Several of our female members shared their experience of being discriminated against in the technical job market—their difficulty getting hired despite ample skills, and in gaining trust and respect on the job. "Techwatcher" stated, "some of us ‘techie women’ are simply invisible because we can't get past stereotyping to the jobs identified as ‘techie’." Members discussed unpleasant experiences with male bosses and co-workers who are threatened by women in technology. "Atari" stated, "I once worked a web job where my boss automatically assumed I had no concept of technical things, even though he hired me to code HTML. He got extremely frustrated when I fixed the machine he broke, because I ‘out-techied’ him. Here I was doing the guy a favor and instead of being happy that he hired a tech-savvy employee, he became jealous that someone younger and female could do something techie that he couldn't do." Female members also spoke of being mistrusted and sexually harassed by the public as employees in electronics stores, while male employees are perceived to be skilled and knowledgeable.
A particularly disturbing anecdote on discrimination came from "techwatcher: "A psychiatrist who interviewed an older woman for 5-7 minutes… is asked by a judge how the woman makes her living. The psychiatrist responds, ‘She *says* she's a Web designer.’ Both judge and psychiatrist look over at the woman and roll their eyes. Actually, of course, the woman IS a Web designer, and had been for 4 years at the time of this interaction -- even running her own company online for more than 3 years!…. Some of your ‘techie women’ are simply getting lost on the way to whatever census techniques you are relying on!"
Despite these anecdotes of discrimination, most of our members were clear on the fact that discrimination exists in many fields, and that it is possible to overcome it and to hold satisfying jobs in technology. In short, discrimination should not be a reason not to pursue a job in technology. Several of our members encouraged young women to stick to their guns and pursue technical careers.
Several members spoke of wanting to contribute in some way to lessening the gender gap in technology fields, but also reported that they don’t know where to start.
In relation to sparking girls’ interest in math and technology, and nurturing that interest through their school years, it is clear that mentoring programs and interventions targeted toward gender equity are necessary. In our discussion forum, a few mentoring programs were mentioned, but people spoke of difficulties both in finding suitable programs and mentors for themselves, and in finding girls who are interested in being mentored. The sense I have gotten is that while several national mentoring programs exist, each community must start its own grassroots programs. This means that, like most societal change, it happens person-by-person, on the steam of individuals who contribute their vision, time, and effort to make a difference. Once that effort reaches "critical mass," we will see some measurable changes.
In relation to keeping women in technology-related fields once they have received a degree--by making the working environment in technology firms more "female friendly," and changing people’s perceptions of "techie women"-- there seem to be less national programs that target these issues. While there are a few programs designed to support women in technology positions, for example by linking women up with other women in the field, it is mainly up to individuals and individual companies to create positive change in their workplaces.
The following is a list of links for programs dealing with girls and women in math, computing, and technology. Feel free to let us know about any other programs that I have neglected to mention!
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