Today is International Women's Day (IWD). An opportunity to celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness about discrimination, and take action to drive gender parity.
This year's theme is #EmbraceEquity. From the IWD website: "It's critical to understand the difference between equity and equality. The aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about Why equal opportunities aren't enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action." Read more on the difference in equality and equity International Women's Day site.
At JMP we're devoted to helping all employees succeed. Hear stories from a handful of women at JMP (below), and share your stories in the comments and on social media channels using #IWD2023 and #EmbraceEquity.
Juliette Plager (@Juliette_Plager), Sales Manager
One important way I’ve seen JMP support women specifically and gender equity, in general, is through many, many conversations and check-ins. Whether it’s a one-to-one conversation about how to handle a conversation with a colleague from the perspective of a woman, a leader sharing a post on LinkedIn advocating for equal pay without waiting for the employee to bring it up first, or our BIG employee inclusion group devoting a meeting to the topic, all of these conversations add up to meaningful support.
Anissa Knox (@Anissa_Knox), General Counsel
Gender equity, like racial equity, should be an underlying tenet with respect to company ethos regardless of the industry, company product, or size. I appreciated that Jon Weisz and others were open and enthusiastic about discussing equity and inclusion during my interview process. I also appreciate that JMP Management is committed to focusing on equity as we continue to grow and expand. I have only been here at JMP for a handful of months. So, I’m very excited at the prospect of looking back with pride in a couple of years and seeing how we have grown as a company and as a community.
Shannon Conners (@shannon_conners), Research and Development Director
Since the beginning of my time at JMP as a product manager in life sciences, I have been fortunate to be mentored by strong women in leadership positions, including Diana Levey and Anne Milley in JMP marketing. I have also had the opportunity to mentor younger people – men and women - as they strive to navigate their careers and maintain balance at home.
It has been especially meaningful to me to see the expansion of parental leave over the last decade and to see so many of our young fathers also taking advantage of the option in addition to new moms. And post-COVID, the option to work a hybrid schedule or work remotely has been a game changer for parents (and grandparents) challenged with long commutes and busy schedules. On the days when I’m working at home, I love being able to be there when my kids get back from school so I can check in about their days.
As a manager myself, I have been happy to recommend and promote high-performing women to management positions in R&D and watch them thrive in their new roles! It is not typical in a tech company to see as many women managers as we have in JMP development. I’m proud to be part of an organization that values its workers and strives to “Embrace equity”!
Nina Chan (@nina_chan), Marketing Manager
I think the company culture at JMP encourages equity because it is based on the idea that people are the most important part of the business. It is important to be respectful of each other and understand differences. Most JMP employees are wonderful, open-minded people. It’s the job of managers to accompany and support the career journey of each individual, and in order to do that, you need to understand how gender or background can affect a person.
We have many strong, creative, and compassionate leaders in R&D, Sales, and Marketing, both male and female, who are leading by example. What we could do better at JMP is to standardize this practice and educate leaders more on how to recognize what different backgrounds and experiences mean and how to overcome biases and perceptions that we all have. Reaching diversity and equality is a journey, we are not there yet, but we are on the right track.
Diana Levey (@Diana_Levey), Marketing Senior Director
I see equity as helping everybody on the team have the resources and support they need to be successful and enjoy their jobs. I’m approaching this from the “yes, and...” idea of being open to things and expanding upon them. Here are some ways I might work to create an equitable work environment.
- Take in-person interns to a social lunch. And send homemade cookies and set up a virtual coffee social with interns who work remotely. All interns would feel appreciated and welcomed, and nobody is left out because of where they work.
- Have an open-door policy for in-person employees to run ideas by me, have a chat, or ask questions. And conduct comfortable check-ins with remote employees or more introverted team members who may be uncomfortable stopping by my office. Everybody has opportunities to be heard, and nobody has to go significantly out of their comfort zone.
- Respond to any and all questions about how raises and promotions work at JMP. And purposefully start those conversations with employees with anybody less comfortable broaching the subject. Everyone ends up with the same important information, and nobody has to be uncomfortable.
