10 ms·

Female Founders Conference

117 points by nRike 13y ago

eevilspock 13y ago
Shouldn't it be called X Combinator? :)
vvvvvvvv 13y ago
Oh wow, you have a vagina! Congrats! You're so special and unique!
iandanforth 13y ago
Questions for the women of HN. Do you see gender specific events as something that will fade away with time? Are they something you are comfortable with being part of society for the foreseeable future?
- Crake 13y ago
  I don't like them and hope they go away as quickly as possible. I dislike segregation on principle, generally speaking.
- iconfinder 13y ago
  "Questions for the women of HN" There are women here?!
- limedaring 13y ago
  Perhaps, but people who are similar in some way (in this case, gender and profession) will always want to meet in a specialized way. Conferences are already specialized (CSS conferences, JS conferences, conferences for health startups, conferences for email marketing...) Like it or not, being a female founder is way harder than being a male founder. Raising money is so much harder since you don't fit the Mark Zuckerburg stereotype. A friend of mine hid her pregnancy while raising money because she didn't want to be asked whether she was committed or not - would a guy with a pregnant wife be asked the same? So yes, personally — I am very excited about this conference and meeting other female founders and talking to them about their experiences. Finding other people like me. Definitely comfortable with these kind of conferences being a part of society because I find a lot of women don't want to start a company since it's even harder than being a dude, and I want that to change.
- alukima 13y ago
  I hope that gender/race/sexual orientation/anything specific events will fade away eventually. But right now there's still a lot of casual sexism in tech that goes well beyond the well meant joke. I've worked in the adult industry, gaming and lighter tech(IT) before transitioning to development. Prior to entering the dev job market I wrote off women who complained about the tech industry as whiny or overly sensitive. On one of my very first interviews the CEO told me women aren't math minded so he was going to skip some of the questions for me. On another interview I was asked why "he should take on the liability of hiring a female programmer". To be honest I personally could not care less about the sexual aspect of it, getting hit on, ect., as that stuff can and does happen anywhere. But I've never ever had people question my intelligence because of my gender until I got involved in development. (Or at least not bold enough to voice it to my face in a professional setting.) At first I was even against the idea of female only learn to program classes until I started volunteering at several LTC type events and saw the difference in how comfortable women are. It's not even about sex in 99.9% of cases, which is where a lot of people take it. This comic gets brought a lot to demonstrate what I'm describing and it's really spot on: http://xkcd.com/385/ http://xkcd.com/385/. I think everyone can agree that we would like to get to the point where attribute specific outreach programs are not needed but until we get there they are a good resource. This wasn't part of your question but I'm sure it was brought up somewhere in the thread: Obvious sexism is not long dead. I'm only 30 and when I was in school men had to take shop and women had to take home ec. I was actively discouraged from college as it was viewed as a waste of money because women would only spend a few years working before becoming moms (if they finished school at all).
  - msandford 13y ago
    >On one of my very first interviews the CEO told me women aren't math minded so he was going to >skip some of the questions for me. On another interview I was asked why "he should take on the >liability of hiring a female programmer". Those are a couple of pretty shitty interviews to be sure. I'm curious how many interview you've had for dev positions and if they're all bad like that with these being the worst examples, or if they're the only good examples. What I'm trying to get at is that if it was 2/10 interviews were horrible like this then that's regrettable but not indicative of highly institutionalized sexism. If it's more like 8/10 interviews then I would think it is. Obviously we can't draw any rigorous conclusions from a single person's experience but I'm curious nonetheless. Part of the reason I'm even asking is because I don't see a lot of sexism in the tech circles I travel in, but I also don't go anywhere near "brogrammer" type gatherings either. Based on the absence of sexism I see on a regular basis I'd like to believe the best in people in general.
dkhenry 13y ago
Cool I am going to host the "Male Founders Conference" And no girls are allowed. What are you implicitly stating here? Women aren't good enough to stand toe to toe with male founders so the only way they will ever be able to succeed is if they are given special treatment. Why can't I go to this event and learn from female founders do they have nothing of value to convey to me as a male ?
- ChrisAntaki 13y ago
  > Cool I am going to host the "Male Founders Conference" I feel like I've seen that conference before, many times. Don't get me wrong, there were some very good speakers. But if one is trying to differentiate, and try something fresh, an all women conference makes a lot of sense.
  - human_error 13y ago
    > I feel like I've seen that conference before, many times. Really? Where? Could you please give an example?
    - Tohhou 13y ago
      Silly males! The world is your conference!
    - danilocampos 13y ago
      Uh, every single tech conference... ever?
      - rimantas 13y ago
        Every single tech conference did not allow girls? Really?
        kyro 13y ago
        I've got a question for you. Blacks are incredibly underrepresented in the medical field (13% in the US population, 4% as physicians). Some believe it to be due to the damaging effects of medical experiments conducted on African Americans -- eg. the Tuskegee experiment where many were purposefully left untreated for syphilis despite the existence of a simple treatment (read: penicillin). Other reasons include the lack of African American physicians in the media, peer-pressure to pursue other career paths, and financial constraints. Bottom line: there is a racial disparity in the medical field, and those that are underrepresented have some very legitimate reservations for entering that industry. So, the question: Would you be against movements targeted towards Blacks/African Americans meant to both encourage them as well as address their many concerns regarding entering a career in medicine?
