Women's Views on News |
| Is Etsy the female face of tech? Posted: 28 Apr 2015 05:35 AM PDT
It has shown gender balance is possible, even in tech – but Etsy now faces a new set of challenges. Amid continued concerns about the underrepresentation of women in the tech sector, and calls from around the world for more strategic plans to support girls and women in the field, Etsy stands out as a rare example of a successful tech-based company in which women are the majority. Known for its focus on peer-to-peer sales of handmade and vintage products, the online marketplace has attracted a high proportion of female users since launching in 2005. Today, around 90 per cent of active sellers using the platform are female. This has not always been matched by the company's internal complexion. At the start of 2011, just three per cent of Etsy's engineers were female. But, after a hugely successful drive focusing on diversity, the company increased its female engineering staff by almost 500 per cent in just one year. Women now comprise 69 per cent of Etsy's tech team, and 51 per cent of its overall staff. In contrast, women occupy only 20 per cent of tech jobs at Apple, 17 per cent at Google, 15 per cent at Facebook and 10 per cent at Twitter. So how did Etsy turn things around, and succeed where the vast majority of tech-based businesses have failed? The company itself attributes its success at least partly to a scholarship scheme run in partnership with the New York-based Recurse Center (previously Hacker School); since 2011, Etsy has provided grants for women to participate in the centre's three-month programming retreats. And over the past four years, Etsy has hired 20 alumni of the scheme, many of them women. Clearly, this is just part of the picture – but it has inspired other tech companies, including Tumblr and Dropbox, to launch their own scholarship schemes to support women participating in the Recurse Center's retreats. More generally, Etsy spokespeople highlight the importance of ensuring gender diversity is openly discussed at all levels, from board meetings to blog posts written by employees. In an interview for Women 2.0, engineering director Mike Morgan and senior engineering manager of performance Lara Hogan described the company's approach to diversity – and indeed all challenges – as "decentralised". They said, "One of the most powerful steps we've taken is championing a frank dialogue with employees about how we can all take responsibility for improvements… For example, right now individual teams and hiring managers test a variety of approaches (e.g. anonymized homework and resumes) and share results with each other." But Etsy now faces a new set of challenges. Following its recent public debut, in which it sold USD267 million in shares, the company must from now on fight for investor support to maintain its status as a certified Benefit Corporation – a for-profit business in which positive social and environmental impacts are prioritised alongside monetary gain. Some commentators have speculated that it could end up becoming just another eBay, while others have postulated that – if it was successful in maintaining its ethical core – Etsy could shake up the entire Wall Street belief system. The company has already pledged USD300,000 from share sales to fund a non-profit venture, Etsy.org, which will provide educational materials to support women and members of minority groups who want to start their own businesses. And, while getting long-term buy-in from investors for social ventures may not always be easy, Etsy has nonetheless already gone a long way towards showing that gender balance need not be an unattainable dream, even in the tech sector. Let's hope Etsy will continue to do things differently, staying as “quirky” as the handcrafted creations it showcases.  |
| Still fighting for safety in the workplace Posted: 28 Apr 2015 04:25 AM PDT
Most don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic “accidents”. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), around the world: Each year, more than two million men and women die as a result of work-related accidents and diseases; Workers suffer approximately 270 million accidents each year, and fall victim to some 160 million incidents of work-related illnesses; Hazardous substances kill 440,000 workers annually – asbestos claims 100,000 lives; and One worker dies every 15 seconds worldwide – 6,000 workers die every day; meaning more people die while at work than die fighting wars. They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn’t that important a priority. Workers' Memorial Day commemorates those workers. Workers’ Memorial Day is held on 28 April every year, and all over the world workers and their representatives conduct events, demonstrations, vigils and a whole host of other activities to mark the day. It is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace incidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisation in the fight for improvements in workplace safety. The day is also intended to serve as a rallying cry to "remember the dead, but fight for the living". In 2015 the theme for the day is “removing exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace”. In the UK over 20,000 people die every year because of their work. Most of these deaths are because of exposure to dangerous substances. Hazardous substances are found in almost every workplace in the UK, and many workers have no protection against the possible effects, despite the fact that tens of thousands of workers have their health destroyed by asthma, dermatitis, lung disorders and cancers because of exposures. Take one example. There are over 200 other respiratory sensitisers – substances that can cause occupational asthma – and more are being identified all the time. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) publishes a list of the best known offenders, which is updated regularly. Some of these are: Chemicals called isocyanates are the most common cause of occupational asthma in the UK. There are many jobs in which you might be exposed to these chemicals, particularly spray painting, foam moulding using adhesives, and making foundry cores and surface coatings; Dust from flour and grain. This will affect people who work in bakeries, industrial baking, farm work and grain transport; Wood dust, particularly from hard wood dusts and western red cedar. This will affect people working in carpentry, joinery and sawmilling; Colophony – this is widely present in soldering fumes but also in glues and some floor cleaners, and may affect people in the electronics industry, welding industry; Dust from latex rubber. This will affect people working with latex gloves, such as nursing, dentistry or laboratory technicians; and Dust from insects and animals, and from products containing them. This may impact people doing laboratory work, farm work or work with shellfish. And industry worldwide clings on to ancient hazards like asbestos and supplements them with new favourites like nanomaterials, making it evident this health and safety deficit is not an issue of knowledge – or absence of knowledge – it is an issue of priorities and power. This year the TUC is highlighting the results of an online questionnaire on hazardous substances at work, filled in by 500 people. Of the respondents, 71 per cent said they are exposed to, or at risk from, potentially dangerous substances at work. This included asbestos (49 per cent), hazardous chemicals and gases (49 per cent), radiation sources (35 per cent) and biological agents such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and other pathogens (27 per cent. Asbestos alone is responsible for 5,000 UK deaths a year. Remarking on this, the TUC’s General Secretary, Frances O'Grady, said: "The people who completed our questionnaire are a reminder that many workers in the UK are exposed to a range of hazardous substances. "For some it is on a daily basis, and the result has been thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of people suffering ill health. "Yet every single one of these cases could be prevented. "Many of these substances could be removed from the workplace or their use reduced, but where this is not possible, workers need much better protection. "That means stronger regulation, and, more importantly, proper enforcement. "On International Workers' Memorial Day in workplaces across the world and in the UK, trade union health and safety representatives will consider what can be done to stop unnecessary deaths, injuries and illness. We need employers and governments to do more too," she continued. "The appalling loss of life that resulted from the Rana Plaza collapse shows just what can happen when workers do not get the health and safety protection they need at work. It was a tragic reminder that complacency about health and safety is deadly."  |
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