3 TED Talks To Help You #TakeCharge

Why do we find the visibility of females in the IT sector comparatively less than the other sectors? There is no particular reason for women to be left behind in any field if their interest lies but certain societal norms can be pulling forces for women to excel highly as leaders, especially in technology.

When a woman entered the coding system 10 years back, she was an odd one in a forum ruled mainly by the men. The scenario is different today as many women leaders have opened the rigid doors for other women to follow the league. The percentage of women talking codes has now considerably increased to quite a great extent and how!

The Reason?

With clouding inequality in the professional sectors, women intelligence and decisions are taken on a lighter side.  Its existence certainly is one of the biggest hurdles and few leaders had enacted intelligent manipulations to reach where they are today.  These hacks by them solely are mentioned and described below.

“Why we have too few women leaders?” – By Sheryl Sandberg

In this particular TED talk, Sheryl touches a very sensitive issue on how inequality is no poor alien to the present world and will continue existing in traces. She states that "The negative correlation between success and likeability for women in any profession” is a strong spine to this issue. The men’s presence in a workplace is different from women’s as the men have a positive correlation between success and likeability. The number of forces pulling back a man from leading is comparatively lesser than the number of forces for women. Why? ‘Men as leaders’ is a very familiar objective to the world because of which women have to work apparently harder.

Sheryl believes that strategizing acts to show the presence of women space is important to break down the walls of inequality. “Women should act, speak up and even ask for that raise. They are driving the economy with 85% of purchasing decision be theirs,” Sheryl was heard quoting this in the talk.

Post her session; many women have seen a change in the workplace with their firm approach.

“Teach girls bravery, not perfection.” – By Reshma Saujani

The much moving talk was led by the founder of “Girls who code”, Reshma Saujani. She firmly converses about how societal pressures and expectations from the two genders shape up their careers. She believes that women are made to strive for perfection instead of being given the freedom to take a risk. Women need to learn to have confidence in their self-worth to never settle for things that only ensure success instead of trying new ventures to be leaders.

With certain realized hacks, she believes the problem for the issue can be solved by the following:

• Being more confident in communication and approach.

• Using the right phrases so as to not have undermining words like “Sorry” which can be career-killing.

• Be more self-aware of your language, presence and even implementation of your strategies.

“Can we have it all?” – by Annie Marie Slaughter

We all have millions of female working professionals who have a hard time juggling between jobs and parenthood. She strongly states that if one option has to be chosen, “Family life should win out, especially since it can even help your career.”

Slaughter states, “I suggest that real equality, full equality does not mean valuing women on male terms. It means creating a much wider range of equally respected choices for women and for men. And to get there, we have to change our workplaces, our policies and our culture. In the workplace, real equality means valuing family just as much as work and understanding that the two reinforce each other.”

What Can Be Done?

According to Slaughter, if flexible hours prevail in the company, women should look forward to that. If not, she should discuss with the family for a better outlook for the family and health. She believes, “Happy Employees are the most productive.”

If you have any queries related to your career or need guidance for work, visit our Career Guidance Community and start connecting with like-minded women.