Forward eSign Gender with airSlate SignNow

Forward esign gender

Transcriber: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz A few years ago, I had a corporate feminist dream job. Launching a company's national initiative to recruit more female employees. In the finance sector. But first, I had to get the signed-off support of all department heads. So I spent months perfecting the proposal, presented it and won the support of almost everyone. But in this team, there were two men we'll call Howard and Tom. Howard just would not get back to me. I emailed him about the proposal, I left him voice mails, I'd roll my chair back and forth during meetings, trying to make eye contact with Howard. (Laughter) He'd just take out his phone and start scrolling. And then I started to question myself. Had I been diplomatic enough in that email? Too demanding in that voice mail? Does Howard hate this proposal or am I just overreacting? It's probably just me, I thought. And then one day, I'm walking down the hall and here comes Howard. He's holding a packet of papers, sees me and lights up. He says, "Sara, Tom just emailed this to me, you should take a look. It's a proposal for us to recruit more women." (Laughter) "I think Tom has a really great idea here, and we should all get behind it." Howard proceeds to hand my own proposal back to me. And explains to me the many merits of what I wrote. (Laughter) Howard was never against recruiting more women. But he needed to hear from a man why it was important to hire more women. And as this scene played out, I said nothing. Because I knew somehow that I was a guest in a place that wasn't meant for me. And so instead of questioning my environment, I questioned myself. I wanted to know how so many talented women who worked long hours and started their careers with confidence all became trained in this kind of self-doubt that makes them say, "It's probably just me." How was that still possible? Aren't things getting better? Opportunities for women have increased over the last 50 years. But over the last decade, progress has stalled. Experts have previously identified 2059 as the year the wage gap would close. But in September of this year, these same experts announced that according to the most current data, we'll have to adjust our expectations to the year 2119. (Audience murmurs) One hundred one years from now. Looking beyond the wage gap, women are still underrepresented in leadership, receive less access to senior leaders and are leaving the fastest-growing sectors, such as tech, at 45 percent higher rates than men, citing culture as the primary reason. So what have we been doing to address gender inequality? Why isn't it working? Many businesses think they're addressing the problem, because they provide training. Eight billion dollars worth of training a year, according to studies from the "Harvard Business Review." These same studies also conclude that these trainings don't work...