My positive experience as a woman in tech
lea.verou.me
My positive experience as a woman in tech
1–10 of 403 posts
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#2> Stories like mine should become the norm, not the exception.
We don't know if that is not the case already. The echo chamber is powerful and viral.
A great post, thank you!
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#3Am I the only one who thinks "sexism" is overrated? It's misinterpreted by so many and I'm not sure I understand what it means most of the time. I think humans are prejudice about so many things that it's hard to keep track and "give a name" to every single prejudice. Obviously "sex" does set us apart much more strongly than, say, race, or probably any other thing, so I really find it normal that there are stereotypes and prejudices about "sex" specifically.
Obviously there's a problem if your stereotype, whichever it may be, becomes offensive and disrespectful. But I mean -- " I noticed for the first time that day that I was the only woman in the room. His effort to be courteous made me feel that I was different, the odd one out" -- there's no way you can label this "sexist". It's just a dude who probably thinks a girl is cute and is therefore a little awkward around said person.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that labels can mean different things to different people and I really hate using them to express my specific situation.
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#4> "Ironically, one of the very few times I have experienced any sexism in the industry was when a dude was trying to be nice to me."
I'm not sure how ironic this is. It seems to be setting up a straw man of sexist behaviour being the domain of moustache-twirling villians, rather than something that often perfectly normal men and women inflict on each other and experience unwanted outcomes of because of their culture and the structures of the society they grew up in.
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#5She had me until the very end, with the anecdote about the guy apologizing for swearing in front of her.
I would apologize if I said "fuck" near my country's president, or even the president of my small-ish company. Both of whom are male. It's a sign of respect. In the context of women, I see it in a similar light to holding the door open for a lady. It isn't me assuming she's too weak to open a door, it's just a common courtesy.
I'm genuinely sorry that the author was offended by the guy apologizing for saying "fuck" near her. I can't speak for him, and perhaps he was a total douchebag. But perhaps he was aware that on average men can be more crude than women, and in a professional (male-dominated, numerically speaking!) setting like that one, it's prudent to avoid language that could make people feel uncomfortable.
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#6Sexism is not "over-rated"
OECD's Social Institutions and Gender Index Is at http://www.genderindex.org, and is a litany of baked in prejudice, violence, lack of access to education, lack of access to property and other normal legal rights.
When we compare the lot of a 16 yo girl in Rwanda to a High schooler in SF, yes it is hard to find where the High schooler is having problems, but we just have to look at the ratio of men and women in tech to see there is a problem - even in modern, western, progressive San Francisco.
So globally, sexism is a violent oppressive force holding back progress for billions. In our happier world, it's waaaay better, but still not equal - and where there is inequality, there is profitable arbitrage opportunity. Both for talented women and for companies willing and able to introspect and overcome whatever is blocking their use of talented women.
The most obvious example I can see is I should be able to hire the very best development talent, for 80% of the price of the equivalent male talent ! Win!
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#7> "when no positive stories get out, the overall picture painted is bleak, which could scare even more women away."
In a world where there is so much bad press and news, it is nice to read something from the other side. Refreshing and encouraging.
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#8She had me until the very end, with the anecdote about the guy apologizing for swearing in front of her. I would apologize if I said "fuck" near my country's president, or even the president of my small-ish company. Both of whom are male. It's a sign of respect. In the context of women, I see it in a similar light to holding the door open for a lady. It isn't me assuming she's too weak to open a door, it's just a com…
I didn't get the impression that she was offended by the guy who apologized for saying "fuck" near her. I think it just made her feel more self-conscious.
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#9> "Ironically, one of the very few times I have experienced any sexism in the industry was when a dude was trying to be nice to me." I'm not sure how ironic this is. It seems to be setting up a straw man of sexist behaviour being the domain of moustache-twirling villians, rather than something that often perfectly normal men and women inflict on each other and experience unwanted outcomes of because of their culture…
I think the point is that deliberately trying to accommodate women can result in being more sexist. Which is pretty ironic.
Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech
#10She had me until the very end, with the anecdote about the guy apologizing for swearing in front of her. I would apologize if I said "fuck" near my country's president, or even the president of my small-ish company. Both of whom are male. It's a sign of respect. In the context of women, I see it in a similar light to holding the door open for a lady. It isn't me assuming she's too weak to open a door, it's just a com…
> it's prudent to avoid language that could make people feel uncomfortable.
The weird thing is not that he apologized (that's reasonable), the weird thing is that he apologized /to her/ (and not to the group as a whole).