pg_is_a_butt 13y ago
sexism is sexist.
iterative 13y ago
Can't wait to go and pick up chicks.
picrow 13y ago
Note: Y Combinator sponsored event that endorses discrimination based on sex. Time to take my clicks elsewhere.
eevilspock 13y ago
The larger discussion is happening here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7097254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7097254
mhurron 13y ago
Isn't this kind of short notice ... oh wait, my mistake, everyone who is important is already in Southern California.
- toggle 13y ago
  This does not deserve to get downvoted, you're right in pointing this out. I mean, applications are accepted on February 10th, and then IF you get to go, you have nineteen days to get there? I know a lot of attendees will already be in Silicon Valley, but that's cutting it pretty close for those who need to find a flight.
tomasien 13y ago
This thread made me want to cry..... this thread..... oh my god you guys this thread is so awful! Does anyone have ideas about what could be done to educate against the constant same old "If it's just for women, it's sexism, same as if we said something was just for men" crap? I mean this is basically internet discussion canon at this point. As a side note, we COULD have a conference just for men if it was aimed (as this is) to close the gender gap in society, tech, etc. That conference would be about treating women better, how to see your own biases and avoid them, things you think are ok but aren't, etc. Nobody would go, but that would be analogous event, not an event aimed at helping male only founders found companies. Edit: I decided to write up a quick blog for public discussion outside of this thread Blog: http://istommydrunk.svbtle.com/the-maleonly-version-of-the-female-founders-conference http://istommydrunk.svbtle.com/the-maleonly-version-of-the-f... Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7099636 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7099636 If anyone wants to find it on the front page, it's there. Expecting/getting trolls.
- Crake 13y ago
  >This thread made me want to cry.... Ah, estrogen privilege.
  - tomasien 13y ago
    I have no idea if this is a joke or not, but I'm a male. 6'5", 210, played college basketball, male who wants to or actually does cry reading HN comments about gender issues. (I don't think my size or athletic ability has anything to do with my maleness, but given the quality of discussion going on here, I figure it may be relevant in some people's minds)
    - Crake 13y ago
      It's a sjw themed joke.
  - supergauntlet 13y ago
    I wish I had enough karma to downvote you. Instead of having any actual discussion you'd rather make some low effort sarcastic shitpost to try and derail? This thread is doomed to the flamewar detector anyways, I don't suppose there's any point in trying to have decent discussion here.
kartikkumar 13y ago
Interestingly, although the event description clearly asks: "Are you a woman interested in starting a startup?", if you click through to the application, it actually asks you for your gender. Is that because YC would still like to know now many men want to be present at the event? Is it because men are allowed, but they're not advertising it? Or will they simply inform all men that applied that regretfully their applications have been denied?
- Crake 13y ago
  And for trans people who don't conform to the gender binary, no option whatsoever: there's only "male" and "female" as an option. Now, I'm not asking for that crazy xe and xir stuff, but if you're going to go to a conference where their main claim to fame is being gender themed, you should be able to put down "other" or "prefer not to specify" (the latter of which may be preferred even by some people who are firmly on one end of the gender spectrum). One big problem I have with events that are either thematically or exclusively gender segregated is that all it really does is reinforce gender roles. You've got to pitch in with one camp or the other, so that the privilege checkers know how many points to assign you. I don't like it. My computer doesn't care what my gender is or isn't, or what's between my legs. That's actually one--of many--things that has drawn me to tech. That said, these are all good questions.
  - kartikkumar 13y ago
    Yes, particularly relevant in the Bay Area, where gender discussions are mainstream. I lived in the student co-op system in Berkeley, and it was then for the first time that I really started to appreciate the meaning of "other" as a gender option. I guess YC and SV companies are not yet ready to be that "open-minded"?
yetanotherphd 13y ago
I think that women are often put off by the nasty, aggressive vibe in tech. No one wants to go into an industry where they will get sworn at, or have snide remarks made at them. Here are some examples just from this thread: >you're pretty fucking ignorant and stubborn and just dickish on the whole. >no need to get your panties in a bunch over this. >Could you kindly s tfu please?
- Crake 13y ago
  You do realize the language being employed in your examples is from the side arguing in favor of the gender segregation themed conference, not against it, right?
- danellis 13y ago
  Men are put off by nasty, aggressive vibes too. I don't know why you'd think that that's exclusive to women. Men want to work in a friendly, cooperative, supportive workplace where they won't be sworn at or have snide remarks made at them. Unfortunately, that's not always possible, because some people are jerks, and companies don't always hire well. I think that will always be true, because that is human nature.
sdegutis 13y ago
I can't comment about this because I'm a white male and therefore cannot relate to anyone who is oppressed, since I've experienced nothing but privilege my whole life. So the only thing I can do is be silent so that the silenced can be heard.
znowi 13y ago
This escalated quickly. From a creative interpretation of the interview, to a lengthy plea from pg defending his honor, and now a whole conference for women. I myself have nothing against such a forum, but the way it came about to be is ridiculous and insincere. It's a result of an overreaction and over-attempt to save a reputation. It's not really about female founders, it's about pg and allegations of sexism.
therogerwilco 13y ago
This is like feminism. Once I had a feminist say it was about equality for women AND men. I said, "would you like to join an organization called 'maleism'? It's for the equal treatment of men AND women."

