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| Topic | Gay lesbian tech industry CEO claims she quit due to lack of diversity |
| UnfairRepresent 12/22/18 3:39:44 PM #1: | Its hard enough being the only woman in the room, and then to come out as gay? Its even harder, says Hayley Sudbury. But theres a different energy when you have a diverse workplace that includes people of different backgrounds, ethnicities and genders. Thats what gets me out of bed in the morning, she says. The situation for many LGBT workers in the male-dominated tech industry can be trying, with instances of bullying and hostility commonplace. A 2017 report by the Kapor Center for Social Impact, which surveyed more than 2,000 people who had left a job in the tech sector in the past three years, found 24% of LGBT people had experienced public humiliation or embarrassment, and 64% of LGBT employees who were bullied said the experience contributed to their decision to leave. It doesnt help that there are very few women leaders in tech who are openly gay. Just two made this years list of 100 LGBT executive role models, published by the Financial Times in October: Sudbury and Cynthia Fortlage, from GHY International. Seven gay male leaders made the list. Sudbury, a vocal advocate of women and LGBT inclusion, says having a better gender balance will make tech workplaces not just more inclusive for women, but LGBT people too. One way to make workplaces more inclusive is through mentoring and role models, Sudbury says. Its a lesson she learned the hard way. Despite being a vocal advocate of LGBT representation, Sudbury hasnt always felt able to speak openly in the workplace about her sexuality. She grew up in an entrepreneurial family in north Queensland, Australia. After moving to the UK for a second time at 27 she worked in finance, another male-dominated industry. I picked up that being a gay woman wasnt celebrated, she says. Sudbury left so she could work out what success looked like in the context of being a woman who was openly gay. There were no visible gay women at that point that I could point to who were CEOs or in positions of power, she says. So I felt like I had to leave and do something different for a time. Picking up various pieces of consulting work, she tried to work out her next professional step. It was my walk into the wilderness, she says. I was in a serious same-sex relationship at the time, but struggled to present myself as a gay woman in the male-dominated workplaces I was working in. Overhearing homophobic comments made it worse. I remember once overhearing a conversation about a colleague who had been to a play that had homosexuality in it and he was grossed out by it, she says. Its those conversations in the workplace that inform how comfortable people feel about coming out, whether its said by a man or woman. Sudbury says she also knows people who have hidden the fact that they are LGBT when raising money from investors. --- ^ Hey now that's completely Merry! https://imgur.com/8bOGMZ5 ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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