Gender Inequality: It is the best of times, it is the worst of times - Part I

"It is the best of times. Nearly equal numbers of American women and men now go into medicine and law. More women than men graduate from college and graduate school. The gap between men's and women's pay has shrunk in recent decades.  

It is the worst of times. Women still make up only 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, and 19 percent of Congress. They are rarely leaders in high-paying, cutting-edge financial services and technology companies. They still make on average 23 cents less per dollar than men." -- HarvardGazette

A few days ago, Medium sent me an article titled 'Why women can't just get over it.'  I remember reading it and thinking, wow, I have never encountered any of this.  My parents never once made me feel like I couldn't be an engineer, my male classmates in UIUC's Computer Science department never treated me any different than the boys, I don't believe I have ever been blatantly objectified by any of my bosses or professors.  I wondered then, why I still grapple with gender bias. Does it exist? Most definitely. Does it always manifest itself in obvious ways? Not really.  Three pivotal incidents in recent history stand out for me when I became acutely aware of my gender and the limitations it imposes on my professional life.

As I wrote this post in its entirety, it felt way too long.  I've decided to break this up into three parts to keep it digestible.  Here is the first of the three incidents:

Moving into parenthood: In 2011, a few months into my job at Adobe, amidst a lot of uncertainty around the future of our department, I found myself on the job market. There I was, interviewing for my dream job at Walgreens.  This interview was riddled with even more anxiety because I was nearly four months pregnant and pretty soon, the decision to tell a future employer about my pregnancy up front would not be mine.

Then there's also the issue of parental leave which most companies don't give you unless you have been employed there for a certain period of time.

To tell or not to tell, that was the question. I spoke with a lot of people to figure out what to do. Ultimately, I decided I didn't want to work for a company that wouldn't hire a pregnant woman so at the end of my final round, I did break the news to my hiring manager. He congratulated me, told me he also had a child. I will never forget that moment and the kindness I experienced.

I did get hired for the job and my story ended on a happy note but I know many do not. Everyone knows taking care of a newborn has an impact on the parents' careers.  But for women, this impact starts even before the child is born.  Do you tell an employer? What will the repercussions be if you don't?  What will they be if you do?  Is it ok to switch jobs when you are pregnant?  How do you find out about maternity leave if you don't talk about pregnancy?

My hope is in the coming years, women will not have to struggle with keeping this information private during the interview process. And expectant women will not have to choose between having a career and being there for their newborn children in the first few months of their life.

Stay tuned for Part II next week.