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One random, odd, quirky librarian at MIT has a bizarre theory.
ONE....one person.
Agreed. One incident does not make a theory. However, maybe it is just the Media cycle we have today, but more, and more we are seeing these things that "trigger" people, and "offend" others.
Ask BigDGeek what keeps women out of technology - although she's a woman in technology.
I've talked to a couple of young women who left their field because they were tasked with projects with no guidance and when they asked for help, were told to 'just look at X' or 'just do Y'. Meanwhile, if one of their buddies needed help, they'd have them pull up a chair and walk them through the entire process.
I hate to say it but I think men are keeping women out of technology. BigDGeek can explain why.
Ask BigDGeek what keeps women out of technology - although she's a woman in technology.
I've talked to a couple of young women who left their field because they were tasked with projects with no guidance and when they asked for help, were told to 'just look at X' or 'just do Y'. Meanwhile, if one of their buddies needed help, they'd have them pull up a chair and walk them through the entire process.
I hate to say it but I think men are keeping women out of technology. BigDGeek can explain why.
Happy to help.
No, it isn't "Star Wars" posters...this isn't the 90s. I haven't seen Star Wars anything at the office for many years. Most of the youngsters from India in the field now have never seen any of the Star Wars movies (at least not the ones I've worked with).
Women get little to no guidance and if we ask for help, we look weak...so we try to figure things out on our own instead of getting the opportunity to do "peer programming" or "pair programming" (the terms are used interchangeably). So we miss out both on relationship-building and knowledge transfer.
Additionally, the field was already rife with sexism and there are three major roadblocks for women in I.T. right now:
Age discrimination: it begins much earlier for us, as in in our 40s.
The "bro" culture, mostly found in Silicon Valley but also present in other tech startups and small companies throughout the country.
The "H1B" culture which is primarily male, south Asian, and under 35. It's a triple threat in terms of discrimination against women given that men in general discriminate against women (even subconsciously), the under 35s are more likely to discriminate on the basis of age which hits us disproportionately, and south Asian culture is more patriarchal and more likely to have a cultural bias against women, particularly assertive & highly skilled women.
I would note that STEM is such a broad field that results may completely vary depending upon which area we are talking about.
I think that's why mentoring and talking to younger people and vice-versa is a great idea for those looking into any sort of career, even outside of STEM.
I have a young female relative that is going into basically the same field I already work in and I've given them advice. Fortunately for them, it's STEM but it's one of those areas without H1B people in it and women\men are close to 50/50 anymore so she shouldn't have any of the big 3 issues to deal with. (But could still be some others as there can be pockets within pockets after all).
I would note that STEM is such a broad field that results may completely vary depending upon which area we are talking about.
I think that's why mentoring and talking to younger people and vice-versa is a great idea for those looking into any sort of career, even outside of STEM.
I have a young female relative that is going into basically the same field I already work in and I've given them advice. Fortunately for them, it's STEM but it's one of those areas without H1B people in it and women\men are close to 50/50 anymore so she shouldn't have any of the big 3 issues to deal with. (But could still be some others as there can be pockets within pockets after all).
You explained why men wont be going out of their way to help women anymore in this thread
Women in general have different interests than men.
In the most sex-egalitarian countries on earth, women are still not attracted to STEM. In fact, they seem to be even less willing to participate, and actually follow their interests:
Of course, this doesn't mean that all women avoid STEM. And women interested in it should be encouraged to pursue it. But ultimately, those women interested in STEM are going to go into STEM, regardless. They aren't going to give up their interests to go be nurses.
What I've always found interesting, though, is that we never talk about the lack of women, say, in sanitation work. Or construction. Shouldn't we also be looking at why women don't go into those fields? Or why men don't go into teaching and child care as much?
STEM STEM STEM.... it's not an issue in our society.
And of course, the overwhelming majority of women who have never pursued a complaint against a co-worker or their employer are losing out.
I've been treated poorly and discriminated against at work for being female but I've never reported it. Any of it. Yet I and other women will continue to lose out because men are cowards.
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