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.'"

Comments

Another, often missed vantage.

[juuri]

Perhaps there aren't many woman in large groupings of IT positions because those positions suck?

There aren't really very many people in the world for whom the concept of being on call and only being visible to the organization when the shit hits the fan who would find such work appealing. IT is a very mixed bag. Most of the time it is a very low key position with not too many hard deadlines. Then someone breaks and the stress level rises significantly. Then something else breaks in the same window and you quickly outrun your human resources, because few companies actually plan for worst case IT failures. During those windows, everyone is screaming at the IT department, every mistake is logged and magnified, basically you are a whipping boy until you "save the day".

Sometimes, the problem is with the women...

[that IT girl]

The problem is with a lot of the women, if you ask me. I'm a woman in the IT field and I like hanging with the guys I work with, we can tell off-color jokes and go out to bars together, and we do that sometimes. The problem is when women demand to be treated the same and then are oversensitive to the way men are just being themselves around her. In order to be treated the same as men, you'd have to understand them and think like them. Women are made differently--equally, but differently. And most women should not only be treated as such, but should REALIZE that. Most women do not really want to be treated the way men treat their peers of the same gender, they just don't seem to realize that men have a different 'code of honor'. Women seem to think that men are always respectful to one another and have this very idealized and very wrong idea of what male/male relationships are like, and I'm guessing it's because men act differently around them. As a result, they get offended by the things men say and do when they're just doing what she requested. Yes, wordy, I'm sorry--I'm a woman! ;) but the point is, most women need to be treated a bit differently in order for them to feel comfortable, they just don't realize it. I feel fortunate that, for the most part, I am better friends with men than women, and I understand the way they think and act. I can enjoy being around 'the guys'. (My boyfriend feels fortunate too, LOL.) But I am an exception, not the rule.

Feminism Confronts Technology ---- by Judy Wajcman

[Abuzar]

I've struggled with gender politics in geek circles for years and it's one of the reasons why I am no longer involved in my local geek groups such as lug, or hold an IT job.

I think one perspective that is always overlooked is that sexism is not an isolated problem in IT culture. Other issues such as classism and racism are just as rampant. These problems, sexism, racism, and classism need to exist in order for IT to exist. The oppression is very much locked to the technology itself.

The book "Feminism Confronts Technology" put a lot of things in perspective for me. It has very strong analysis stemming from the historic development of technology leading up to present day IT culture.

The IT culture has been shaped by very obvious military, political, economic, and corporate pressures. Like other power professions, it has necessitated that it's people come from privileged backgrounds so that they can afford to be ignorant of diversity and arrogant towards other people. They need to have a certain level of insensitivity to avoid the harm of their own profession against others.

Equally important is the author's warning against progress. She cites many examples where apparent progress has been made to include women, people of color, economically under-privileged populations, etc. into technology professions. However, the progress made is motivated by power struggles in and surrounding the technology sector, which simply leads to new hierarchies being formed and the same old oppression reappearing under the guise of progress.

Through her criticism, the author suggests various ways of tackling change, and to work towards radically redesigning and shifting technology to benefit, rather than harm people.

Feminism Confronts Technology
by Judy Wajcman
http://www.psupress.psu.edu/books/titles/0-271-008 02-4.html