Gender inequality and bias is real and is part of our society. As a South African society, we have deep-seated, ingrained assumptions and prejudices that continue to erode women’s self-belief and self-esteem.
The adoption of the Chillisoft operations manifesto is a mechanism to actively promote behaviour to support and help women to thrive in the software development world. Before we designed the manifesto, our team considered and prioritised common issues that we have observed in the business and dev world. The prioritised issues were:
1. Not being heard
2. Encountering a glass ceiling (invisible barriers that prevent progression)
3. Queen Bee syndrome
4. Benevolent sexism
5. Not being given equal opportunities
6. Mistaking confidence for competence
7. Token positions
8. Gender stereotyping
9. Biases and double standards such as associating assertiveness in women with being bossy or trouble-makers, while men being assertive is viewed as strong leaders.
The operations manifesto is a working document that will be amended as we continue our journey. The key points of the operations manifesto are:
1. We speak honestly, actively listen and we don’t listen to defend or respond.
2. We are collectively accountable for Chillisoft’s success.
3. We address performance issues and we don’t carry people who don’t contribute.
4. We respect thinking and doing.
5. We are cognisant of the language that we use in our interactions every day.
- There are no girls.
- There are no boys.
- No sexist humour, comments or jokes.
- No benevolent sexism, where women are “protected” from stress, workloads.
6. We celebrate wins. When an individual wins, we all win.
7. Our culture is delivery-focused and collaborative. There is no place for showboating, rock-stars, charismatic leadership and overt aggression.
- We understand the difference between confidence and competence. We will not assume that confident people are competent or leaders. Competence is how good you are at something. It’s an ability or skill. Confidence is how good you think you are; it’s your belief in your ability.
8. There are equal opportunities to do interesting and meaningful work.
9. We practise self-awareness.
10. We understand that we as individuals and the collective are growing, that we are continually learning, that we are all “works in progress”.
This manifesto reflects Chillisoft’s values, and is underpinned by our rich set of practices, leadership training and company policies. We have chosen to share this manifesto, because we believe that every organisation should have a manifesto, that makes daily behaviour and way of being more explicit to stop discrimination.
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