A Request to Women Working in Tech
Jun. 1st, 2010 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
noahgibbsA friend recently said something about which, as Shanna's father, I feel conflicted.
She said that as a woman working in technology, she wouldn't recommend that other women enter the field. She's a system administrator. So, while she's not a computer programmer like myself, she's in a very similar field with mostly similar interpersonal dynamics. That is to say, what she says almost certainly applies to my field if it applies to hers. And as an actual woman working in technology, her experience is going to be significantly more accurate than my from-the-outside impressions.
I'm not going to repeat her reasons here. Rather, I'd be very curious whether other women working in technical fields, especially system administration and/or programming, felt the same way. Anybody care to comment? When you comment, please let me know what you do/did in technology. For some of you, I'll know offhand. For many of you, I'll have forgotten. For anybody who comments, there may be other readers who don't know/remember.
Anonymous comments are turned on here. Technically I *do* log IPs and I don't see a quick way to turn it off just for this post, but you have my word that I won't attempt to match up anybody anonymous here with any specific person. If you're really worried for some reason, there are many fine technical measures to make that tracking ineffective at finding you.
She said that as a woman working in technology, she wouldn't recommend that other women enter the field. She's a system administrator. So, while she's not a computer programmer like myself, she's in a very similar field with mostly similar interpersonal dynamics. That is to say, what she says almost certainly applies to my field if it applies to hers. And as an actual woman working in technology, her experience is going to be significantly more accurate than my from-the-outside impressions.
I'm not going to repeat her reasons here. Rather, I'd be very curious whether other women working in technical fields, especially system administration and/or programming, felt the same way. Anybody care to comment? When you comment, please let me know what you do/did in technology. For some of you, I'll know offhand. For many of you, I'll have forgotten. For anybody who comments, there may be other readers who don't know/remember.
Anonymous comments are turned on here. Technically I *do* log IPs and I don't see a quick way to turn it off just for this post, but you have my word that I won't attempt to match up anybody anonymous here with any specific person. If you're really worried for some reason, there are many fine technical measures to make that tracking ineffective at finding you.
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Late to the party...
Date: 2010-06-02 10:53 pm (UTC)I have never earned as much money as my male peers. There have been numerous times that I was passed over for a promotion for a male colleague. I am good at my job, so why am I treated this way? I have children and I put them ahead of my career.
As has already been revealed in the comments, sexism is not limited to the computer field. According to the Harvard Business Review, only 2.6% of the Fortune 500 companies are led by women (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2009/12/women_ceo_why_so_few.html)
According to Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics "In 2010, 90 women serve in the U.S. Congress. Seventeen women serve in the Senate, and 73 women serve in the House. The number of women in statewide elective executive posts is 72, while the proportion of women in state legislatures is 24.4%." (http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/index.php)
What really frightens me is that this is progress. Women have only been allowed to vote for the past 90 years.
I feel that a woman going into any field that isn't traditionally a woman's job is going to face significant challenges. Heck, going into teaching, a "woman's field" I am facing challenges since men tend to dominate the administration jobs at the high school level since many female teachers don't get their doctorates, instead having families. In this job market, male teachers have an advantage. They are a longer term investment and are more likely to stay in education, even if they have families.
I don't know if you were thinking about your daughter when you asked this question, but I know I thought of mine when I read it. I went to Mills because I wanted to get away from the boys and it really changed my perspective. I will encourage my daughter to consider a woman's college, because she will have a chance to earn her degree where her ideas will be respected and she will be allowed to speak. Further, she is more likely to find a job that will attempt to be equitable if she is starting from said college.