A US cloud-based software firm broke the barrier of gender inequality with a female oriented recruitment drive. The company had one female engineer in 2015. In 2018, it reported a 51 percent female staff with 17 women out of 70 engineers.
Gender equality initiatives are not just a brand image building exercise anymore. It has real world economic consequences. An equal participation by women and men would raise global GDP by 3-6%, boosting the world.
That`s why sustainability conscious investors are pushing companies to improve performance on various ESG (environmental, social & governance) parameters, in this case—gender diversity and equity.
This company's gender parity journey started when its only female software engineer brought this issue up with the chief technology officer who decided to course correct. The company's HR launched a recruitment drive to attract female talent with a women centric communication approach.
The job ads avoided masculine phrases like `ninja rockstar coder`. Emails signed by the female employee were sent, inviting talent to join a women friendly workforce.
Company set a target of 18% female engineers by the end of 2015, exceeded it to achieve a 21% mark, and became a unicorn of the male dominated software industry.
