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Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

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Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#131

Post by cube_yellow »

GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #122
cube_yellow wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, women are raising kids. And, they negotiate lower pay, so are less invested in the industry. And, they find opportunities in other industries more enticing than men, so are more likely to jump ship for more pleasant pastures. And, and, and shit that people in tech shouldn't bust a brain cell over figuring out and seeking rent to validate their feelings. If you haven't had your warm fuzzies for today, go work a…

I wonder what the rate of attrition is for women in other fields. Also w/r/t/ negotiation and pay, check out things like this: http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/08/23/036168431245... """ Policy makers, academics, and media reports suggest that women could shrink the gender pay gap by negotiating more effectively for higher compensation. Yet women entering compensation negotiations face a dilemma: They have to…

What are the "social consequences of having negotiated"? (Full text is paywalled)

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#132

Post by DanBC »

GhotiFish wrote: post #59
danilocampos wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't care about women in tech. I've noticed. When you collect a few more life experiences, perhaps get a decade of career under your belt, you'll learn how toxic it is when monocultures form. You'll learn about the blind spots. The exclusion. The lack of productive conflict from varying ideas. And perhaps at that point you'll learn why "caring about people in tech" means caring that no people feel actively exclu…

That's perhaps too harsh. You hear from people who are physically handicapped that the thing they hate most is the contrast in treatment. They want to be treated normally. A different person in a different perspective gets treated differently because they are viewed as different. A common complaint. Is he being empathetic or indifferent? I dunno, but it's hard not to say to yourself "Women are being treated different…

> You hear from people who are physically handicapped that the thing they hate most is the contrast in treatment. They want to be treated normally.

You also hear that they needed legislation to prevent employers discriminating against them and that the idea of reasonable adjustment was a powerful driver in in reasing employment among people with disabilities.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#133

Post by md224 »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #117
oh_sigh wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fine. But it still doesn't attempt to show why it is toxic/bad/whatever. If the point of discussions on hackernews is just to take a roll call of opinions, then the first two posts in this thread are on the right track. But if the purpose of discussions are to inform , and persuade , then I would say the posts failed miserably.

Inform: I personally would expect that the representation of a given gender, religion or race in an arbitrary body (a school, a company, an industry, a governing body, etc.) would pretty closely match the representation of the gender/religion/race/etc. in society at large. The tech industry is clearly falling flat on its face when it comes to adequate representation of women. Persuade: Do you really need me to spell…

I tend to agree with your view, though I'm curious if this assertion:

> the representation of a given gender, religion or race in an arbitrary body (a school, a company, an industry, a governing body, etc.) would pretty closely match the representation of the gender/religion/race/etc. in society at large

is necessarily true. I mean, how does one come up with a normative stance on the relationship between proportion in a group vs. global population? Given a perfect world free of discriminatory attitudes, would this principle naturally hold?

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#134

Post by subtleoddities »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #117
oh_sigh wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fine. But it still doesn't attempt to show why it is toxic/bad/whatever. If the point of discussions on hackernews is just to take a roll call of opinions, then the first two posts in this thread are on the right track. But if the purpose of discussions are to inform , and persuade , then I would say the posts failed miserably.

Inform: I personally would expect that the representation of a given gender, religion or race in an arbitrary body (a school, a company, an industry, a governing body, etc.) would pretty closely match the representation of the gender/religion/race/etc. in society at large. The tech industry is clearly falling flat on its face when it comes to adequate representation of women. Persuade: Do you really need me to spell…

Why would you expect that? Statisticians and scientists have to go to great lengths to get samples representative of the population at large, and I hardly think a business or industry is a proper random selection.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#135

Post by argumentum »

Crake wrote: post #16
namenotrequired wrote: post #3

For those who wouldn't click cause it's "Female Founders" - so far it's been just as inspiring as Startup School (even for me as a man).

I usually don't bother with links to things that are phrased in such a way as to suggest support of segregationist policies. I don't care about women in tech. I care about people in tech.

Let me flip your argument around.

If you truly care about people in tech, you should applaud any well-meaning effort to get more people excited about tech, such as this, irrespective of how the event is phrased.

That this particular event is geared towards women doesn't prevent other events targeted to other groups: a conference for older founders, for example.

Moreover events geared towards underrepresented groups have a greater practical effect for getting people into tech, because people from these groups sometimes feel like they don't belong and avoid events like Startup School or PyCon.

I doubt, for instance, holding a "male founders conference" would have much of an effect: it's not like anyone from that demographic, like myself and probably yourself, feels alienated at tech events. But no one is stopping you from trying to organize such an event. It's just unlikely anyone will attend, since they'd have nothing to gain.

In the 90s, there was a networking group called The Indus Entrepreneurs, which aimed to help Indian immigrants start companies, get funding etc. Nowadays, the idea of having an tech group for Indian people seems ridiculous: because there are so many successful Indians in tech.

In 10 years, here's hoping that these efforts will make having a female founders conference seem just as ridiculous. But right now, caring about people in tech includes caring about getting more women into tech.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#136

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

cube_yellow wrote: post #131
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what the rate of attrition is for women in other fields. Also w/r/t/ negotiation and pay, check out things like this: http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/08/23/036168431245... """ Policy makers, academics, and media reports suggest that women could shrink the gender pay gap by negotiating more effectively for higher compensation. Yet women entering compensation negotiations face a dilemma: They have to…

What are the "social consequences of having negotiated"? (Full text is paywalled)

For one, it backfires: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/cfawis/bowles.pdf

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#139

Post by cheez »

beambot wrote: post #23

To all the people kvetching in the comments... this is the live stream for "YC's Female Founders Conference" [1]. That's why "female" is in the post title. I'm an ardent supporter of the effort, and I hope (much like startup school) that YC is able to make it into an annual event! Very inspiring! Also, my wife is in attendance. I look forward to hearing her reactions later tonight. If the live stream is any indicator…

What if only 10% of women are interested in working in tech but 20% of men are interested? (Random numbers not based in reality). Does a 50/50 split make sense?

My personal experience is that there are fewer Black and Hispanic high tech workers than pretty much any other demographic, including women, if you get out of the big cities.

I wish the answers were clearer, but all I can say is that if women are actually discriminated against, then giving them their own space is OK.

For those who hire, do you pay women developers less than male developers of the same skill level?

I'd wager the answer is "no".

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#140

Post by jonalmeida »

david_shaw wrote: post #127
Crake wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't any blatant inequality except for the sex based discrimination being pushed on the field by feminists, which won't be corrected without pushback from egalitarians.

> the sex based discrimination being pushed on the field by feminists I've tried to avoid this inane discussion, but realizing that you're probably misinformed rather than malicious, I thought I'd chime in. Feminism is egalitarianism. Feminism literally means that women should be equal to men. I'm not going to argue with you about so-called "segregationist" policies, because it seems like we'd come to a stand-still.…

To play devil's advocate, I think what he might be referring to is when we try hard to fight for equal rights, we tend to over extend and give more benefits at the same time. This would make us men feel the need to fight more.
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