Comments on: Dev8D: where were the women? A response.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:01:23 +0000

Maybe the lack of representation is down to the affects of inequality in the workplace. From *harmless* banter, which undermine’s self-belief in one’s ability to downright derision that goes on to female programmers in Support Services within HE. It’s a bit of a double whammy I think. Being within a ‘support’ role and not an academic is the first blow and then being a female in that role and profession is the second. Academia is full of egos and more so in the development community. Women, in my experience, are very hard pushed to sustain their confidence and enthusiasm when other factors, whether overtly or not, seem to knock individuals down.

In my experience, it is co-developers who support each other but there is still sexism which exists in the workplace from managers and snobbery within academia. In this environment coupled with the current financial climate, it would be nearly impossible for a female developer to request 2 or 3 days off to attend a developers forum.

… I also like to think it’s because they (managers) know they have to leave the women at work while the men the go off on a jolly – because who gets all the work done anyway!!!!!

By: Lorna

Lorna — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:41:49 +0000

Thanks for this post Juliette, I think you’ve done an excellent job of highlighting factors that make any community inclusive as opposed to exclusive. Something for us all to aspire to!

By: Juliette Culver

Juliette Culver — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:46:07 +0000

Hi Lorna,

I made a bit of an attempt to articulate something here!

http://www.julietteculver.com/blog/2010/3/25/making-tech-communities-welcoming.html

Juliette

By: Sheila’s work blog » Ada Lovelace Day

Sheila’s work blog » Ada Lovelace Day — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:00:02 +0000

[…] commented the other week in her blog about the lack of women at certain techie events such as Dev8D. Juliette is also one of the few […]

By: Lorna

Lorna — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:09:21 +0000

Thanks for the comment and the book recommendation Juliette. I’ll add it to my ever growing pile to books to read

I know exactly what you mean about not being able to identify why you feel comfortable in some events or situations and not in others. It’s tricky, but I think we have a responsibility to try to articulate what’s going on so we can be more inclusive. Not easy though. Hmmmm…

By: Juliette Culver

Juliette Culver — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:05:54 +0000

You’ve reminded me of the book ‘Watching the English’ by Kate Fox a while back. There was a really interesting section about how all male groups, all female groups and mixed groups behave. Worth digging out if you haven’t read it! Really fascinating book.

Like any woman in this area, I’ve had lots of experience at being the only woman in a group of men. Sometimes it’s totally fine and I’m completely unconscious of my gender – our team at work is an example of this. But on other occasions, I’ve been acutely aware of it. I haven’t been able to put my finger on what separates the two though.

By: Lorna

Lorna — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:34:47 +0000

Good to see that a little discussion on these issues has sparked off over on the original DevSCI post. I’ve also had a couple of interesting comments on Facebook. One (female) colleague who works with a (female) developer mentioned that the developer has no interest in attending these events but she’s not sure why. Another colleague posted the following:

“In a previous life (14 years in IT tech/user support), I spent most of them as the only woman in the team. That changed only in my last role, which was my first brush with a HEI – they had a female mac specialist. A bit sad, in a way, that this is still a concern. I used to attribute it to when computing was first taught in schools – always by (male) maths teachers, always in ways appealing to boys. Can’t surely still be the case…”

By: Sheila MacNeill

Sheila MacNeill — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:10:57 +0000

Hi Lorna

I think I share your confusion! I didn’t got go dev8D but I did go to the linked data meeting on the first day and was pleasantly surprised by the number (by no means 50/50) of females in the audience. I’m not sure why this didn’t prevail throughout the event. I don’t have the same home constraints as you but I would find it hard to justify taking 2 or 3 days our for this event. There were some female developers there, but I suspect that it’s just a reflection of the imbalance between male and female developers.

Sheila