Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
jolieodell.wordpress.com
Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
1–10 of 57 posts
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#2I'm usually wary of this topic, since it's both overplayed and has a very poor signal-to-noise ratio, but Jolie's posts are what it should be like — high on facts, low on melodrama, and coming to an actual, pragmatic conclusion.
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#3This clearly isn't the heart of the article, but are transgendered people really underrepresented in tech? It's anecdotal, but I'd estimate that 90% of the transgendered people I've met have been in tech.
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#4[deleted]
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#5This clearly isn't the heart of the article, but are transgendered people really underrepresented in tech? It's anecdotal, but I'd estimate that 90% of the transgendered people I've met have been in tech.
It's important to note that there are also transgendered people the other way (FTM, approximately half of all transgendered people), and they don't have the same 90% tech involvement thing (which is really only true for a certain age group of transwomen in the US, not so much for other countries).
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#6There was a journal paper about a year ago by Sapna Cheryan called Ambient Belonging: How Stereotypical Cues Impact Gender Participation in Computer Science that you can read here:
http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/Courses/ILT/ILT0010/Ambientbe...
The dumbed-down version is here:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/star-trek-keeps-wo...
In short, it appears that CS has a serious grassroots marketing problem.
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#7This clearly isn't the heart of the article, but are transgendered people really underrepresented in tech? It's anecdotal, but I'd estimate that 90% of the transgendered people I've met have been in tech.
I was thinking the same, every single trans or genderqueer person I know is in tech; but then I found it difficult to think of people I knew of any description who weren't in some way in tech. I guess it's a matter of perspective. Still, I would imagine it is easier to experiment with presenting, gender identity, etc when you are anonymous behind a LiveJournal (for some reason all the trans people I know have one). Heck, I was accidentally presenting as male for 2+ years on usenet because nobody took the time to wonder what gender I was, instead just assuming.
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#8This clearly isn't the heart of the article, but are transgendered people really underrepresented in tech? It's anecdotal, but I'd estimate that 90% of the transgendered people I've met have been in tech.
I was similarly curious about that whole sentence. My sense among people I know is that LBGTetc are not particularly underrepresented in tech; and are possibly overrepresented. (Once you correct for the overall underrepresentation of females, that is; lesbians are clearly underrepresented, but not clearly so once you limit only to women in tech.) Like you, my evidence is only based on my personal interactions with people, but I would certainly like to see some numbers supporting the claim.
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#9Why aren't there women in technology today? Probably because they're smart enough to stay away. Technology today, particularly startups, is an ego driven, fad chasing death-march.
What sane person would want to spend their time with emotional children reinventing the wheel and following every fad that comes along? Instead you could work in pr, or management, or even cabinetmaking.
So why don't we have women in tech? Because they have more foresight than us.
Re: Why we don't need more women in tech... yet
#10This clearly isn't the heart of the article, but are transgendered people really underrepresented in tech? It's anecdotal, but I'd estimate that 90% of the transgendered people I've met have been in tech.
All kinds of social outcasts seem to be over-represented in tech. It's like that one lunch table in school where everyone who wasn't popular sat.