Most people have seen the statistic where a man will apply for a job he meets 6/10 qualifications for and the woman won’t unless she meets 10/10 (states HBR, Confidence Code, Lean In…). This is centered in a lot of bias, imposter syndrome, and also business norms and these are all hurting not just the job prospects of someone applying but also the success of the person who actually gets hired (Natalie speculation here…)
There’s been a movement around #payToSpeak conferences on Twitter and elsewhere, that is conferences where the speaker essentially ends up paying to speak there (travel expenses, time put into the talk, time not working when being at the conference etc.). I think that speakers should be paid, or they at least shouldn’t be going negative in budget to speak at a conference. Here’s my experience:
I was taught asking someone how much money they made was a rude question. You just don’t do it along with talking about politics and religion and a myriad of other somewhat taboo things. But why? Equal pay day wasn’t that long ago and a contribution to the reason that women don’t get paid as much is because we don’t know that we aren’t…so let’s talk about it! I got the motivation from this great article by Ellen Pao. Check that out for more ideas.
So yes, it’s overdue. The #WomenInAgile session was almost three months ago, but honestly it took about that long to get my bearings back afterward. It was a busy year in preparation for The Changing Face of Agile, Agile 2016 presentations (2), and other conferences, articles, etc. But here I am, and I am so excited…
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I can’t be the only one who feels pressure to be perfect. At least not the only one in my generation: the millennials. We are told for our whole lives that we can do whatever we want to. We are constantly praised for doing anything from getting a good grade to throwing a Frisbee correctly. We are molded to believe we can do no wrong, but that’s not the case. When we do in fact do something less-than-perfect, the pressure of the impending blame or failure is almost crippling at times.
