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Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

soledadpenades.com

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Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If women are disadvantaged Except they're not. In fact, in tech, they're advantaged. Female names on resumes get more callback than male names. This has been studied. The reason there are fewer of them is because fewer of them are interested.

I would like to see the studies you're referencing. However, taking what you're saying as truth (a thing I am reluctant to do), I still find it a big leap to claim that the reason that there are fewer women in tech is that fewer women are interested in tech, and I would still be inclined to believe that women in tech are at a disadvantage. Proving lack of interest seems difficult, at best - for instance, is it that w…

Except women frequently are a majority, not a minority. In the US, 60% of college students now are female. They just don't go into technical professions.

From what I've gathered from being around different women and talking to them, I think all this talk about being "disadvantaged" is missing the real root causes. They actually are disadvantaged, but the problem isn't the workforce, fellow college students, etc., nearly as much as it is their own upbringing, and their very own parents.

If you really want to fix the problem with women in tech, you need to take all female children away from their parents and raise them in state-run facilities where they're taught that they actually can do math and play with toys that aren't dolls and pursue careers in these fields. Somehow, I doubt this suggestion will be seriously considered....

In short, our very own culture is to blame here. That's not something that's easy to change, because now you're advocating having the state usurp the power of the parents to parent their children.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're in your fabric and sewing machine, waiting for you to let them out.

I'm a man and I own a sewing machine! And I use it!

Have an up vote!

As a guy who does this, and is out and proud about it to his other male friends I have to say the reaction I get has been only positive. Then again I'm also the one you call to help move or fix something with a soldering iron or a power tool.

A sewing machine is a dangerous power tool and not to be approached in a casual way.

Sewing is a lot more forgiving than wood assuming your working with fabric. It is a lot less forgiving if your working with plastics or leather (holes are forever).

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't be a problem if inequality wasn't influenced strongly by negative factors for women. The tech industry is rife with evidence of hostility toward women; IT Barbie and gendered toy marketing are other examples of how women are not on equal footing with regards to entering this industry. And there is also the problem of women being paid less to do the same job. To paint a picture that says the current landsc…

>And there is also the problem of women being paid less to do the same job. How many times does the "wage gap" need to be debunked before people stop spreading it? http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/01/no-women-do... http://time.com/3222543/wage-pay-gap-myth-feminism/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-hoff-sommers/wage-ga... http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/08/gende... http://www.f…

Three articles by the same person from the American Enterprise Institute and then some obvious opinion pieces with restricted sampling sizes.

Imo, the smoking gun should include a gun and it should probably be smoking.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#244
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a member of a disadvantaged group, you often do not have the ability to identify as a professional first and a group member second. That is the effect of being disadvantaged. Other people will make your life seem primarily about being a group member. Think about dealing with sexist/sexually-charged comments, racial tension at the office. Even if you want to just be a professional, other people will get in…

Argue for your limitations, and surely they're yours. To the extent that you can focus on what is under your personal control, you are likely to be happier and more productive. To the extent that you focus on things that are not under your control and can't be changed, you will be unhappy, unproductive, and will have a built-in excuse for your failures. This is not an either-or choice, it is a spectrum. And the farth…

> things that are not under your control and can't be changed

Maybe those things can't be changed in the short run, but maybe speaking up about them helps move society in the direction of changing them in the long run.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to see the studies you're referencing. However, taking what you're saying as truth (a thing I am reluctant to do), I still find it a big leap to claim that the reason that there are fewer women in tech is that fewer women are interested in tech, and I would still be inclined to believe that women in tech are at a disadvantage. Proving lack of interest seems difficult, at best - for instance, is it that w…

I think the statement that on average women are less likely to be interested in tech careers is likely reasonable. For example, take veterinary science ... this is a rigorous and demanding area of study previously dominated by men, but now dominated by women. You can Google about this yourself, but here's an article I just found [1]. So why has this happened in the veterinary sciences, but not tech? One answer could…

>In the case of veterinary science that synergy would come from the female predilection towards caring and nurturing. I'm not saying every woman cares about things like that, but on average more do than men.

I think that's BS. From what I've seen throughout my life, women are much more likely to be cold, uncaring parents than men. Notice how you always hear horror stories about mothers-in-law, but you almost never hear anything bad about fathers-in-law. I think we as a society have somehow gotten the idea that women are nurturing and caring, because we want them to be, but it's entirely wrong for the most part.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#246

I went to ngconf this year and two of the talks that stood out to me were given by women. One was the angular materials talk / demo and it was amazing. The presenter was exuding tech prowess, I was blown away by how easy she made it look to make a dog adoption website. One of the best talks. The other was by the CEO of girl scouts giving a patronizing 5 minute talk about how we need all help women in tech succeed and…

I had to look for the best talk you've mentioned.

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRiV_b3WsoY

Very good talk indeed.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#247
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would actually argue that classism is far and away the worst problem in this industry. It just plays out in ways that you don't expect. Hiring mostly grads from top schools is exactly that. In my circle are a lot of junior and fresh out of school developers and one guy I know who killed it in his interview was ultimately not hired and told it was because he didn't "look like a developer". He dressed in normal busin…

I don't know — ageism?

Yeah, that too.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comment you pointed to seems very reasonable to me, I am assuming from the rest of your comment that you don't think it is. We all have such realities, and typically few if any other people realise what's going on. Just be kind. To everyone (note to self: be better at this). It's not specific to any particular group (though: apparently short men have it quite a bit worse than other "protected" groups: http://www.…

I'm by no means asserting it isn't reasonable, In fact I'm using it to bolster my point in suggesting an opposite side to the same coin of "card carrying member of x" in a manner that demands attention to perhaps what informs and enforces the perception of "identifying as a card carrying member of %group%" with a dash more nuance than what exists on the surface. For some people, their identity and association as a me…

Not exactly sure the point you're making, but I really enjoy Paul Grahams essay on the topic of identity.

http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

> Most people reading this will already be fairly tolerant. But there is a step beyond thinking of yourself as x but tolerating y: not even to consider yourself an x. The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a member of a disadvantaged group, you often do not have the ability to identify as a professional first and a group member second. That is the effect of being disadvantaged. Other people will make your life seem primarily about being a group member. Think about dealing with sexist/sexually-charged comments, racial tension at the office. Even if you want to just be a professional, other people will get in…

> If you are a member of a disadvantaged group Short, fat, scrawny, aging, young, poor, immigrant, religious, atheist, nose-picker. Maybe identifying as a card carrying member of a "disadvantaged" group isn't the healthiest outlook to have.

People look at my boobs and identify me as a woman -- I don't really have to do anything but exist. It's not really about my outlook.

Re: Why I won’t give talks about being a woman in tech

#250

If there is no gender parity, there is a problem. No, there isn't. We don't have a "gender parity problem" in nursing, pre-k education, garbage collection, nor boilermaking. Just because it isn't 50/50 doesn't mean it's a problem.

> Just because it isn't 50/50 doesn't mean it's a problem.

I completely agree with that statement in isolation, however it doesn't address that there are women who feel that breaking into tech is hard, or at least problematic, and that difficulty is caused (at least somewhat) by the men failing to treat the incoming women with an appropriate amount of respect and or credibility.

So long as every woman who wants to pursue a job in tech is able to do so without reprisal from her potential co-workers, the ratio of women to men is not indicative of any problems whatsoever.

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