Women in the Channel list: Patronising or empowering?
As CRN publishes list of the top 50 most influential women in the channel, two industry heavyweights debate whether the rankings are necessary or damaging
Earlier this week, CRN published a list of the 50 most influential women in the UK IT industry, profiling female leaders of resellers, disties, vendors, and other channel firms.
While many women claimed to be excited about being on the list, some declined the offer to feature on it, arguing that publishing a list of successful women - and not men - is not necessary, and is even damaging.
The views of two women - Microsoft's Clare Barclay and Kingston's Ann Keefe - summarise those held by women on both sides of the fence. To chime in with your own views, please comment below.
FOR: Clare Barclay, Microsoft's general manager for SMB and partners
"When I was a bit younger, I used to [think] ‘I am who I am, I will do my own thing, and I don't want to be on an all-female list. But what I've realised, as I have grown in experience and in my career, is that it is a super-important topic.
"If I can't help a little bit in developing the next generation of females, then I am not doing the right thing for my gender and also the industry. The problem is, when you don't have enough representation of any kind - men, female, age, whatever - it ends up being a stereotype of an industry where people don't want to work.
"I used to be righteous and independent, but I have changed my opinion. There are a lot of females coming up through Microsoft and there were a lot of people who helped me a bit when I was like that. I think it's really important for the righteous women to be helping others.
"The thing is, what I've learnt in my time in the channel and Microsoft, because it is a under-represented industry, things don't happen without effort. If you leave it to go au naturel, diversity will stick at what it is - it tends to be sort of white and male."
AGAINST: Anne Keefe, Kingston's regional director for UK and Ireland
"If I am honest, I do find it a bit patronising. I think it could also alienate young men in the business. They might feel that women are being favoured and we're doing special things for women. I don't think that's fair - we should treat everyone in the business equally, male or female. It makes no difference to me and I would never even think about it.
"I do think it is a bit patronising and I don't think in this day and age that women need any special help or a leg up. We should be able to work and get promoted on our merits. I would be quite cross if I, or any female colleagues or team members, were promoted because we need more women in the team. It's unreasonable and unfair on men.
"You're not competing equally [on an all-women list]. You could be doing well compared to only 50 per cent of the channel, or 30 per cent of the channel, whatever the figure is. I want to be compared to all of the channel, not just women. It's a big channel and it's full of different types of people and I think we should treat everyone equally. So I do think it is a bit patronising."