Gender Discrimination is Prevalent, Even Before Adulthood

By: Archisa Arora

For decades, headlines have celebrated the growing number of women entering STEM, yet the corporate world tells a different story. Women may have entered the room, but the power dynamics inside it haven’t shifted nearly as much as we like to believe.

In my high school’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science class, less than ⅓ of us were girls. Every individual there had fought to achieve the highest grade to guarantee placement, yet during our first class, the six of us girls were met with fifteen heads turning to stare at us as if we were foreigners. We were banished to the back of the classroom, and from there heard the whispers of “gender balance”.

There we had it, the implication that we weren’t chosen for our skill but rather our gender for some initiative. I had to prove I belonged before I could even begin to learn. The experience was one that led to a lot of struggle, between facing imposter syndrome and struggling to find a community to support my learning.

That’s the quiet undertone of what many women experience: there isn’t open hostility, but the idea of an invisible quota definitely permeates in the sphere and inhibits a woman’s technical growth. Women face inherent disadvantages in achieving upward mobility, not only in education but more significantly in the workforce, where they encounter barriers in hiring and in establishing themselves, often having to prove their competence more than their male counterparts.

Today’s Corporate Hiring Landscape

In today’s corporate hiring landscape, that same skepticism persists in subtler language. The problem is important to address right now more than ever, especially since AI is being integrated faster than ever, and the bias it displays will only proliferate if not fixed now. The current landscape makes it challenging for women to advance in their job searches and careers already. For example, résumés with female names are regarded as less hirable than those with male names, even by female hiring managers.

Studies have shown that women are held to a higher standard, have to outperform their male colleagues, and still don’t receive equal recognition. Additionally, women are perceived negatively for “acting like men”. Words like “abrasive” or “bossy” are thrown around for women, while men receive feedback about having a “strategic” impact and commanding a room.

Even when women make it through the door, women face systemic barriers to advancement. Women only hold 29% of C-Suite positions, and out of those, only 7% are women of color. There are fewer women at every stage of the higher corporate pipeline, compounding over time into a leadership gap that disputes all of the publicized numbers of equality. Mentorship becomes a crucial equalizer here. Women who have navigated these environments before can help boost the voices of the overlooked. Research found that women with sponsors are 20% more likely to be promoted, but these relationships don’t come easily in an uneven network.

Dynamics in the Tech Industry

The tech industry, in particular, has a paradoxical reputation. It loves to brand itself as a meritocracy, but merit doesn’t exist in a vacuum. When gendered assumptions shape who gets interrupted in meetings, who’s called “assertive” versus “aggressive,” and who’s seen as a “diversity hire,” merit-based hiring loses its meaning.

This dynamic extends into collaborative projects and competitions. Men often take on the technical lead role by default; women are assigned presentation or documentation work, the “soft” contributions that don’t get leadership credit later. And when women do speak up or claim technical ownership, they’re often questioned more, their ideas met with disbelief until validated by male peers.

But There Are Initiatives In Place!

Some argue that gender bias is “overblown,” pointing to the rise of diversity initiatives or to the growing number of female graduates in computer science. But the data shows a colder truth. It is estimated that it will take around 134 years to reach full workplace equality at the current rate of progress. That implies that the next few generations will still not see equality in the workforce and hiring process. The gap isn’t closing fast enough because the problem isn’t just access: it’s perception.

When a woman walks into an interview, she has to prove her competence, but when a man walks in, competence is assumed until proven otherwise. That difference changes the course of everything that comes after, from hiring to promotions to how credit is given.

By no means am I antagonizing progressive men or those who promote equality, but acknowledging the unconscious habits embedded in our professional cultures is important to bring about change.

Performative gender initiatives are not going to fix anything; we need awareness and structural changes in how we evaluate, hire, and listen.

Not Everyone Has a Happy Ending

I was lucky to have a happy ending. I gained the respect of my male counterparts only through helping them with projects they struggled with. I supported the very people who questioned my competence. But despite the happy ending, being undermined simply for being a woman was never something I should have gone through. Although society is actively reforming and progressing, these experiences existing in the 21st century are indicative that there is still a long way to go. If this isn’t addressed and mitigated now, the bias will never truly go away. Everyone must make a conscious effort to recognize these biases and choose, every day, not to perpetuate them.