I've worked in tech for over 20 years, and while the overt sexism has gotten better (back when I was a programmer, in the early 90s, I was mistaken for a secretary by a client) there's still a lot of pressure to be 'one of the boys', to be able to handle the sexist jokes, the comments about being on my period if I'm having a bad day, at any sign of aggravation or aggression told to "calm down", things like that. Getting called "sweetie" or "hon". Being treated like I can't rack a server because I wore a skirt that day (let alone pull cables for the thing!).
Nothing that can be taken to HR, but a lot of being treated differently because I'm female. Since I started telecommuting 3 years I don't see nearly as much of it, since my interaction with co-workers is much more task focused than it usually is face to face, but I do still get it from various people.
I don't have to prove myself as much as I used to, but that could also be because I hold a senior position which I wouldn't have gotten if I didn't know my stuff. When I deal with the off-shore support people (in my case usually Brazil) I have to deal a lot with being talked over, with being dismissed, which annoys me because they're a lower support level than I am.
To give you background, I'm current contracted support by LargeTLA to support InternationalStoreChain, and I'm a senior SAN administrator. InternationalStoreChain has outsourced their North American operations to LargeTLA (multiple data centers, large environment). Of the tech people I deal with day in and day out, I would say maybe 2 others are female.
So while things have gotten better, I still would hesitate to recommend to a young woman that a tech career, or at least one in infrastructure support like I have, would be a good choice.
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Pointed here by a friend...
Date: 2010-06-01 11:41 pm (UTC)Nothing that can be taken to HR, but a lot of being treated differently because I'm female. Since I started telecommuting 3 years I don't see nearly as much of it, since my interaction with co-workers is much more task focused than it usually is face to face, but I do still get it from various people.
I don't have to prove myself as much as I used to, but that could also be because I hold a senior position which I wouldn't have gotten if I didn't know my stuff. When I deal with the off-shore support people (in my case usually Brazil) I have to deal a lot with being talked over, with being dismissed, which annoys me because they're a lower support level than I am.
To give you background, I'm current contracted support by LargeTLA to support InternationalStoreChain, and I'm a senior SAN administrator. InternationalStoreChain has outsourced their North American operations to LargeTLA (multiple data centers, large environment). Of the tech people I deal with day in and day out, I would say maybe 2 others are female.
So while things have gotten better, I still would hesitate to recommend to a young woman that a tech career, or at least one in infrastructure support like I have, would be a good choice.