Right now, tech companies are undergoing diversity initiatives fueled by the Black Lives Matter movement. Listening sessions, hiring changes, and policies are being implemented to push back against the vast unfairness that exists. Despite this, Black people in tech are left wondering if this will lead to lasting, concrete change. If they look to the #MeToo movement of three years ago, they have real reason for worry.
What started as the exposing of an open secret in Hollywood about the assault and harassment of women spread across industries and led to many women in tech coming forward about similar treatment they've encountered. While there was a brief period during which some men were fired as a result of their actions, many of those same men are now back in tech jobs without any atonement on their part or change at the companies that initially turned a blind eye to their behavior.
Women Who Tech conducted a survey in 2017 about the state of women in tech and startups and decided this year to do the same to see what’s changed. Not very much at all, as it turns out. Fifty-five percent of respondents said that there has been neither positive or negative change.
Forty-eight percent of the women in tech who answered the survey said that they have experienced harassment, with 36 percent saying it occurred in the last 12 months. The harassment came from other employees (76 percent), their own supervisors (42 percent), senior leadership (25 percent), other supervisors (21 percent), members of the executive team (17 percent), customers (16 percent), and clients (14 percent).
Women founders have perhaps the hardest time, since they do not have HR departments to turn to. Since 2017 there has been an increase in how many have reported in the survey that they’ve experienced harassment, with 76 percent saying they’ve been subject to offensive jokes; 65 percent were propositioned for sex, 56 percent had sexual slurs directed at them, 32 percent were groped, 24 percent were sent graphic photos, and 12 percent witnessed indecent exposure. In 2017, 65 percent of women founders said they had been offered funding in exchange for sex, a number that has decreased slightly in 2020 to 59 percent.
Despite the popularity of the term “cancel culture,” there are few repercussions for the harassers and more for the harassed. Only 30 percent of the women surveyed said their harasser faced any repercussions, whereas 45 percent of women who were harassed said they were the ones who faced fallout at work.
These disappointing findings are illustrative of the many reasons there’s such a gender gap in technology. Hashtags and slogans won’t close the gap, and harassment needs to be properly dealt with.