Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - 105

initiative that rapidly wanes when another
"program of the month" comes along.
Finally, I think the program illustrates the
importance of a "gender partnership," an alliance
of women and men driving the change needed to
achieve gender equity in organizations and the
business value it creates.

THE CHALLENGE
I was a high school teacher and coach before I
joined the corporate world. In the days before
Title IX, girls' sports always got the hand-medown uniforms and other equipment. The
unfairness of that bothered me, and I'm glad to
see how things have changed since then.
Evolving laws and attitudes also have opened up
opportunities for women in business. Still, areas
of inequality remain-for example, the lower pay
women earn on average compared to that of
their male counterparts doing the same work.
And that also bothers me.

in part on a technology "branding problem": too
often, a career in technology conjures images of
a bunch of guys writing code all night long and
sleeping in their clothes!
Fewer women in technology obviously means
fewer women technology leaders. But some
of the shortfall undoubtedly results from an
unconscious bias that can permeate a company's
culture and affect the way women are promoted.
And women in technology roles, because of
their small numbers, often lack an organizational
network of female supporters and mentors who
can facilitate their advancement.

THE RESPONSE
Let me say up front that I can't take credit
for designing what has turned out be a very
successful program. That was primarily the
work of a team of passionate people-including
women within Thomson Reuters and an outside
consultant, Susan Davis-Ali-who together
helped create and run the initiative.

But efforts to increase the number of women
technology leaders isn't just about gender
equity.
It's also about gender diversity. When we talk
about someone "having a seat at the table," I
think of that table as round-different people
sitting at different points of the compass
around it, offering a variety of perspectives.
Those different people, including women, won't
necessarily come up with different answers to
a problem. But they do bring different points of
view to the question.
And that's good for business. As numerous
studies show, companies with a proactively
diverse workforce typically outperform their
peers. A company with more women in senior
leadership roles will have greater access to
diverse perspectives and insights.
There are various reasons for poor
representation of women in technology. For one,
not enough young women take so-called STEM
subjects-science, technology, engineering, and
math-in their school years. This can be blamed

I WANTED A PROGRAM THAT
FOCUSED ON WOMEN IN
TECHNOLOGY, GIVEN THEIR
DISPROPORTIONATELY LOW
NUMBERS AT COMPANIES AROUND
THE WORLD.

But in my various roles overseeing the
technology group-including CTO, CIO, and COO
for technology operations-I worked hard to
support and promote the program. Technology
is a key skill area at Thomson Reuters, and it
involves enough people-around 10,000-that
I thought we could really make an appreciable
difference.
We started by looking at the statistics. The data
showed that we were in fact recruiting a good
proportion of women into entry-level technology
roles. The problem was the big drop-off in their
numbers as they became more senior in the
organization.
105



Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology

Contents
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Cover1
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Cover2
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - 1
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Contents
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Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Cover4
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Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Poster 1
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Poster 2
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Poster 3
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Poster 4
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Poster 5
Straight Talk Special Issue: Women in Technology - Poster 6
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