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Coping Strategies for Women in IT
Ian Lamont writes "Female workers are losing ground in the IT profession, reports Computerworld, citing statistics which show a sharp drop in the number of female CS grads since the 1980s, and a decline in the percentage of women in the IT profession since 2001. According to the article, causes include pervasive stereotypes and the locker-room atmosphere found in some IT shops — attitudes which some readers may recognize from the comments in a Slashdot thread last week. The IT professionals interviewed in the Computerworld article discuss a variety of strategies for coping. They range from trying to 'out-boy the boys' to watching what you say, as one Sun Microsystems executive describes:'It's not unusual to be the only woman at a meeting, she says, and because of that, there's often a tendency to remain silent unless you think you have something really remarkable to say. "As one member of a small group, you feel you have no right to be mediocre ... You're not just representing yourself; you're representing [females] with a capital F.'"
but I will.
.NET did it all for you).
Women in IT, generally suck at it. They suck as programmers. They suck even more as sysadmins. There is a girl I work with who is the 100% opposite to what I'm saying, so there are definite silver linings, and even I have eaten my words since I had given up on the idea that women would be good at IT.
In the 10 years I've been in IT, this is the first female whom I have met who is willing to learn, do the job, work hard, and has a sense of logic and systematic approach to working in IT. The other women I've met felt a sense of entitlement because they were women, felt a sense they were being put down because they were a woman, and not because they couldn't handle the work. Women I've met (as a sysadmin) wouldn't meet the requirements of moving servers because "I'm a girl!", but then expected to set them up from top to bottom after I'd racked and stacked it for them.
Programming is a similar story. Women I've encountered took a long time to come up with the logic to create a flow, create a procedure. Lots of questions to ask colleagues, lots of back and forth, and little actual code -- too much talking about the code. What they do code is usually well commented and indented (before
I am sorry to say, but if a woman feels that IT is her calling -- she better be good at it. They have a lot more to prove and as a manager myself, I would be wary of hiring a woman because the skills I look for are competence and the ability to 'figure it out' without interference. It's not to say that it cannot be done, but the burden of proof is on the woman in the job. It's unfortunate for sure, but there are similar circumstances where men would not be as aptly suited for a job as a woman would. Would you for example, hire a male decorator over a woman? The answer is MAYBE -- that person would have to prove their work.
Women are no different. It's just that there are so few of them that are able to prove their worth (just as there are so few male decorators), that it seems like a difficult task. Honestly, after meeting the girl in my current job, my respect for her is two times what it would be if she was a guy -- and she gets that from everybody whom she works with because she is competent to do her job. Usually the people who are bitching about fairness and being treated with respect, given the work of their position, trusted with it to be done quickly and efficiently... well they usually suck at their jobs and it's nothing to do with the fact they are women.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
So, the differences between men and woman are only in their physical abilities?
And the reason that women don't want to work the mines, is because of the lifting requirement? And not because the work is grueling, dirty, and hard on the body?
If the lifting requirement is all that is holding them back, why not simply lower it? In much the same way that the physical requirements for women were lowered for women firefighters. I'm sure they'd just flock to it.
Women in the workplace is creation of capitalistic exploitation which needed extra supply of workforce.
Modern economy would perfectly exist without women workers.
Women are fine as separately managed business owners and any kind of investment that do not require much time distracting them from their main purpose: raising children.
I expect anything higher than -1 for this comment as an insult.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I work in the IT field (I'm a consultant), and I've yet to see the over, rampant, hostility that you claim exists. More likely, it's the usual inter-office politics that exists in pretty much every office job. But instead of chalking it up the standard office culture, why not cry "sexism"?
Sexism does exist in, and out of, the work environment. But to say that it's the major reason that women aren't in the IT field is absurd. Even more absurd is claiming that the hostility that women feel in the IT field is sexist-driven.
"If you think that Women aren't geared for IT because their better at interpersonal skills, then you're living in the IT past."
No, I'm saying they aren't geared for IT because of their lack of analytical skills.
"Besides, there have been plenty of studies to show that boys and girls both perform equally well in math and science subjects through grade school. They do show a bit of a dip in High School, but that could be more attributed to lower expectations, media, and environment. It could also be attributed to guys like you constantly saying that "you can't be that good at it, since you're a girl. don't worry, it's not your fault, it's science"."
Or, it could be puberty and more hormonal differences. IF women were consistently the same as men we wouldn't be talking about this since equality would have existed from the beginning. The stratification exists because not everybody has the same abilities, not because we supress the abilities to maintain the stratification. The great white male conspiracy doesn't really exist, we have work to do.
"Finally, I suppose then that you'll be okay with having all your managers be women."
You'd think so, since they are better at communication and all. Until you have to try to explain a technical issue to them or lead them down a chain of logic for them to make a decision. Then it's generally painful since they don't understand which makes them become defensive. Then it's impossible to discuss technical matters because they take it as a subtle personal attack where you're exposing their weakness.
well it depends on what you define as sexism. much of the objection to this kind of stuff is that its more about gender warfare than equality. creating women with chips on their shoulders so they see discrimination everywhere because they interpret everything through that filter. and that is dangerous because it is actually counter productive to their cause. someone you have to tip toe around and treat as a delicate flower is actually an inferior employee. no ones for old fashioned smack on the ass sexism, but i just don't think much of that exists today really. especially in the it world. there are groups today with agendas that will spin things to meet their reality regardless of the truth, they are only out to keep themselves relevant.