SUMMARY
Gender stereotypes and a toxic work culture often trickles down into technology products as well, leading to biased products and uneven user experiences
With The Makers Summit 2022, we want to celebrate India’s women product leaders that are changing the status quo and creating path-breaking products to inspire the next generation of product makers
We are calling for nominations from everyone in the Indian startup ecosystem to nominate the awesome women across the product ecosystem with whom you have worked, those who have inspired you and more
We are calling for nominations for the incredible women in the product in India today, click here to nominate now!
From bro culture to the glass ceiling, even in a post-MeToo world, the technology industry is rife with gender stereotypes and allegations of a toxic work environment even come from Apple, Google, Tesla, Blizzard and other Silicon Valley giants. The biggest issue is that employee complaints are dealt with in an opaque manner. And even if the companies claimed that they took the opportunity to clean up the toxic elements, this often turned out to be little more than lip service.
Worryingly, the discriminatory culture has trickled down into product development. UNESCO has claimed that only 12% of all AI researchers are women, with just 6% of software engineers being women. With almost 80% of men holding technical roles at major machine learning companies, workplaces often find themselves devoid of diverse perspectives or logics when developing software.
And biases start creeping into products. This was the case in Google Translate’s algorithms for certain languages, or even the initial development of the Apple HealthKit, which was accused of neglecting women’s health from the product’s scope.
Bad culture is never only limited to one company — but becomes a problem across the industry. Even a team consisting of the most well-intentioned developers can fall prey to their unconscious biases and create products biased towards a certain group. When workplaces recognise diverse perspectives and voices, the result is safer products that bring equal value to all. We have seen plenty of examples of this at the global stage.
Bumble’s Wolfe Herd, Google’s Susan Wojcicki, former Slack growth lead Merci Victoria Grace are some of the women product leaders who have busted the stereotypes to create inclusive products. Along the way, they have inspired the current Indian generation of product leaders such as Zomato’s Aakarshna Anand, ThoughtSpot’s Anjali Kumari, Open’s Mabel Chacko, Techved Consulting‘s Neha Modgil, and Uber’s Divya Anand among others.
India’s product and tech ecosystem is rapidly evolving and while the gender gap will not be eliminated overnight, there is more than enough inspiration for tomorrow’s women product makers.
From the best and brightest talent to pioneers in the industry — tell us about the product folks that are changing the game in product marketing, engineering, growth, design and UX, and every role in product development. We are looking for the women who have inspired you, the ones you want to work with and ones that have shaped your journey. We are all ears!
As a run-up to Inc42’s upcoming The Makers Summit scheduled for April 22-23, we will be featuring the Top 50 Women In Product, charting their journey and the success they have achieved.
TMS2022, will bring together India’s leading product minds & 5,000+ product founders, leaders and makers to decode the product strategies of India’s fastest-growing startups. We will be exploring the most revolutionary, industry-changing products that are shaping what comes next.
Naturally, we also want to put the spotlight on the women product leaders breaking new ground—and old rules. We want to celebrate these product leaders, hear their stories, relive their journey of creating path-breaking products and how they see the role of women evolving in tech.
Nominations for our Women In Product series are LIVE now! Use the form below, nominate a woman in the product community who deserves to be among India’s new-age product practitioners.