117 points by nRike 13y ago

eevilspock 13y ago

Shouldn't it be called X Combinator? :)

vvvvvvvv 13y ago

Oh wow, you have a vagina! Congrats! You're so special and unique!

iandanforth 13y ago

Questions for the women of HN. Do you see gender specific events as something that will fade away with time? Are they something you are comfortable with being part of society for the foreseeable future?

Crake 13y ago
I don't like them and hope they go away as quickly as possible. I dislike segregation on principle, generally speaking.
iconfinder 13y ago
"Questions for the women of HN" There are women here?!
limedaring 13y ago
Perhaps, but people who are similar in some way (in this case, gender and profession) will always want to meet in a specialized way. Conferences are already specialized (CSS conferences, JS conferences, conferences for health startups, conferences for email marketing...) Like it or not, being a female founder is way harder than being a male founder. Raising money is so much harder since you don't fit the Mark Zuckerburg stereotype. A friend of mine hid her pregnancy while raising money because she didn't want to be asked whether she was committed or not - would a guy with a pregnant wife be asked the same? So yes, personally — I am very excited about this conference and meeting other female founders and talking to them about their experiences. Finding other people like me. Definitely comfortable with these kind of conferences being a part of society because I find a lot of women don't want to start a company since it's even harder than being a dude, and I want that to change.
alukima 13y ago
I hope that gender/race/sexual orientation/anything specific events will fade away eventually. But right now there's still a lot of casual sexism in tech that goes well beyond the well meant joke. I've worked in the adult industry, gaming and lighter tech(IT) before transitioning to development. Prior to entering the dev job market I wrote off women who complained about the tech industry as whiny or overly sensitive. On one of my very first interviews the CEO told me women aren't math minded so he was going to skip some of the questions for me. On another interview I was asked why "he should take on the liability of hiring a female programmer". To be honest I personally could not care less about the sexual aspect of it, getting hit on, ect., as that stuff can and does happen anywhere. But I've never ever had people question my intelligence because of my gender until I got involved in development. (Or at least not bold enough to voice it to my face in a professional setting.) At first I was even against the idea of female only learn to program classes until I started volunteering at several LTC type events and saw the difference in how comfortable women are. It's not even about sex in 99.9% of cases, which is where a lot of people take it. This comic gets brought a lot to demonstrate what I'm describing and it's really spot on: http://xkcd.com/385/ http://xkcd.com/385/. I think everyone can agree that we would like to get to the point where attribute specific outreach programs are not needed but until we get there they are a good resource. This wasn't part of your question but I'm sure it was brought up somewhere in the thread: Obvious sexism is not long dead. I'm only 30 and when I was in school men had to take shop and women had to take home ec. I was actively discouraged from college as it was viewed as a waste of money because women would only spend a few years working before becoming moms (if they finished school at all).
- msandford 13y ago
  >On one of my very first interviews the CEO told me women aren't math minded so he was going to >skip some of the questions for me. On another interview I was asked why "he should take on the >liability of hiring a female programmer". Those are a couple of pretty shitty interviews to be sure. I'm curious how many interview you've had for dev positions and if they're all bad like that with these being the worst examples, or if they're the only good examples. What I'm trying to get at is that if it was 2/10 interviews were horrible like this then that's regrettable but not indicative of highly institutionalized sexism. If it's more like 8/10 interviews then I would think it is. Obviously we can't draw any rigorous conclusions from a single person's experience but I'm curious nonetheless. Part of the reason I'm even asking is because I don't see a lot of sexism in the tech circles I travel in, but I also don't go anywhere near "brogrammer" type gatherings either. Based on the absence of sexism I see on a regular basis I'd like to believe the best in people in general.

