Each for Equal: Celebrating Women in Leadership
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2020, YouAppi partnered with Tapjoy and Moloco to host a San Francisco “Ladies Who Brunch” event for influential female professionals in mobile marketing. During the event, attendees talked freely about the changing nature of digital marketing and the challenges women face in a male-dominated tech industry.
Whats this day all about?
International Women's Day (March 8), a global day of awareness and call to action to accelerate gender parity around the world. Along with celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, IWD is about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action.
Numbers in Tech
Although the tech industry seeks to pioneer innovative products and workplace policies, it still falls behind other industries in terms of gender diversity. the percentage of women in the U.S. labor force has gradually climbed to over 46% percent since 1990, however, the percentage of women in the tech sector is still significantly lower by comparison.
Source: Statista
Female employee representation only makes up 28% (Microsoft) to 42%(Amazon) when looking at the total workforce at America's largest tech companies. Additionally, women hold just 26.5% of executive, senior-level and management positions in S&P 500 companies.
Source: Catalyst
Supporting Women in Leadership
These figures highlight the critical need for diversity initiatives that not only seek to empower women in the name of gender parity but unite them in support of one another. Historically, YouAppi has supported gender equity by hiring a significant number of women in leadership roles, including Nancy Roberts, CMO, Julie Ben-Nun, EVP of Supply Growth, Carmit Moualem-Sofer, Head of Global HR, Hilit Mioduser-Ames, VP of Growth & Retargeting, and Moran Izhaki, VP of Finance. YouAppi’s aim for the International Women’s Day Brunch was to bring women together in mobile and digital to talk through their challenges and exchange advice.
“The women at the brunch were so enlightening and forthcoming about how the mobile industry has evolved. As a relative newcomer to this industry, it was amazing to feel that sense of support from women who have such deep experience in the space. As women in tech, we already have the odds stacked against us, so I think creating that support between veterans and newcomers is instrumental to the continue the elevation of women in this industry,” said Miwa Inoue, Associate Partnerships Manager at Adjust.
Can Gender Impact Mental Health?
Creating bonds of camaraderie and understanding is particularly important for women given mental health statistics. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that gender is a critical determinant of mental health and mental illness, as it indicates the level of power an individual has over their social position, status and treatment in society. Unipolar depression, the second leading cause of global disability burden in 2020, is twice as common in women than men.
Get Involved
Building supportive organizations to help women in tech withstand the pressure to compete in a male-dominated space is critical. In mobile and digital marketing, professional networks like SpeakHer and mBolden seek to create supportive organizations that elevate female voices and leadership. Just as technology has boundless potential to change the way humans interact with the world, it poses the same capacity to build innovative solutions to global gender disparity. Calling out inequality is the first step to a gender-equal world.
Happy International Women’s Day!
#IWD2020 #EachforEqual
