On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
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On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
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Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#2[deleted]
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#3While this is an interesting article, I have a minor quibble with the title - does the author really mean that her team is "predominantly male", which has a very different meaning than "male dominated"?
One just expresses a ratio of genders, whereas the other implies a distinct control and power dynamic.
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#4Bryana refers several times to a fear she has been chosen or favoured due to her gender, and because of the positive discrimination we have allowed to happen in our industry.
Positive discrimination is not positive, because discrimination is never positive, no matter which group it favours. And here we see the consequences - a cohort of women who will suffer the paranoia of not knowing whether they were selected on merit. And a cohort of men who will have their misogynistic prejudices reinforced because the bar was visibly lowered for women.
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#5Bryana refers several times to a fear she has been chosen or favoured due to her gender, and because of the positive discrimination we have allowed to happen in our industry. Positive discrimination is not positive, because discrimination is never positive, no matter which group it favours. And here we see the consequences - a cohort of women who will suffer the paranoia of not knowing whether they were selected on m…
Exactly. When an entity (i.e. a company, tech conference, etc.) chooses someone for any reason outside of merit, it's discrimination, and marginalizes the hard work of others.
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#6She says she was encouraged to apply and speak at conferences, and that management would campaign for the whole team to attend any conferences where she is accepted to speak.
> This may seem like special treatment or in some ways unfair. "Reverse sexism" some might call it. I don't see it that way. This industry treats women differently, so my managers treat me differently in the exact opposite way the industry does.
I would not call it "reverse sexism", because it is is just plain sexism. Of course the author doesn't "see it that way", despite acknowledging it, because the author directly benefits from said sexism.
If the author is being encouraged to apply for and accepted to speak at conferences primarily based on their gender, then the industry's reaction will be to expect that women speakers are token speakers, and this will set back women in the industry.
Embrace differences, embrace diversity, but in the long run special treatment does not benefit anybody.
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#7Bryana refers several times to a fear she has been chosen or favoured due to her gender, and because of the positive discrimination we have allowed to happen in our industry. Positive discrimination is not positive, because discrimination is never positive, no matter which group it favours. And here we see the consequences - a cohort of women who will suffer the paranoia of not knowing whether they were selected on m…
Those are several possible negative outcomes of positive discrimination. It's also possible that more women speakers at conferences encourages other women to speak, to work on side projects and generally to do things that get them promoted.
I think her point is that since there is so much negative discrimination, the positive discrimination is cancelled out.
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#8While this is an interesting article, I have a minor quibble with the title - does the author really mean that her team is "predominantly male", which has a very different meaning than "male dominated"? One just expresses a ratio of genders, whereas the other implies a distinct control and power dynamic.
She does say that the two engineering managers are also male, so the current title would be correct.
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#9Bryana refers several times to a fear she has been chosen or favoured due to her gender, and because of the positive discrimination we have allowed to happen in our industry. Positive discrimination is not positive, because discrimination is never positive, no matter which group it favours. And here we see the consequences - a cohort of women who will suffer the paranoia of not knowing whether they were selected on m…
Those are several possible negative outcomes of positive discrimination. It's also possible that more women speakers at conferences encourages other women to speak, to work on side projects and generally to do things that get them promoted. I think her point is that since there is so much negative discrimination, the positive discrimination is cancelled out.
I'm yet to see any compelling evidence of discrimination against women in technology. I've been in the industry 12 years. I know plenty of women in tech. They have the same minor grievances that men do. But none due to sexism.
I also think that if there -is- sexism in the industry, -more sexism- is not the right solution. Call out the sexism. The industry will rally around you, as we've often seen. Don't generalise the industry, and generalise men. That's just bigotry.
Re: On being a female on a male-dominated engineering team
#10While this is an interesting article, I have a minor quibble with the title - does the author really mean that her team is "predominantly male", which has a very different meaning than "male dominated"? One just expresses a ratio of genders, whereas the other implies a distinct control and power dynamic.
"Male-dominated" is used all the time to refer to workplaces and industries that skew heavily male.