According to a report, only 6% of tech companies have a female CEO.
As a female tech CEO myself, those kinds of metrics 鈥� although disappointing 鈥� don鈥檛 necessarily shock me. At many networking events or investor meetups, I鈥檓 often acutely aware that I鈥檓 the only one in the crowd wearing a dress.
The barriers that women entrepreneurs face
Unfortunately, when investors, customers, or potential mentors mentally define success, they do so relative to past examples. And because entrepreneurship has historically been owned by men, these examples 鈥� perhaps someone high-profile, like Jeff Bezos, or someone known personally by the individual 鈥� are typically male. In other words, pattern recognition becomes a huge barrier for women founders and CEOs.
For instance, that investors preferred entrepreneurial ventures pitched by a man than an identical pitch from a woman 鈥� by a large margin. In 177 performance reviews of high-performers in tech, negative personality criticism (such as 鈥渁brasive,鈥� 鈥渟trident,鈥� or 鈥渋rrational鈥�) showed up in for women and just 2% of reviews for men.
This is one of the major reasons I founded 夜色直播! Several studies point to the fact that men鈥檚 aptitude is measured by their future potential, but women鈥檚 value is scrutinously calculated by their past performance. When someone enters a job, whether it's through hiring, promotion, career pathing, or development opportunities, I want to see the playing field redefined to ensure both men and women are selected based on their potential. This is why 夜色直播 is all about making talent management decisions based on an individual鈥檚 talents (their potential) rather than their resume or performance reviews (indicators of past performance).
At the end of the day, the world needs to see more examples of successful women so that the pattern is redefined. And that鈥檚 why I believe International Women鈥檚 Day is so essential to breaking the cycle.
Why International Women鈥檚 Day is so important
Every year on the week leading up to International Women鈥檚 Day, I get asked to speak on several panels and to provide quotes for articles, and I always say yes. For instance, this week I鈥檓 speaking on the , and . People sometimes ask me if I feel like I鈥檓 the 鈥渢oken woman CEO鈥� or what have you, but quite honestly, I don鈥檛 even think about it. That鈥檚 because I unequivocally believe in the power of example in breaking the cycle that labels entrepreneurship as a 鈥渕an鈥檚 world.鈥�
It started in 2013, when I had the opportunity to connect with , a network of investors and influencers dedicated to supporting technology companies led by women. Just to walk into a room and see what a successful female founder looked like 鈥� and I mean literally, like the clothes they wore (for once, I was not the only dress-wearing individual in the room!) 鈥� was a new world I had never experienced. If that seems insubstantial to you, try picturing a trademark look of a female founder, similar to Steve Jobs鈥� iconic turtleneck, or Mark Zuckerberg鈥檚 hoodie. Hint: there is none, not yet.
Have you ever heard of the 鈥淪cully Effect?鈥� Unless you live under a rock, you likely know that Dana Scully was an FBI agent and medical doctor on the sci-fi show The X-Files. found that 63% of women that work in STEM say Dana Scully gave them the confidence to believe that they could succeed in a field that was male-dominated.
International Women鈥檚 Day is so important to me because it accelerates opportunities for the 鈥淪cully Effect鈥� to take effect. It鈥檚 not like I (and other women) only speak on panels or provide quotes to news articles on International Women鈥檚 Day, but #IWD panels and news articles provide a platform where women entrepreneurs can demonstrate a new definition of success. It serves as a reminder that we need even more opportunities on the other 364 days of the year to elevate women to platforms where they can be that example.
In the meantime, it鈥檚 so valuable to have an annual day dedicated to intentionally elevating women. When we take that intentional time once a year, including women on platforms every other day of the year will become more and more organic, resulting in more women getting exposure to examples of women in entrepreneurship 鈥� ultimately chipping away at the pattern matching that upholds the cycle of men owning the entrepreneurship space.
International Women鈥檚 Day is a reminder of how we all need to work together to elevate the stories of success and use our influence to move the dial for women, giving them access to the network, customers, and funding that can catapult them to success.
-- Caitlin MacGregor, CEO of 夜色直播