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Please Stop Asking Me to Speak About Women in Technology
- Tycho 12y agoSeems a bit strange that the author doesn't mention what the previous speaker was scheduled to speak on...
- snipeyhead 12y agoI didn't actually know what the previous speaker was scheduled to speak on. I never thought to ask. I recently spoke in Paris as a pinch-hitter for someone who couldn't make it last minute, and they asked me what I could speak about. That's pretty common, in my experience. Last-minute replacements don't always have to speak on the same topic, as long as it's a valid topic for the conference itself. In retrospect, women in tech may well have been the original topic, but I never thought to ask, since I have never presented about women in tech before, so why would I be selected as a replacement if it was?
- jamesbritt 12y agoI have no idea who this person is, and the Web site does not seem designed to help me find out. Snipe? Does that handle ring a bell for some people?
- quomopete 12y agohttp://www.snipe.net/about/ http://www.snipe.net/about/ edit: removed cheap shot about motivation.
- jamesbritt 12y agoI looked all over for a link labeled "About" or the like and did not find it. What's with the cheap shot about motivation?
- quomopete 12y agomy apologies, i'm in a terrible mood and taking it out on strangers on the internet.
- AnimalMuppet 12y agoWell, you're big enough to recognize it, apologize for it, and edit to fix it. Don't be too hard on yourself, because we often see a lot worse...
- jamesbritt 12y agoOh, been there, done that. Thanks, and thanks for the link.
- fhfjfjfjggj 12y agoGlad to see a techy want to focus on techy stuff, and want to present on techy stuff, and stand her ground and not be railroaded into presenting more femtard claptrap. Good for you!
- easymovet 12y agoI enjoyed your viewpoint. Your blog post have actually been a great talk on women in technology, aka, people in technology.
- trhway 12y agoat least she has a mercy to not name the conference in her righteous rant, as after reading it i also started to feel that the conference organizers are arrogant chauvinist pigs because they reached to a woman in tech to talk about ... you'd not believe it ... women in tech. I guess the right choice was to reach to a man in tech. Yes, yes, that would be the most PC solution that everybody, especially women in tech, would applaud loudly long after the conference ended - a man in tech talking about women in tech.
- freshchilled 12y agoI think she takes issue with the fact that the organizers already had a narrow topic in mind when they asked her to present. And that the topic was kinda stereotypical (You're a tech woman? Talk about women in tech!). I think the right choice is to let your presenter present what they are experts in. Especially since she offered to speak on a similar, but less bounded, topic!
- snipeyhead 12y agoI am the author of that post - and yes, you nailed it. :)
- trhway 12y ago>I think the right choice is to let your presenter present what they are experts in. Especially since she offered to speak on a similar, but less bounded, topic! is she an expert or have any equivalent experience to talk about say "African-Americans (or latino) in tech" or any other facet of diversity which she has no direct relation to? Is she an expert on diversity? If yes, than what makes her that?
- snipeyhead 12y agoI am not an expert on diversity. If I was an expert on women in tech, or diversity in general (although I care deeply about it and would have been willing to put together something great for that), it wouldn't have been weird for them to ask me to speak about it at their conference. That's sort of the point of the article. I am an expert on many things - women in tech isn't one of them (other than the fact that I have been one for a long time). But there mere fact that I'm female seemed to dictate to them that I would want to and would be qualified to speak about it.
- clavalle 12y agoHear, hear. I wonder what would happen if we all collectively decided to act like the revolution of diversity in tech has already happened?
- EliRivers 12y agoWe'd keep sweeping everything under the carpet?
- clavalle 12y agoNot necessarily. Calling attention to divisions may reinforce the behavior -- like telling children only what not to do. By removing that reinforcement the behavior would be extinguished. Of course that assumes we can trust everyone to do the right thing...not a great assumption, I'll admit. Then again, I am not great at inter-personal psychology which is probably a big part of why I got into tech to begin with.
- makomk 12y agoHow would this argument apply to, for example, the issue of women being sexually assaulted at tech events?
- clavalle 12y agoThe same way it would apply, in general, to people assaulting other people physically at a tech conference. It generally wouldn't. It would assume that, in general, people are going to do the right thing and those that don't will bear the brunt of society's punishment for that behavior if they show they are willing to violate the enlightened norm -- be it criminal prosecution or negative social consequences or all of the above. And that bad behavior will be drawn in that much more stark relief because everyone will be acting under the assumption that everyone else will do the right thing.
- makomk 12y ago
- staticelf 12y agoGood choice, I would never go to a talk about women in tech.
- Mz 12y agoExcerpt: Simply being a woman in technology doesn’t automatically make you qualified or interested in presenting about women in technology. It’s not some sort of ZOMG Uterus! club, and the assumption that it’s the only thing I’d be useful at talking about is a problem for me, regardless of how well-intentioned you are in wanting to bring this topic to the forefront at your conferences. If you want women to feel less like outsiders in technology, try having a few of them speak at your conferences about gasp* technology.* Those are excellent points to make. I happen to have a Certificate in GIS and I run a few websites and know a little html and css but I am kind of not really a "woman in tech." My forte is more social (I have had classes on things like Social Psychology and Negotiation and Conflict Management, etc) and I like writing about social things, including women's issues. Some of my writing on such topics has been discussed a little on HN. But, yes, she is absolutely right that being female and in tech does not, by itself, make "women in tech" her forte and she is also absolutely right that a much stronger position for promoting diversity is to hire her to talk about the thing she is an expert in, in spite of, gasp, her having female genitals. I am glad to see this here. It fits nicely with some of my ideas and past comments, I think.
- hippo33 12y agoI think the organizer should have been upfront with you about what he/she wanted you to talk on. That said, I don't think it was an offensive request. The organizer wasn't being presumptuous that you would be interested in speaking on this topic just because you're female -- he/she was merely asking you... As a woman in tech, I get how it's these little things compounded over time that get annoying, but this ask on its own is not unreasonable is it? You can always just say no (as you did). :)
- mtdewcmu 12y agoI think it was more disappointment at not being asked to speak about what she wanted to speak about.
- snipeyhead 12y agoYeah, I wasn't offended. I was disappointed.
- phazmatis 12y agoWell this is great. We're told to "just give women in tech a voice". So some organizers go looking for someone who's comfortable with keynoting the damn conference on these issues. She gives a weak "no, but maybe I could generalize to a talk about diversity in general", and they DO NOT cancel the diversity keynote, they find someone who's more confident to talk about this PARTICULARLY bad targeted issue. And she assumes that they are just dum-dum conference organizers... or something.
- snipeyhead 12y agoTry "or something". Re-read the piece. I never called them dum-dum, I said I was disappointed that they assumed that because I am female, that's a topic I would want to talk about. If you were going to bring in a keynote speaker, wouldn't you check that they are an expert - or have at least presented about - a topic before you schedule them? They didn't, and assumed that just because I'm female, I obviously must present on women in technology. I had no problem with their WIT keynote theme. I was aggravated because they seemed to assume that any chick would do.
- snipeyhead 12y agoAnd frankly, the entire point of that blog post was that "giving women in tech a voice" shouldn't always mean having them talk about women in tech, but it should also be about actual tech. The meta conversation is useful, but cannot be the only thing. When the only time men (and women) see women presenting is on topics about women in tech, I think it's damaging. As if we're allowed to exist in the tech space, but not because we actually solve difficult technical problems, but because of moral obligations.