I’m a London-based data analyst, working in data since graduating from university and have been with Kaluza for the past 2+ years.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO JOIN KALUZA’S GENDER EQUALITY COMMUNITY (GEC)?
When I joined tech I was aware that it tends to be a male-dominated environment, however, I was still surprised by the gender split I’ve experienced in my career! I had anticipated this to be more of a problem at leadership levels, but at an entry-level, there was still a noticeable skew towards men – for instance – I would frequently find myself in calls where I was the only woman in the group.
When the opportunity to join the GEC came up, I was delighted at the prospect of joining a team where we could focus on addressing this imbalance, which would have an impact on the way we hire in the company. I was also incredibly excited to join a cross-functional team and brainstorm out-of-the-box ideas to empower and encourage greater gender diversity at Kaluza!
WHAT HAVE YOU GAINED FROM IT SO FAR?
It’s been really eye-opening to join a group where every single person is passionate about gender equality, and we’ve developed great camaraderie through shared experiences. Of course, it’s been nice to have a regular meeting in the calendar where the majority of participants are women as it’s a change of pace from the usual, but my favourite thing about the community is that we share resources that we come across; whether its recent news, podcasts or book recommendations on gender equality and topics around that.
It’s also been really rewarding to see how our campaigns and activities have had a tangible impact on the workplace and how this has improved internal systems such as hiring, benefits, and transparency around reporting. Hearing feedback from coworkers on how our work has touched them also motivates me to continue working on initiatives that help drive our mission forward!
WHAT PROJECTS HAVE YOU WORKED ON SO FAR?
We’ve had such an amazing start considering our community was founded halfway through 2022. Gender equality has many strands – including increasing diversity at Kaluza whilst creating an inclusive culture. We do this in a range of ways, including:
Outreach – We engaged with Code First Girls and participated in a panel discussion in their annual CodeFest in 2022 to discuss the role of tech in climate change. Our aim with outreach is to address the imbalance in our gender ratio, as company exposure at these events will hopefully encourage attendees to apply!
Internal Events – We’ve hosted a number of internal events including a Period Positivity Lunch & Learn and a Parenting panel, all of which are aimed at creating a more inclusive and engaging environment for our colleagues. In addition, these events really help us learn more about what our coworkers would like to see in terms of benefits, making us a better community for people to work at.
Sharing experiences and stories – We regularly publish blog posts and stories on our public channel, the content of which ranges from personal experience stories to facts about gender issues. Like the internal events we organise, these posts are aiming to raise awareness about allyship and issues that may impact underrepresented communities at Kaluza. Recently, we published a series of posts to commemorate the UN’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, with each post highlighting different forms that gender-based violence can take.
Here’s to hoping 2023 will be bigger and better for our community!
HAVE YOU WORKED ON ANY INITIATIVES THAT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF? TELL US ABOUT THEM AND WHAT MADE THEM SPECIAL.
I was proud of the Period Positivity Lunch & Learn that we organised, which was our first-ever event! For the session, we really wanted to bring awareness to period-related issues, which can have such an impact on daily life – as someone who suffers from extremely painful periods, it’s a topic that’s close to my heart. We found case studies online that highlighted women facing different period-related problems (eg, endometriosis, PCOS, and menopause) and organised in-person and online breakout rooms so that each room could discuss how each situation could be improved.
We had such a great turnout for the event, but what made the panel special was the support from across the business. I felt that we really opened up a conversation topic that had been somewhat taboo before. I was so pleased with how engaged our coworkers were across all genders and seniority levels. In particular, we had great feedback from managers who now understand better how to support their direct reports.
This created a follow-up initiative – which affected the internal benefits for Kaluza employees! At the event, we gave out free reusable products and realised we could provide this for all new joiners! We hope this will make new joiners feel included and feel that Kaluza is a period-positive company! We also have bathroom signs to help encourage this culture. We’ve also shared feedback from the events with the people team to continue to imbed period positivity in other parts of our ways of working!
HOW CAN COMPANIES SUPPORT THE WOMEN IN TECH COMMUNITY BETTER?
Raising awareness on issues that women face would be the first step to supporting women, as this would allow for companies to change their ways of working and benefits to help groups as they need – without a clear understanding of these issues we can’t take action to address these disadvantages.
For instance, women at leadership levels are more likely to be impacted by issues in menopause which can impact representation at senior levels if they don’t have the support they need. Through awareness of how these may affect the experience of these employees, we can start to address this imbalance and fix these problems, helping the gender imbalance at leadership levels.
