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Breaking the Bias through Individuality and Community
This month, Qualtrics celebrated both International Women’s Day on March 8th and Women’s History Month. This is a time for recognizing both past contributions and present successes of women everywhere.
Women are disproportionately affected by increased duties in child care, fewer opportunities professionally, and less of a say in how these systems work. And according to recent studies, the pandemic only exacerbated these issues. We’re committed to changing that.
This month we put a spotlight on the stories of the many talented and diverse women at Qualtrics. Our theme – breaking the bias that so many women face as they navigate both their personal and professional lives.
We hosted esteemed activist Angela Davis, who spoke about the significance of both individuality and community-building. She said, “We need individuality, we need difference, but we need to understand also that it arises out of community, out of collectivity.”
We also held panels from executives and senior leaders that have bias-breaking careers and an all-women-led all-hands. At the end of March, we held a special Herstory conversation in which we discussed mentorship, intersectionality, and making your own authentic leadership style in a professional world dominated by masculinity.
During this time, we also sat down with a number of women who broke through barriers and forged their way to success by seeking nontraditional career paths. If you’d like to read more stories in this collection, you can find them here.
There are stories like Eliana’s, who found that growth doesn’t mean abandoning yourself, saying, “You don’t have to change to succeed. You can learn new things that will make you grow both personally and professionally, but your essence has to remain!” Like Katie, who improves people’s everyday experiences and says, “I’ve found that trusting myself and my past performances has helped in quieting doubts that exist within myself.” Stories like Alex’s, who learns from every choice, good or bad, and who says, “I try to pass on the help I’ve received in the hope of creating a ripple effect.” And like Marisa, who prioritized her education and says, “every day I learn something new.”
We too believe we should never stop learning, listening, and bettering ourselves and the world around us.
Many thanks to all who contributed to our commemoration of women this month, and all who continue to shape the world into something better than before. At Qualtrics we believe in finding broken experiences and fixing them. We take pride in being involved in and supporting the communities that make us who we are. To those who have been at the table for years and those who are just about to pull up a chair, thank you, and welcome.