- Provide quick feedback on a piece written by a professional communicator. And provide significant editing resources to a piece written by a marketer when English is not their first language. Both pieces end up great, but one needed more time.
See this Inside SAS article for more ways to celebrate International Women's Day.
Happy International Women's Day! Love all the quotes
Happy International Women's Day!
Love this! Thanks, Shannon, for the complement—means a lot coming from you. Happy International Women’s Day!
Happy International Women's Day! It's awesome to be part of an organization where I get to work daily with so many intelligent and inspiring women. I am proud of the fact that JMP has a higher percentage of women overall and in management than most technology organizations. As @nina_chan said, this is a journey, and we must remain committed to our organizational focus on equity and inclusion in JMP. @Anissa_Knox, I too hope we can look back on the journey and see continued progress and growth in these areas.
Happy International Women's Day! Thank you all for your perspectives - I loved reading them!
I love all of the wonderful things these women are doing. As we all want JMP to be a leader in this regard, it would be great to hear what men are doing as well. As with any DE&I effort, allies are needed.
Hi @saradoudt - I recently made a post on LinkedIn and highlighted that I don't take my role as a male in HR lightly when it comes to DE&I efforts. Some tangible examples of this include the following:
- Regular review of pay to ensure non-discrimination in our compensation practices.
- Partner with our Talent Acquisition team to monitor that we have diverse candidate slates for open positions and that we are making strides at hiring diverse talent at JMP.
- Review of promotion patterns to ensure there is no evidence of unexplained variance in promotion rates across all demographic groups.
As Jon Weisz mentioned at kick-off, one of the key 2023 goals is to establish what diversity, equity, and inclusion means for JMP and put in place metrics/goals to measure progress. As we make more strides on this effort in 2023, we will be sure to communicate this across JMP. Hope this helps.
As a white male leader at JMP, I recognize my privilege. I feel fortunate to work with many amazing women at JMP, both on my team and my peers and colleagues. I am also happy that the items that Paul mentioned in his response are a focus in 2023 and beyond.
But this needs to be more than a celebration, it should be a call to action and a continued conversation. Thinking about steps we can take in our day-to-day work, which can sometimes be the simplest things. Things that anyone can do. Some items that I have reflected on and tried to put into action, especially as a white male:
- Offer to take notes. Think about your meetings. Who takes notes? Who presents?
- Don’t present work on behalf of women or under-represented groups if it isn’t required. Amplify and empower those doing the work.
- If there is someone dominating the conversation (or you find yourself dominating the conversation) or interrupting people, try to help balance the conversation. This is especially important with virtual meetings. Make sure everyone has a chance to speak.
- If someone hasn’t finished a thought or is being interrupted, support the person that is being interrupted. It may be uncomfortable for the person to say: “I haven’t finished yet”. Say it first.
- Seek out feedback. How could I have done this better? Ask: How can I best help?
I also recognize that at times I have failed at each of the bullet points above. But I believe in progress over perfection. So, I will continue to improve on my own journey to embrace equity at JMP and hope others will too.
It's an honor to work with so many talented, inspiring, and smart women. It's great to learn from you a different perspective and to become a better co-worker in many aspects. In addition it is an inspiring example I can tell my daughters that they can achieve whatever they want.
I'd love to see some day that we would not need to highlight equality (no matter what type) because it is just embedded in the worlds culture and a natural thing like brushing teeth. Until then I'm happy to support that journey with whatever I can do to help 
I love that JMP is making this a priority in 2023. To add a few thoughts onto what Dan suggested:
- One of the best ideas I have ever seen was this idea from the women of the Obama administration. In meetings they had a pact to help amplify each other, to bring ideas back to the originator, to help encourage more balanced representation in the discussion.
- Call out toxicity, micro-aggressions. the end.
- Try to give everyone an equal chance to engage in the conversation. Go around the “room” and ask individuals if there is anything they wanted to add. Most of the time I find the people who may have not had a chance to speak or didn’t feel comfortable speaking, end up sharing.
Thanks for sharing this article and for those keeping the conversation going.
