[Serious Q] Sexism - how prevalent is it in startup ecosystem?

Has anyone ever faced gender discrimination at work place? We’ve moved forward, we tag ourselves as quite progressive and I believed the same but never did I think gender discrimination at work place could be a thing until it happened with me! Wanted to know if anyone else ever has faced such a thing and how did you tackle it?

This might be controversial but i want to know just why so many benefits for women in tech ? , I saw special hackathons only for women and also special trainings from big companies like Amazon only for women and of course diversity hiring. Is it because men can't work enough and women do more or what ?

Does gender wage gap exist in the corporate tech world? Or is it purely performance based? What about biases in appraisals, promotions, who gets a chance to lead and all? Looking for personal insights and experiences.

Women in startups how do you feel about the 400 member strong tech team with just a few women developers and product and project managers? Men just don’t get it- all our lunch hour conversations about which fit girl and mommy they saw in the gym and which HR is cute. They talk about how they are just not able to find qualified and good female developers and how they prefer to not hire them because they cry so easily under pressure. While I am at a pretty good positon and work shoulder to shoulder with my all male team, I feel extremely weird about how all men are okay with male bosses being random and rude and somehow associate it with how intimidating and god like these male bosses are. Same for women is bitchy and entitled. When around them 12 hours a day, I tend to internalise how they view men and women. I am above average smart, joined top consulting firm out of undergrad and work on key projects at a startup at all but 23 years. But I tend to internalise the need to be pretty and slim, and polite or they would talk about me like this behind my back. What to do

The budgets have been cut for diversity hiring. This is also in response to a lawsuit from conservative groups. Is it happening in IDCs too? Link to NY Post Article: https://nypost.com/2023/12/28/tech/google-meta-other-tech-giants-slash-dei-related-jobs-resource-groups-in-2023-report/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_source=twitter

I posted questioning if special previlages to one gender is harassing another in our IT world. It was leading to a good discussion & frankly it's been underspoken by all. Want to know what exactly was wrong with that? How do I do this without revealing my identity? (I have a screenshot of notifications)

- It's hard being the only woman in the leadership, in a room full of older men. If you don't hang out with them, you are excluded. If you do hang out with them, you got to get you act right with nods and smiles along the small talk. If If If If.. thats the loop you are caught in. - Imagine being the only female developer in the team. BRO code is the default setting. DEV code took a sabbatical. All of you go hang out with beer, smoke and whatever and what if I am not into that? I am not a so called BRO then. And dont even get me started on the casual jokes and me not being into gaming and TT. Go ahead ask me.. How does she even fit in then.. Right?? - Declare I’m taking a "Wellness" Day. Might as well hold a flag and say "Guess who's on her period?! ME ME ME!" So much for your policies - I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve been interrupted, spoken over.. - Dress too casually, you're not taken seriously. Dress too nicely, you're trying too hard. I've been judged for my clothes more times than I can count - too much, too little, too fashionable - yep been called that too. It’s exhausting - I think my presence is acknowledged only when it’s convenient for them. My opinions and insights are ignored until they need a female face to tick a diversity box - I’ve stayed late and worked weekends just to prove I’m just as dedicated as the others (even when I was doing next weeks work) - Finding a mentor who truly understands the challenges I face as a woman in tech is nearly impossible. Male mentors often don’t get it, and female mentors are spread too thin - I was told to speak up but when I did, I was labeled aggressive. I'm expected to be assertive but not too assertive, confident but not too confident. Also if I am progressing too fast, I have someone special rooting for me for something special in return - that the peoples verdict. And then the gossip starts. A large majority of Orgs, Founders, Leaders, HR are getting by doing the bare minimum.

Have been hearing a lot that females in a lot of startups are being inappropriately touched by their managers. They are not raising just as their appraisal might get impacted. Is it the case that victims are not raising the cases while the ones who are filing are actual not the victim

I have seen pseudo feminism happening everywhere around which has just wasted everyone’s time and energy over debating for false narratives. Does feminism really matter or it brought any change in corporate lives. If yes then why still pay parity exist and why projects have been given on the basis of gender but not on the basis of skill and experience? What’s your take on this ?

There has been scenarios in which a hard working smart employee doesn't get promotion or hike. Whereas few who are ready to share beds, go to pubs and do quid quo pro are getting every benefit out of it. This highly demotivates the hard working female emps. So have u faced any such? Or do you know the full story of someone doing it ? Bcoz at startups there is no time restrictions. Sometimes late night work happens and so many things are linked with it. I hope I don't need to elaborate.