News
Expert comment from a female CEO: Should women in tech obscure their gender?
October 2016 by Kirsten Bay, President and CEO, Cyber adAPT
In light of the recent Wall Street Journal article by John Greathouse arguing that ‘Women in Tech’ should obscure their gender by using just their initials online. The below comment of Kirsten Bay, President and CEO, Cyber adAPT looks at how the issue of ‘Women in Tech’ has become outdated and should be irrelevant in an industry that is evolving at such a rapid pace, whilst highlighting how many powerful women have made it to the top due to their intelligence, business acumen and leadership abilities, not by concealing their identity.
As a longtime senior technology executive, and as the current president and CEO of enterprise cybersecurity firm Cyber adAPT, I strongly disagree with John Greathouse’s remarks in a recently-published Wall Street Journal op-ed that women in tech should obscure their gender when creating their online presences and brands.
I, and many other exceptional female technology executives, including Meg Whitman of HP, Ginni Rometty of IBM, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo!, and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, to name just a few, have worked very hard and overcome many obstacles to ascend to senior leadership roles in Corporate America. Gender played no part in their success; rather, these professionals made their way to top because of their exceptional intelligence, insightfulness, business acumen, achievements, and leadership capabilities.
I applaud these women, and countless others like them, who are successful in spite of outdated notions such as the ones espoused by Greathouse, and who fight every day to make gender a non-issue in the workplace. We are proud of who we are, the diverse paths we’ve taken, and what we’ve accomplished to date, and we are excited for the futures of our respective companies and the multi-faceted plans and strategies we’re implementing. In the end, gender should be irrelevant. I don’t intend to hide mine…ever…on any platform or channel.
