MOZILLA’S chief marketing officer (CMO) Lindsey Shepard thinks there are two main pieces of advice every woman in tech should bear in mind.
Don’t be afraid to talk about money and it is not one’s job to be liked once in a leadership role.
For those unfamiliar with Mozilla, the US tech organisation is known for its products such as Firefox web browser.
She made the statement during Collision’s Women in Tech X virtual one-day event on June 2. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) was the event’s lead sponsor.
Shepard spoke in one of the event’s breakout sessions called How women will lead a Post-pandemic World. Technology website, VentureBeat reporter Manasa Goginei hosted the event.
Shepard said women in tech, and in general, should stop being afraid to talk about money and being afraid to say what they needed.
“And to recognise and demand that other people recognise your worth.
“Talk about money, it’s okay. They call it work for a reason. We’re here to get paid,” she said.
“We’re worth as much.”
She added that as women thought about leadership and got more serious in their careers, it was not their job to make people like them.
“I think women, in general, we are taught, from a very early age, that likeability is a critical path to success and that is something men aren’t taught.”
She said once a woman has the responsibility of leading a team, her job is to ensure that team’s success not to ensure that they like you.
The issue of women and girls in tech is a growing one given the covid19 pandemic and the rapid rise of digital technologies.
In commemoration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11, President Paula-Mae Weekes then encouraged girls and women to pursue studies in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). A February 11 Newsday article quoted Weekes as saying, “because the nation, and the world, can only benefit from the addition of the female perspective.”
A March 3 Forbes article said a recent study concluded that the gender gap for women in technology as a whole is actually worse today than it was in 1984.
[caption id="attachment_895257" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Mozilla's CMO Lindsey Shepard led a breakout session at Collision's Women in Tech X. The event was held virtually on June 2. RBC was the event's lead sponsor. -[/caption]
“The study, led by Accenture and Girls who Code, showed that 50 per cent of women abandon technology careers by the age of 35 and that women are leaving tech roles at a 45 per cent higher rate than men.
“Only 21 per cent of women in the study said they believed the technology industry was a place they could thrive; sadly, that number falls precipitously to eight per cent for women of colour.”
Accenture is a multinational consulting and processing company and Girls Who Code is a nonprofit organisation which aims to support and increase the number of women in computer science.
The pand