dkhenry 13y ago

Cool I am going to host the "Male Founders Conference" And no girls are allowed. What are you implicitly stating here? Women aren't good enough to stand toe to toe with male founders so the only way they will ever be able to succeed is if they are given special treatment. Why can't I go to this event and learn from female founders do they have nothing of value to convey to me as a male ?

ChrisAntaki 13y ago
> Cool I am going to host the "Male Founders Conference" I feel like I've seen that conference before, many times. Don't get me wrong, there were some very good speakers. But if one is trying to differentiate, and try something fresh, an all women conference makes a lot of sense.
- human_error 13y ago
  > I feel like I've seen that conference before, many times. Really? Where? Could you please give an example?
  - Tohhou 13y ago
    Silly males! The world is your conference!
  - danilocampos 13y ago
    Uh, every single tech conference... ever?
    - rimantas 13y ago
      Every single tech conference did not allow girls? Really?
      - kyro 13y ago
        I've got a question for you. Blacks are incredibly underrepresented in the medical field (13% in the US population, 4% as physicians). Some believe it to be due to the damaging effects of medical experiments conducted on African Americans -- eg. the Tuskegee experiment where many were purposefully left untreated for syphilis despite the existence of a simple treatment (read: penicillin). Other reasons include the lack of African American physicians in the media, peer-pressure to pursue other career paths, and financial constraints. Bottom line: there is a racial disparity in the medical field, and those that are underrepresented have some very legitimate reservations for entering that industry. So, the question: Would you be against movements targeted towards Blacks/African Americans meant to both encourage them as well as address their many concerns regarding entering a career in medicine?

pg_is_a_butt 13y ago

sexism is sexist.

iterative 13y ago

Can't wait to go and pick up chicks.

picrow 13y ago

Note: Y Combinator sponsored event that endorses discrimination based on sex. Time to take my clicks elsewhere.

eevilspock 13y ago

The larger discussion is happening here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7097254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7097254

mhurron 13y ago

Isn't this kind of short notice ... oh wait, my mistake, everyone who is important is already in Southern California.

toggle 13y ago
This does not deserve to get downvoted, you're right in pointing this out. I mean, applications are accepted on February 10th, and then IF you get to go, you have nineteen days to get there? I know a lot of attendees will already be in Silicon Valley, but that's cutting it pretty close for those who need to find a flight.

tomasien 13y ago

This thread made me want to cry..... this thread..... oh my god you guys this thread is so awful! Does anyone have ideas about what could be done to educate against the constant same old "If it's just for women, it's sexism, same as if we said something was just for men" crap? I mean this is basically internet discussion canon at this point. As a side note, we COULD have a conference just for men if it was aimed (as this is) to close the gender gap in society, tech, etc. That conference would be about treating women better, how to see your own biases and avoid them, things you think are ok but aren't, etc. Nobody would go, but that would be analogous event, not an event aimed at helping male only founders found companies. Edit: I decided to write up a quick blog for public discussion outside of this thread Blog: http://istommydrunk.svbtle.com/the-maleonly-version-of-the-female-founders-conference http://istommydrunk.svbtle.com/the-maleonly-version-of-the-f... Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7099636 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7099636 If anyone wants to find it on the front page, it's there. Expecting/getting trolls.

