Sorry I don't have studies or articles, my views are formed by my own experience. Surely that's still valid? (Sorry I didn't mean that in a snarky way) As a fe

Sorry I don't have studies or articles, my views are formed by my own experience. Surely that's still valid? (Sorry I didn't mean that in a snarky way) As a female, I've been to a few female-oriented tech events myself. And I don't hear very intimate stories, except general ones such as the "how do I deal with a sexist remark" as you mentioned. But I do hear, and see, from my close female tech friends ... I think it's because it's generally too complicated to be expressed and more than that, there's an associated shame - for example, for a long time I didn't want to talk about it because I thought that people can't be that discriminatory and therefore it MUST be something that I've done. Cue in unhealthy self-analysis and reproach, and it was only after many years, I considered sexism (and other types of discrimination) though not without grudge. But on the other hand there are also women in tech who seem to be tougher - sometimes I think the scornful "you're-letting-our-race-down" looks on their faces hurt even more. I think that any activism for empowering women for tech needs to deal with the deeper issues, beyond the random colleague sexist remarks. Sticks and stones can't hurt, but a lack of self-worth, leading to imposter syndrome, can. Though I'll be honest with you, when I go to tech events I don't even think about my femaleness let alone gender issues. And that itself means something, that most people aren't generally discriminatory! So I'm still positive, but is there a need to build confidence for women in tech? Yes. I will also add that my own experience of getting discriminated may not just be due to one factor (i.e. gender) as I happen to tick a few other "minority" boxes.