The Sacramento area is home to a number of tech companies. If you work in one or are considering starting your own, you might be disappointed to realize that those at the forefront of technology are not necessarily at the forefront of equality.
Sexual discrimination continues to be a big problem in tech companies. In 2020 Women Who Tech carried out a follow-up survey to see if there had been any progress since its 2017 survey of tech founders about sexual harassment in the workplace.
Sadly there appears to have been very little improvement
While there were slight improvements in some areas, in others, the results showed that things had gotten even worse.
Sexual harassment can and does happen to male tech founders too, but the results make it clear females suffer much more. Here are some of the results from the women interviewed:
- Only 51% of female founders said they had not experienced sexual harassment.
- 43% said they had experienced it during the past year.
- A massive 59% of female founders had someone offer them the funding they needed on the condition they had sex.
- 59% of women had experienced unwanted physical contact, and 32% had been groped.
- 76% had to put up with offensive jokes, and 56% had sexual slurs made against them.
- 24% had been sent inappropriate photos of a sexual nature, and 12% had someone expose themselves to them.
Regardless of your gender and regardless of whether you own the company or are employed by one, sexual harassment is unacceptable and illegal. Getting legal help to understand your rights can help you end it.