Moving Towards a Shared Goal, Eva Helén Explains Why it is Important to Involve Men in the Discussion of Women in Tech

Finishing her Masters in Organisational Behaviour with her thesis on “How large Swedish organisations could help women break through the glass ceiling”, Eva Helén has gone the full circle in her professional journey, by now helping women in the tech industry - by inviting men into the conversation. Before starting her successful career in technology, Eva Helén did not initially think her career path was in tech and thought she would be going into a profession established for the fight for women’s rights. Now 20 years on, Eva has combined her passion for Women’s rights and become an advocate for positive change in a traditionally male-dominated industry. CEO at EQ Inspiration (An organisation bringing men into the conversation about how to support women in tech), board member of Vasion (an enterprise SaaS platform vendor), previously co-founder/President and COO of Sanbolic, Author (Women in Tech, a Book for Guys) and public speaker – Eva has channelled her passion into becoming a strong female in tech.

“My husband always jokes with me and says, 'You love to say that it’s a full circle.' Because I was doing this 25 years ago and now, I’m back fighting for the same rights we (women) fought for then.” 

So, how did a woman who pictured herself in women’s rights end up in tech? It all started when she moved from Sweden to California, finding her first job in Silicon Valley. Her first job was international sales, although Eva confessed that back then she knew nothing about technology. She then co-founded Number One GM, a software company on the US East Coast, with Momchil Michailov. The company was acquired by Autodesk in 1999. They co-founded their next enterprise software company, Sanbolic, in 2000 which ran for 15 years, before being acquired by Citrix in 2015.

“Technology is just ever-evolving and that is what makes it interesting. Because I think it’s like human beings, as long as we evolve, as long as we keep on growing, as long as we keep on learning, it stays interesting.”

Yet understanding the industry she was in, during all her year's working side by side, Eva and Momchil never actually disclosed that they were married to those in the wider industry. Understandably not wanting to be referred to and labelled as “the wife” by other business representatives, as a way of protection for her professional pursuits, only their closest colleagues knew that they were husband and wife and co-partners at Sanbolic. This highlights the real-life implications of work/industry bias, as being referred to as “the wife” would have undermined the work that Eva put into their joint business.

Yet, after Sanbolic was acquired by Citrix, it did not mean that Eva’s journey in IT stopped. She started to network and meet with enormous amounts of women in the industry. At these gatherings, many women across the industry met to support each other, shared industry insight and their own stories and experiences. However, Eva quickly realised there were no men at these events, which she thought was counterproductive. How can you enforce and inspire change, if the prominent members of the community aren’t part of that conversation? This led Eva to start EQ Inspiration!

Bringing men to the table. 

To encourage change, you need all members of a community there, to listen, speak and act collectively towards a shared goal. Women empowering women is a great way to start to inspire other women to pursue goals, interests, careers. But to start inciting more change, we need all members of society to be a part of the discussion, to understand why their input is important and how each individual can help, rather than ostracise groups from the discussion of equality. EQ Inspiration – owned by Eva aims for men to be able to contribute to the advancement and inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups of people in the industry.

A culture of judgment, shame, and blame being put on men in tech (especially those who support the movement) deters men from aiding women in tech and even makes them back away from what they were doing before in fear of doing something wrong, according to Eva. Instead, encouragement would be more beneficial, tease out questions, make them confident enough to start asking us (women) the important questions, and understand their role in helping women. “How can I help you?” “I apologise if I’m not saying or doing the right thing” “Please correct me if I'm wrong” are all starting places for men working towards a better working environment. – And these questions come more easily to each level in the matrix (explained below)

Realising this stigma around men in the industry and how it can deter them from being an advocate for equality, Eva took the initiative to run events where men in the tech industry were invited – women were also invited as long as they brought a man along. Women speakers would talk about their careers, and when they had good support from men to help share positive stories and demonstrate a positive male role model. Eva then interviewed men, typically in a panel – questioning them about their current awareness of equality, their willingness to support women and minorities, and about actions they were already taking. From there Eva conducted more first-hand research, to better understand why some men were comfortable supporting women and others not.

Discovering many men were supportive of equality, but through the blame put on them, many were worried about saying the wrong thing.

“Where it has mainly been women, and a few men that have dared to put their necks out, supporting women’s advancement in the past, we now have a way to get more or all men comfortable supporting women and underrepresented groups.”

After all this research, a matrix of 7 male character prototypes emerged. The 7-step ladder with a designated character (and their characteristics) at each step, the aim of this for men to identify with one of the characters on the ladder (from their characteristics/beliefs) and copy the actions of the character prototype above theirs to reach the next level. These 7 characters are then divided into three categories The Advocates (Mark, James, Samir), The Allies (Memo, Al, Connor) and The Chauvinist (Richard). These are ranked from the most willing to support women in the workplace, to the most resistant.

“For them to start acting and supporting others, we actually have to offer a different message for each level” 

Moving forward

From all her years in the industry and her research, Eva Helén has some suggestions on how the industry as a whole, right down to the individuals, can work towards equality. These different points have been laid out below. 

“People underestimate the power of small easily manageable steps. These are a better way to permanently enforce positive change as it doesn’t overwhelm and deter people from the movement of equality.”

1. Develop our recruitment strategy.

By 2025 the IT industry will be 1.2 million tech workers short, so in less than 3 years we need to address the current problems with the representation and support for both women and men to pursue a role in the tech community. Continuing with our pre-established sources, schools, same companies, same people groups, will no longer be enough to recruit the right talent and volume of people into tech. According to Eva, this push should be equal to both men and women, but that means that language needs to be considered when posting a job and be clear that you don’t need a degree in IT, Computer Science, etc to have a role in this industry. Whilst conducting her research Eva shared the story of an IT Executive, who goes to universities to recruit people directly from university as product managers – where a woman he interviewed was perfect for the job, she questioned the Executive on his decision as she had not had a Computer Science degree. Rewriting your job descriptions and being more creative, hiring managers and talent agents can encourage those without an “IT” based degree to apply per their skillset. Eva suggests, putting the role as an entry-level position can nurture more into IT, whilst learning about IT on the job.

“Believe in people and you can educate them on site. It builds trust, loyalty, and confidence within the individual, as well as respect for the business.”

2.      Shifting your focus on others.

Starting to shift your focus onto other people can help you overcome that anxiety of saying/doing the wrong things. Eva mentioned that this shift in thought process is the main difference between the allies and the advocates, that the allies although encouraging to the women in their lives are still fearful of supporting someone in a different setting. Changing your mindset to focus on other people will help you become an agent of change and act as a leader to help change in the business. If every individual adopted a few actions in the character matrix (if they are personally ready for the positive change) it will inadvertently cause improvement in leadership and overall culture. Shifting your focus could be something as simple as asking a “Mary” who had no time to speak in a meeting because of “Bob”, “Thank you, Bob. That was great. Now, let's hear what Mary thinks”. Opening the floor and leading the way not only makes the women in the culture feel more valued and involved but sets precedence to other men in the organisation.

“We can no longer rely on HR and consultants to do this work for us. Individual contribution by managers, team leaders, and by individuals inside the company, it's incredibly important.”

3.      Have the right representation of women.

Start representing the right role models to women. Sharing the stories of a female CEO in aspiration to inspire a young mother of 3 struggling to make ends meet, makes IT positions seem unachievable and unrealistic. Look around the company for women at different levels and use them as role models to encourage more women in the industry and inspire those in the industry that progressing in their career to the level above is achievable – rather than making unrealistic expectations and intimidating women before they start.

For more information about Eva’s work, click here.