It’s happened to many women at some point in their careers. Twenty years ago, Lynda Partner was the first female salesperson at an Ottawa technology company. On her first day, she was asked by a male colleague to type a hand-written sales proposal.
“I looked at him with a smile and said ‘one finger pecking might be slow so it’s going to take a while.”
Partner is now the vice president of marketing at Pythian, a technology firm that helps companies adopt disruptive technologies to better compete. She makes every effort to bring more awareness for women in IT and was recently honoured for her efforts at the CDN Women of the IT Channel Recognition Luncheon, sponsored by Ingram Micro Canada.
“IT was a men’s club and women did not have entry into it…I realized that if we did not get to the point of true diversity, the whole industry would suffer,” says Partner.
“To me, we only succeed by helping each other and with women you have to be conscious of that. When we get to true equality and have every opportunity, then maybe someday it will not be necessary to do all this”
