On popular platforms we use everyday, very rarely do we think about the people behind the scenes. Recently, some women have come forward to discuss the issues they faced while working with Google. Qichen Zhang has recently spoke out about her personal experience of sexism and racism in the office.

“He said, ‘it must’ve been really easy for you to get your job because you’re an asian women and people assume you’re good at math…it was absolutely stunning,” Zhang said. “I remember me just emotionally shutting down.”

In this day and age, we assume a lot of the racial and gender issues have completely vanished, but really they are just hidden in the shadows and Google is a prime example of that. Of all the leadership positions in Google, 80 percent of them are held by males. Only about two percent of all employees are of color and about four percent are hispanic.

After hearing about Zhang’s story, senior Madi Mahoney gave some input on what the people should do in order to fix this problem.

“I think the most important thing we can do is to step back, listen and think about what’s important,” Mahoney said.

With the heartfelt stories we hear from Qichen and so many other people who speak out against social issues, it is important for us to listen and to try and take a step forward without taking two steps back. It’s time we take this leap forward by putting gender and race behind us.