4 ms·
She makes a good point when she says "I’m already here, people. So I’m not the problem you’re trying to solve." I think what a lot of these kinds of posts miss
by paperpunk 9y ago
She makes a good point when she says "I’m already here, people. So I’m not the problem you’re trying to solve."
I think what a lot of these kinds of posts miss is that efforts to bring women into tech generally aren't aimed at the kind of women who have always done tech, have always wanted to do tech, and participate in the tech community despite their gender. Those women are the die-hards who largely will ignore gender barriers because of their enthusiasm for the field. But if we want to improve the gender ratio we have to think about how to appeal to the women who don't fall into that category too.
I do consider myself a "woman in tech" but that doesn't mean I want special treatment. I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by smart, passionate people of all genders and don't really suffer much sexism with regards to my work. What I do want is more women colleagues and I support initiatives aiming to achieve that.
Full disclosure: I run a student branch of the Women's Engineering Society here in the UK, although we are far from a women's only group. Most of our events are about 50/50.
- eeeeeeeeeeeee 9y agoI don't consider getting women into tech as the only problem facing our industry. Because once they get in, a lot of them face abuse. Nobody is saying you should get special treatment. Only that we need to acknowledge and label a problem in order for it to have visibility so we can make the problem better. She also says: "I also wish gay rights == human rights. If you throw a parade celebrating women who did awesome shit in STEMM and invite the world to join, I’m in and I’m bringing pom-poms!)" So, wouldn't you take this as saying that the gay rights movement should change their entire PR to advance "human rights" and not gay rights? How do you solve a problem and market a problem without actually calling it out? This all feels like she is reading too much into a label.
- xxSparkleSxx 9y agoWhile true, the more women you get into tech the more than can end up at the top in tech. The more women at the top of a tech company or working in VC, the more diversity we have at the top which (hopefully) leads to the sexist men at the top being held accountable by their peers. If that can happen, then there will likely be a decrease in abuse towards new comers in the field. Yay!
- abandonliberty 9y agoWe have to increase the supply of women. Trying to hire the same number of men and women is sexist when 4/5 CS graduates and 12% of nursing graduates are men. At 7%, men are underrepresented in nursing against their graduation rates. Imagine if we gave men special treatment in this obviously sexist field! Is it any surprise that affirmative action of any kind offends high achievers of both genders? Accomplishments are called into question. It brings gender into roles creating 'women developers' hired for their gender rather than capability, leading to lower compensation used to further highlight the sexism in the field. Preferential treatment based on gender should not exist. This is a simple, equitable principle. Men and women should be equally affected by the time they take to rear children. Hire based on merit, not gender. With EQ and mounting evidence on female managers, this means that we may see men losing out to women. Let's eliminate the mysoginists and misandrists. It'll create a lot of job openings for the rest of us :) http://www.computerworld.com/article/2474991/it-careers/women-computer-science-grads--the-bump-before-the-decline.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2474991/it-careers/wome...