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The Smartest (and Most Empathetic) People in AV Are Not Men

I continue to be perplexed by the assortment of mainstream tech companies that seem to be INTENTIONALLY acting stupid and operating in the 1970’s.

Fortune Magazine blames it on culture.

CNN says it’s because of the men.

And, the Huffington Post says that, even with the attention being drawn to the issue, it’s getting worse.

But nearly every tech company that you’ve ever hear of is not just under-populated by women, but is literally dominated by men. Apple, Cisco, Intel, Dell, Microsoft and Facebook, in fact, all employ less than 20 percent women. Twitter, 10 percent. And even though companies like Sony supposedly employs nearly 40 percent women, the hack of their computer system revealed that (thanks to Slate) of the 17 people earning million-dollar-plus salaries, only one is a woman.

I realize we’re in a tiny segment of technology and that we are not an industry that qualifies for such measurement stats, but there’s no question that our industry is doing way better than those mainstreamers. And I am proud to say that we at rAVe have always had as many (if not more) women than men — both full-timers as well as contractors and interns. This blog I am writing is edited by a woman (thanks, Sara!).

And, as sexist as this may sound (sorry, guys), I can emphatically say that women are way, way more creative than men. Our industry could do with some more creativity. Don’t you agree?

But most importantly, as Daniel Goleman points out in his book Emotional Intelligence, women have more natural empathy than men. So having men and women equally invested in a  project, product, promotion or campaign will always benefit the outcome. Empathy matters.

Look, I am not standing on a soap-box saying that we’re doing everything all wrong. But I am saying that we can do a lot better.

Why do we even have to have a Women of InfoComm group or the Women in AV organization? Because it’s still necessary. This seems crazy in 2015, doesn’t it? I actually remember as a kid hearing about inequality in the workplace on TV as a kid in-between cartoons in the late 1970s.

OK, I have stepped down off my soapbox.

By the way, I have two amazing daughters!

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