Why the Gender Gap is more about Equal Recognition

I had been thinking and ruminating on the words “gender pay gap” and I noticed a glaringly obvious omission: are women/minorities being under-promoted?

Think about it. It looks good to say to yourself and the public, “Oh, every woman makes the same as a man in my company.” But when you peel back the layers, you find that women actually are overqualified and passed up for more promotions than their male counterparts.

An academic paper submitted to the Labour Economics journal titled Are women overqualified ponders the same thing, citing in their abstract: “Differential treatment of men and women does not end with equal pay for equal work… The empirical analysis confirms our hypothesis. We find that employers require about six months more work experience of women.”

So what do we do? We have this information, now what?

This is where facing the hard truths come in: We’re still sexist.

It hurts. It really hurts. And I know some guys are surely like, “I’m not like that, and none of my friends are.” And that may be the case. But the evidence is what it is. If you look around, and see yourself supported by guys, and only see guys getting promoted, but you’re quite sure that women exist in your world, organization, or social sphere and wonder “why they just haven’t made it to where you are”, the answer is staring you right in the face.

A long belief has been that racism, sexism, ageism, etc. is just those extreme aunts and uncles in our families that spout off stuff that you’re just too embarrassed to even admit that you’re related to them.

That’s not what it is, anymore. It’s more nuanced. And the results speak for themselves. We still have a hard time keeping women in technology fields. A 2017 Kapor Center for Social Impact report titled Tech Leavers Study: A first-of-its-kind analysis of why people voluntarily left jobs in tech revealed that “30% of underrepresented women of color reported being passed over for promotion, a percentage significantly higher than White or Asian women…” and details major players in why people, in general, may leave their tech-based jobs.

None of this is a coincidence. The time has come for folks like us to realize, reveal, and to speak out in order to make a difference in this industry. Part of it is telling hard truths, like this one.

I met a few women of color, obviously writhe with academic acumen, holding advanced degrees in both business and computer science, who were still analysts or entry-level and that just makes my blood boil. But I want to do more than sit here, chatting about it, and making more detailed plans about how to fight it. I want to do something.

So in November 2017, I went to the Saint Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective Summit, which focuses on bringing more equal opportunity to women, people of color, and other marginalized entrepreneurs in the tech-based realm. I joined an Action Committee, afterwards, and will work to dedicate some time to changing the way the workforce views women and people of color in tech.

It’s time to stop talking, and start failing fast to find a solution.

Read about my experience at the Summit on my black nerd (blerd) blog, Blerd St. Louis: https://medium.com/@blerdstl/3-things-i-learned-from-an-equity-in-tech-summit