“Women are incapable of solidarity.” I bet you’ve heard this once or twice in your life, especially in an office environment. I want to refute this.
I must admit that I am guilty of believing this sentiment. I felt it growing up. I was a “tomboy”. I mostly hung out with my male cousins and my brother. For me it was easier - I thought it meant no drama, no hidden intentions, no judgement - just blunt-in-your-face attitude. I luckily did not skip all together on the opportunity to bring wonderful women into my life. It just meant that I handpicked my girlfriends. Those that survived my aggressive filtering, still remain my girlfriends until this day and I can’t imagine how my life would have looked like without them.
When I started working at Gizra, there was only one other female employee in the office. I was kind of relieved - I was in a familiar environment. A year ago, Amitai challenged this with a facebook post that ended-up going viral. In the job posting, he talked about wanting more diversity - especially women - in our company. His words made me think. Feel. He nudged me out of my comfort zone. It left me curious (and nervous) to find out how this will change our office environment.
Even in this discomfort, I understood that Gizra is not typical for its views about diversity. I felt grateful and kept thinking to myself, how is it even possible that more people don’t know this about Gizra? How often do you hear of a company that wants diversity, wants women because they know it will make their company even better!? A company that knows that you have a family life outside of work and it’s not a dirty word. A company that understands that if you want to have a career, your children are not an obstacle. A recent example - my son had to stay home from school this week so I took him to the office. While I was caught up with my work, I realized that it was too quiet and immediately went out in pursuit, because everybody knows that kids + quiet = trouble! To my relief, I found him happily eating lunch with Amitai and the rest of the developers.
Since that viral post, and in a matter of a year there are now five of us, all working mothers, that hold key positions - Account Manager, QA specialist, Employee Training & Development, Business Development Director, and Operations Manager. The wonderful part of it is that I’ve never been in a workplace that felt so natural to be one of “the girls”.
I really look forward to those days that all of the women are in the office - to share failures, wins, worries, and celebrations. We are friends. We are professional co-workers. We have each other’s back. We support and encourage each other. We are happy for the other’s successes. We help move the company forward, and there’s nothing we can’t accomplish. These ladies makes me a better person, a better mother, a better woman!
In Gizra, we always ask how we can do it better. This is doing it better, and we still have a way to go. We understand very well the importance of “fit” with our clients and this is also true for potential employees. So yes. Sometimes you just need to be in a place so special that it fits. So, if you are looking for a fit and this sounds right to you, you can apply. And if you are a woman, you are (more than) welcome to apply!
