads
the
last
woman
they
had
a
technical
or
work-related
conversation
with.
If
you
are
reading
this
article,
you
identify
as
a
man,
and
you
are
working
in
tech,
just
imagine
for
a
second
what
it
would
be
like
to
work
in
a
team
of
only
women,
all
your
mentors
are
female,
and
every
conversation
is
driven
by
their
experiences,
their
ideals,
their
goals
and
their
lifestyle.
How
would
that
make
you
feel? Probably
very
isolated.
This
is
the
value
of
women-focused
events.
To
connect
with
like-minded
people
whom
most
of
us
usually
don’t
have
a
chance
of
meeting.
Most
of
the
engineering
teams
that
I
worked
with
were
all
men.
Having
a
safe
space
to
connect
with
other
women
can
make
us
feel
seen
and
validated
in
our
experiences.
And
most
of
all,
it
increases
the
likelihood
of
being
considered
for
opportunities.
The
problem
is
that
this
is
like
a
cold
drop
of
water
on
a
hot
summer
day.
It
won’t
do
much
difference,
and
any
difference
that
it
will
make
is
going
to
take
far
longer
without
additional
help.
This
is
why
we
need
men
to
become
the
greatest
advocates
for
women
in
tech.
Advocating
for
women
and
helping
to
bridge
the
gender
gap
in
tech
is
not
something
done
on
the
side,
it
is
not
something
that
can
happen
in
a
day,
a
week,
or
a
year.
Instead,
it
must
become
a
mindset.
Developing
the
right
mindset
for
advocating
for
women
You
can
make
all
the
difference
to
someone
else’s
experience
at
work
and
potentially
their
career
by
adopting
these
few
changes
to
your
day-to-day
interactions.
A
lot
of
the
suggestions
listed
below
might
seem
obvious,
but
without
proactively
thinking
about
them,
asking
yourself
every
day
whether
you
have
done
the
best
you
could
and
holding
yourself
accountable,
they
will
likely
be
forgotten.
-
Create
space
for
women
to
speak
up
We
all
have
different
communication
styles.
On
average,
women
are
more
likely
to
listen
first,
before
they
get
involved
in
the
conversation
or
decide
to
speak
up.
Whether
on
Slack,
Zoom
calls
or
in-person
work
meetings,
pay
attention
to
those
who
are
most
vocal
in
the
room.
In
the
next
conversation,
instead
of
letting
the
same
people
lead
the
topic,
invite
the
women,
or
any
less-vocal
members
of
the
group,
to
share
their
thoughts
first.
You
are
not
putting
them
on
display
but
inviting
them
to
speak
up
and
make
them
feel
seen.
Once
they
have
provided
their
input
to
the
conversation,
it
is
important
to
validate
their
thoughts
and
build
upon
them.
In
case
you
have
a
different
perspective
on
the
ideas
shared,
ask
the
person
to
elaborate
on
what
drove
their
thinking
before
you
share
your
opinion.
It
is
very
important
not
to
make
assumptions
about
the
ways
that
the
other
person
came
to
their
conclusions.
I
have
been
in
the
situation
several
times
where
my
thoughts
were
invalidated
in
some
form.
Throughout
the
conversation,
it
turned
out
that
the
other
people
in
the
room
and
I
were
thinking
similarly,
but
because
of
the
way
I
expressed
my
ideas,
they
concluded
that
our
ideas
differed.
Bring
an
open
mind
and
don’t
perpetuate
this
cycle
I’ve
too
often
experienced.
-
Consider
women
at
every
opportunity
Whenever
you
can
share
an
opportunity
with
someone
else,
consider
the
women
in
your
network
first.
Yes,
this
might
sound
like
I
am
asking
you
to
give
women
preferential
treatment
–
but
hear
me
out:
The
number
of
times
the
opportunity
will
still
go
to
a
man
will
outweigh
women
potentially
being
over-considered.
