{"id":40377,"date":"2023-10-20T15:07:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/time-to-disrupt-the-male-dominated-tech-culture-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:07:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:07:46","slug":"time-to-disrupt-the-male-dominated-tech-culture-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/time-to-disrupt-the-male-dominated-tech-culture-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to disrupt the male-dominated tech culture – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I\u2019m asked the same question at almost every industry event I attend: \u201cHow can I support women in technology?\u201d And I\u2019m usually asked by men.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Often the catalyst is a daughter interested in what they do, and the critical realisation that they don\u2019t want her entering a technology field with the culture it has right now. But mostly it\u2019s because they\u2019re good people and understand diversity makes for better individuals, products, companies and communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I tell them is that it\u2019s a marathon not a sprint, and they probably won’t see results right away. The solution isn\u2019t linear, it\u2019s cumulative and it\u2019s social. It requires us to apply systems thinking to the enterprise and cultural systems we work within.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a pipeline issue. Without proactive work to incentivise and include young women in the sector, it\u2019s an uphill battle. And no, it\u2019s never too young to start. Getting technology into curriculums and learning experiences as early as possible means we\u2019re exposing the achievers of the future to options and opportunities in their formative years. Leaving it to university is far too late – behaviours are entrenched, and imposter syndrome in high gear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Technology is no longer a single \u2018industry\u2019. It\u2019s the language of creativity and productivity. It\u2019s our economic language and it shouldn\u2019t be the domain of a privileged few.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Envato became the first Australian startup to release our gender stats in 2014, we threw down our own gauntlet. Since then, we\u2019ve made many small improvements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We tested the language we were using in our IT job ads with women and found it unconsciously alienating. We ditched terms like \u201cninja\u201d and \u201csuperstar\u201d, and got more female candidates. We made sure women met the other women they\u2019d be working with as part of the interview process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We binned the term \u2018cultural fit\u2019, which can be code for \u2018challengers to our status quo unwelcome.\u2019 We did training to counter unconscious bias. We had roundtables with every woman in our business. We supported more events supporting women in technology. We started speaking more and turning up more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And we developed a new diversity value that gives our whole company a mandate to ensure our business reflects the world we live in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Startups are in a perfect position to help agitate for positive change. A recent survey from recruitment firm Robert Half found that small and medium sized businesses lead on hiring women in tech. We\u2019re nimble by nature and problem solvers by trade. We need to create proof points that can give older, institutionalised businesses the permission and courage to act. We need to disrupt a broken approach.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If we approach the challenge like good business – test, learn, build influence, scale success – I\u2019m optimistic we\u2019ll get there, and it\u2019s a \u2018there\u2019 our country needs if we\u2019re to keep thriving.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cyan Ta\u2019eed is co-founder and executive director of<\/i> Envato<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Raising your<\/i> first round of capital<\/i><\/a>? Starting a<\/i> crowdfunding campaign<\/i><\/a>? Want to grow your business<\/i> with Instagram?<\/i><\/a> StartupSmart School can help.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m asked the same question at almost every industry event I attend: \u201cHow can I support women in technology?\u201d And<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}