Crake 13y ago
>This thread made me want to cry.... Ah, estrogen privilege.
- tomasien 13y ago
  I have no idea if this is a joke or not, but I'm a male. 6'5", 210, played college basketball, male who wants to or actually does cry reading HN comments about gender issues. (I don't think my size or athletic ability has anything to do with my maleness, but given the quality of discussion going on here, I figure it may be relevant in some people's minds)
  - Crake 13y ago
    It's a sjw themed joke.
- supergauntlet 13y ago
  I wish I had enough karma to downvote you. Instead of having any actual discussion you'd rather make some low effort sarcastic shitpost to try and derail? This thread is doomed to the flamewar detector anyways, I don't suppose there's any point in trying to have decent discussion here.

kartikkumar 13y ago

Interestingly, although the event description clearly asks: "Are you a woman interested in starting a startup?", if you click through to the application, it actually asks you for your gender. Is that because YC would still like to know now many men want to be present at the event? Is it because men are allowed, but they're not advertising it? Or will they simply inform all men that applied that regretfully their applications have been denied?

Crake 13y ago
And for trans people who don't conform to the gender binary, no option whatsoever: there's only "male" and "female" as an option. Now, I'm not asking for that crazy xe and xir stuff, but if you're going to go to a conference where their main claim to fame is being gender themed, you should be able to put down "other" or "prefer not to specify" (the latter of which may be preferred even by some people who are firmly on one end of the gender spectrum). One big problem I have with events that are either thematically or exclusively gender segregated is that all it really does is reinforce gender roles. You've got to pitch in with one camp or the other, so that the privilege checkers know how many points to assign you. I don't like it. My computer doesn't care what my gender is or isn't, or what's between my legs. That's actually one--of many--things that has drawn me to tech. That said, these are all good questions.
- kartikkumar 13y ago
  Yes, particularly relevant in the Bay Area, where gender discussions are mainstream. I lived in the student co-op system in Berkeley, and it was then for the first time that I really started to appreciate the meaning of "other" as a gender option. I guess YC and SV companies are not yet ready to be that "open-minded"?

yetanotherphd 13y ago

I think that women are often put off by the nasty, aggressive vibe in tech. No one wants to go into an industry where they will get sworn at, or have snide remarks made at them. Here are some examples just from this thread: >you're pretty fucking ignorant and stubborn and just dickish on the whole. >no need to get your panties in a bunch over this. >Could you kindly s tfu please?

Crake 13y ago
You do realize the language being employed in your examples is from the side arguing in favor of the gender segregation themed conference, not against it, right?
danellis 13y ago
Men are put off by nasty, aggressive vibes too. I don't know why you'd think that that's exclusive to women. Men want to work in a friendly, cooperative, supportive workplace where they won't be sworn at or have snide remarks made at them. Unfortunately, that's not always possible, because some people are jerks, and companies don't always hire well. I think that will always be true, because that is human nature.

sdegutis 13y ago

I can't comment about this because I'm a white male and therefore cannot relate to anyone who is oppressed, since I've experienced nothing but privilege my whole life. So the only thing I can do is be silent so that the silenced can be heard.

znowi 13y ago

This escalated quickly. From a creative interpretation of the interview, to a lengthy plea from pg defending his honor, and now a whole conference for women. I myself have nothing against such a forum, but the way it came about to be is ridiculous and insincere. It's a result of an overreaction and over-attempt to save a reputation. It's not really about female founders, it's about pg and allegations of sexism.

therogerwilco 13y ago

This is like feminism. Once I had a feminist say it was about equality for women AND men. I said, "would you like to join an organization called 'maleism'? It's for the equal treatment of men AND women."