This
is
an
example
of
how
easily
it
can
happen.
You
are
at
a
company
offsite,
and
a
few
of
you
want
to
go
get
a
drink
after
dinner.
Work
conversations
happen
in
these
informal
situations
and
often
build
employee
relationships
and
ignite
new
projects
or
ideas.
Who
is
in
that
group?
While
this
is
only
one
example,
it
is
most
likely
that
whenever
opportunities
are
discussed
informally,
you
will
be
surrounded
by
like-minded
people.
Thus,
it
really
doesn’t
hurt
to
proactively
consider
women,
or
diverse
peers
in
general,
whenever
there
are
opportunities
to
connect
on
a
more
personal
or
social
level
or
even
during
a
brainstorming
session.
Other
opportunities
include
who
gets
to
give
the
project
presentation,
take
the
lead
in
implementing
a
new
feature,
or
join
a
customer
call.
Given
the
underrepresentation
of
women
in
tech,
it
is
very
unlikely
that
women
can
be
considered
more
often
than
men.
-
Acknowledge
your
own
biases
Nurse,
teacher,
doctor,
mortgage
broker,
lawyer,
scientist,
housekeeper.
For
each
profession
listed
above,
what
person
were
you
picturing?
We
all
grow
up
with
these
stereotypes.
Instead
of
ignoring
them,
it
is
a
lot
more
effective
to
acknowledge
them.
One
of
the
struggles
women
in
tech
face
is
being
the
go-to
person
for
the
glue
work.
Glue
work
is
any
type
of
work
that
needs
to
be
done
around
the
actual
job
to
deliver
a
feature,
finalise
a
project,
or
get
to
the
next
release.
This
work
might
be
talking
to
stakeholders
to
gather
requirements,
updating
the
documentation,
or
extracurricular
tasks.
It
is
usually
the
type
of
work
that
women
are
naturally
better
at,
but
that
does
not
feed
into
consideration
for
promotion.
Here
is
a
great
article
on
glue
work
by
Charity
Majors.
Taking
on
glue
work
takes
time
away
from
your
actual
job,
from
learning
new
skills
and
building
the
career
that
you
want
to
have.
The
next
time
that
your
team
is
dividing
responsibilities,
pay
attention
to
the
glue
work
and
who
is
being
assigned
to
it
or
steps
up
to
take
care
of
it.
You
can
make
a
difference
by
ensuring
the
work
is
rotated
between
team
members.
-
Become
a
mentor
Finally,
if
you
really
want
to
make
a
difference
to
women
working
in
tech,
become
a
mentor.
Obviously,
you
cannot
just
reach
out
to
women
in
the
space
and
ask
them
if
you
can
mentor
them
(that
would
be
perceived
as
creepy!).
However,
there
are
lots
and
lots
of
organisations
that
provide
mentoring
to
women
in
tech.
You
could
reach
out
to:
-
Programming
bootcamps -
Mentoring
organisations
–
just
Google
“women
tech
mentoring
<your
country
or
city>”,
and
you
will
find
a
variety
of
organisations -
Women
in
your
organisation
and
ask
them
whether
you
can
help
them
with
anything
related
to
their
work,
from
there,
you
can
establish
a
mentor-mentee
relationship -
Your
organisation’s
HR
team
to
encourage
or
drive
internal
mentorship
programs -
Mentoring
can
take
only
an
hour
a
week,
a
small
commitment
that
can
make
a
huge
impact
on
someone’s
future.
Final
thoughts
Whether
you
agree
with
the
information
shared
in
this
post
or
not,
thank
you
for
reading
this
far.
There
is
a
lot
of
inspirational
work
done
by
amazing
organisations
to
help
bring
more
diversity
into
tech.
I
highly
encourage
you
to
get
involved
–
especially
if
you
identify
as
a
man.
The
more
people
who
help
do
the
good
work,
the
faster
we
can
increase
diversity
across
the
board.
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