I’ve been wanting to write about my experience as one of those “elusive” female software engineers, but I haven’t actually had that many experiences with discrimination as a female software engineer than I have trying to become a designer-slash-developer. I think part of it is the culture of the company I work for (IBM), and the fact that there isn’t necessarily a lack of women in the company in all sorts of roles. I never feel hyper-aware if I’m the only woman in a meeting, because people I work with don’t really care what gender I am, as long as I can get the job done. Maybe it’s because I work from home and am usually the disembodied voice on speakerphone…but I really think it’s just because IBM is such a large, old company that we’ve been through the women in technology “crisis” since the late 19th centuryΒ and have pretty much moved forward since then.
That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading up on the various experiences that other women go through. It’s hard for me to empathize with some though, especially the ones that refer to breaking the stereotype of a hot woman in heels not being able to write code.
I finally read an article today on Medium.com that sort of addressed some of the concerns I had, but I was expecting it to be titled “I need ugly female software engineers”. π Seriously though, it’s true as the writer says, women are somewhat held to a higher esteem than men. It’s not enough that a woman is just good at what she does, she also has to be good-looking, amiable, and if applicable, an awesome mother. It’s ok if a really smart and successful male software engineer has no social skills, is a poor dresser, and berates people in public forums…they are just seen as “quirky” but “genius”. There is this belief that girls don’t end up in computer science because it’s just not “glamorous” enough, and that we need to show girls that even those that wear makeup and 4-inch heels and mini skirts can be fierce as a programmer. Maybe women out there who are in tech should just keeping doing what they’re doing and be more outward about it, blog more, talk more about it like men more often do, and then it will become a goal of young girls to “be in computer science” rather than to “be a female in computer science.”
Hi Jessica,
Fellow IBMer here, I’ve been following your blog since I saw your comics on w3. π
Gender dynamics in the tech industry is a perennial topic, it seems. I saw that article too (via Reddit) and, while the author has a point (well, perhaps it’s Randall Munroe’s, as the xkcd comic in the article seems the most compelling), I think it just has to do with the fact that there are so few women in technology. I also think it perhaps hurts the author’s credibility a little bit that she quoted Nicki Minaj of all people – why not Grace Hopper or Ada Lovelace?
It is common to think “Susie is the only woman I know in software, and Susie is a terrible coder, therefore all women are terrible coders” — I think that this was also true for African American employees prior to Affirmative Action. So I think perhaps even better than this are employers like Etsy, who actually make it a policy to employ more women – not by lowering the standard, of course, but by encouraging women to go into tech: scholarships, changing recruiting policies, etc. There’s a pretty good video interview with Etsy SVP Marc Hedlund about how they did this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D66GVc7ztA
I graduated from Western University just last year with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. We didn’t have many female students (it was certainly not a balanced 50/50 scenario) in either program, but I can say that many of my female peers were aiming to be great at what they do, not restricting themselves to “just” being a great /female/ in their profession.
At the end of the day, I do agree it has a lot to do with how you define yourself. The good news is that our profession is simply a reflection of society as a whole, and as younger people join the workforce, sentiments are shifting.
Perhaps it is true that women are still under-represented in technology, but at least in my experience at IBM, I don’t think that women are either marginalized or held to a higher standard than anyone else. If this is not true at other companies, then I think it will gradually become that way, as attitudes in society have been shifting for decades.
Incidentally, one of my biggest geek heroes happens to be female – Jeri Ellsworth is a self-taught engineer that made a YouTube video about how to make your own transistors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_znRopGtbE
So, as with all things, just remember: it will get better, and at the end of the day, you’re only really accountable to yourself. Keep on doing what you’re doing.
Cheers,
Jonathan
PS: I really wish there was more cross-pollination between design and development. Both disciplines have a lot to teach each other, I think, so congrats on your pursuit of the designer-slash-developer persona π