[MUSIC PLAYING]
TINA LEE: Hi, I'm Tina Lee, founder of MotherCoders,
a nonprofit that helps moms gain the tech skills
they need to compete in the new economy,
and provide on-site child care while they learn.
I'm a strong ambitious woman.
Is there anyone else here like that?
[CHEERING]
Yeah.
Good, because I need your help getting
to the Planet of Belonging.
Why?
Because there we'll get a fair shot
at achieving our potential.
We'll find inclusion, fairness, and fulfillment.
It's very different than the planet that we're on now.
Right now, on the planet that we're on,
it's not working for everyone.
On Planet of Meh there's systemic inequality based
on things like race and gender.
There's also this notion that your value is measured
by time rather than impact.
And lastly, worse yet, we're organized
around the idea of a nuclear family,
even though families have never worked that way, especially
today, when 46% of households there are two parents working
full-time jobs.
So you're wondering, who is it working for?
This guy, right?
It's designed for him.
Young, white, male, straight, preferably
with no student loan debt or caregiving responsibilities.
Who does that leave out?
Everyone else.
But since we're here celebrating International Women's Day,
I'd like to focus specifically on what is happening to women.
For starters, we get paid less.
In the US, women are paid $0.66 to every man's dollar,
for similar work.
And if you're a woman of color, disabled,
queer, or a little older, you're probably
going to fare even worse.
And if you think you're immune to this because you're in tech,
I'm sorry to tell you, are not.
In fact, there's still a pay gap in tech,
and there's only a small percentage of venture funding
that's going to startups with women founders.
It's no wonder we have a leadership gap.
And one of the main reasons why women, our careers get stalled
is because we're society's primary caregivers.
70% of us spend 20 hours or more per week caring
for kids, parents, even family and friends.
And because no good deed goes unpunished,
we end up getting paid less for it,
because we will trade money and career
advancement for flexibility.
And if you become a mom, which 81% of you
will do or already have done, you'll
get hit with a mommy tax.
That's because you'll be deemed less competent and less
committed to your career once you
become a mom, while the opposite happens to dads.
They get a fatherhood bonus, because now they're
more deserving and more competent.
So here's me, right?
Yellow, I am a daughter of poor immigrants,
and I have two girls.
We're so screwed!
We're getting out of here, and we're
taking my husband Steve with us, because he's
a really good dude.
We're all packing up.
We're going to Planet of Belonging,
because there it won't matter where
we came, from how much money we have, who we love.
We'll just work together to meet everyone's basic needs
and still have enough time to do the awesome stuff we
were meant to do.
Notice affordable childcare.
I am so excited about this idea that I've already
started building a crew.
A team of women, amazing women that
come through the MotherCoders program.
And with your help, we're going to build this army
into a national force.
But here are some more ways you can help.
If your company doesn't already have these retention policies,
please help them implement some.
And you can even double down by tying executive compensation
directly to diversity goals, or just giving all the women
a raise to close the gap.
Then let's cultivate a culture of care.
It turns out, when people feel connection and warmth
at their workplace, they report higher levels
of satisfaction and teamwork, which translate directly
into higher performance, more money.
And then safety.
Here is Google's formula for building effective teams.
Notice that the first, foremost ingredient
is psychological safety.
Yet our caregivers are scared to tell their bosses
about their responsibilities.
And finally, to get to the Planet of Belonging,
we're going to need a lot of power.
Millennial power.
Thankfully, this rising generation
will be the biggest since the boomers,
and they'll also be the most diverse and the most educated.
Especially the women.
And women right now control 85% of all consumer purchasing
decisions.
We actually have the economic power to pull this off.
And don't forget we have allies in men
like my husband Steve, who want off the Planet of Meh, too.
So for the sake of each other and everyone coming behind us,
I urge you to join us at MotherCoders in our effort
to get to the Planet of Belonging,
a new world where we will all be given a chance
to be our best selves.
Thank you, and please come see us at the community fair.
[APPLAUSE]
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