If you’re into following what’s happening on Twitter at all, you know the excitement that’s been revolving around #ilooklikeanengineer. Considering that Tech is one of the most challenging industries for women to work at, this movement on Twitter created some very interesting waves. The good news for women at work is that this was not the first and most definitely will not be the last hashtags driven by people who are breaking stereotypes through social media campaigns. I found a few which really stood out for the differences their trying to achieve for gender diversity.
#ilooklikeanengineer
The whole #ilooklikeanengineer gender equality movement started when Isis Wenger wrote on Medium about her experiences working in Tech. She was one of four participants for a recruiting campaign which created a backlash because supposedly she looked “too sexy” to be an engineer. After an onslaught of comments, both positive and negative, she asked other female engineers to “redefine what an engineer should look like”. The campaign is still going strong and drawing pictures from all over the world showing that there’s no mold for engineers.
#banbossy
Started by Sheryl Sandberg the concept of #banbossy was to ban the word “bossy” from the English language because it supposedly causes emotional damage to young women and girls. It gathered supporters from all avenues of life including Girl Scounts, Beyonce and Condoleezza Rice. Though there have been controversies on whether it has true value, (I’ve weighed in on the topic about whether it would work in Pakistan) there’s definite applause to question what words are used to define genders from an early age.
#leanin
Sheryl Sandberg being mentioned twice already – it will be interesting to see what waves she creates during her professional career. Lean In started off as Sandberg’s book on women and leadership. It pretty much exploded after that into a global movement for accepting and encouraging the growth of women in key leadership positions throughout all industries. It’s saying that women don’t need to choose between home and profession. That they should promote themselves as equal business partners and go all out in their careers.
#allinforher
There’s an interesting infographic that ties in how girls receiving 7 or more years of education can lead to a countries economy growing by 3%. That’s a significant number. Started by Women Moving Millions, this group has pledged one million dollars or more to initiatives promoting the advancement of women. They’ve basically put their money where their mouths are. They’ve made an impact when it comes to women and farming, heart disease, clothing and more.
#changetheratio
Sadly, it still helps to have a watch dog when it comes to overseeing how many women are represented at an organizational or industrial level. Founder Rachel Sklar started this movement to increase visibility and access to opportunities for women in their professional lives. They’re not afraid of creating controversy – in fact, they use it to their advantage when women are being left out from the professional world. From bringing a female president into the United States to highlighting pay gaps, they’ve got their eyes on everything.
It’s an interesting world when the public’s view on a company’s recruitment initiative can cause a whole wave of people to stand up for what they believe in. Let make sure we all stay up to date when it comes to the issues affecting women at work and the overall status of gender diversity. There’s a long way to go globally and it can only be made if we all do our part.