Think equal, build smart, innovate for change - Women are changing the workplace!

There is no doubt, we are experiencing real progress with the high number of women in technology, more women in senior leadership positions, more female scientists and even all female airline pilot crews! However, there is wide agreement too that there is still a way to go.

Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook - 'Every woman I know, particularly the senior ones, has been called too aggressive at work. We know in gender blind studies that men are more aggressive in their offices than women. We know that. Yet we’re busy telling all the women that they’re too aggressive. That’s the issue.' This is echoed by many women in the workplace, and it felt apt to cite, as one of the key themes for International Women's Day is to 'think equal.’

So, how do we create this change in the workplace, mitigating this disparity in thinking and shifting the dynamics to build smarter work environments; shaping real innovation that will result in seismic change? Where do we start?

Of course, it’s essential to educate children from the word get go in schools, to remove gender stereotyping but it is equally important to implement this continuity in thinking in the real world. According to a recent article by Laura Liswood, Secretary-General, Council of Women World Leaders, ‘To hope or doubt? The state of women’s progress in the world’ - 'Women are good for business. Research conducted over three decades shows a correlation between women’s representation in leadership roles and positive outcomes in organisations. Catalyst, Credit Suisse and McKinsey & Co. have all reported that companies with more women in leadership and on boards have a higher correlation of profitability and financial performance.'

At INFINIDAT, we encourage and nurture such innovation and change. One example is sponsoring a leading Israeli initiative, ‘SheCodes.’ This is a community of women established with the goal of reaching 50% women software developers in the Israeli high-tech scene in the next decade. It was founded by Ruth Polachek in 2013 and now has over 20,000 members.

We asked a range of our senior team members at INFINIDAT to share their thoughts

I strongly believe in empowering women in the workplace and ensure I do this through nurturing talent in my team, providing adaptability and flexibility, especially for working mums who have to juggle their work and personal life. Of course, this should be based on meritocracy and not gender only.

Right from engineering, logistics and sales to management, even at board level, it is vital that women’s ideas and experiences equally influence the design and implementation of innovations in the enterprise storage market. I’m very proud to be part of a company where success, creativity and motivation do not have a gender bias, race or religion as a part of it!

I think we should celebrate the progress that women have made, especially in the technology sphere, from my experience. Since the start of my career, it has certainly evolved with women forming an integral part. INFINIDAT encourages and does a lot for increasing the diversity in the company! (not just for women).

I don’t like to do things because of gender or because of diversity. I wish I had more women in my team because they are better at sales, as they listen more to the customers thus knowing which solution to offer that fits customers’ requirements and solves their challenges.

I’m of the opinion that we should be gender neutral (or any other classification for that matter) within the work environment and focus instead on having real diversity in terms of talent, values, skill sets and experience. This diversity of course needs to be nurtured, welcomed and everyone should be provided a harmonious environment