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Mike Segar / Reuters
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg delivers a keynote address at a Facebook's marketing event in February 2012.
IBM recently named Virginia Rometty as its the first female CEO, and Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg is on her way to becoming one of the richest women in technology when the company goes public.
But despite these noteworthy feats by these female leaders, the number of women chief information officers at U.S. corporations has declined for the second year in a row. It hit less than 10 percent this year, and about one-third of CIOs report they have no women in management positions working for them, according to a survey released Monday by Harvey Nash, a recruiting firm.
“There’s an overall skill set shortage in U.S., across men and women, as far as the IT space,” said Anna Frazzetto, Senior Vice President of Technology Solutions, Harvey Nash USA. But, she added, this has become even more pronounced among women, creating a growing underrepresentation problem for women in technology.
A number of factors are contributing to the dearth of women, she said, including that the industry isn’t thought of as the most social or exciting out there, and that not enough young women are choosing to study technology when they go to college.
Discrimination and preconceived notions about women’s commitment to their jobs also is contributing to the problem, she added.
The lack-of-women dilemma isn’t just a corner office issue. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women comprised only 25 percent of all computer-related occupations last year, pointed out Jenny Slade, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Women & Information Technology. Women represented about 25 percent of computer and information systems managers; 38.6 percent of web developers, and 19 percent of software developers.
Have you and your spouse ever competed for the same job?
In 2011, women made up only about 18 percent of those getting bachelor's degrees in computer and information sciences, a percentage that's held steady for the past four years, she said.
“Unconscious bias” against women in IT is a big problem, she said, and “women don’t always know what the trajectory is to obtain a leadership role.”
A study done by the Center in 2010 found that “56 percent of women in technology leave their employers at the mid-level point in their careers.”
There are a number of factors causing women to leave, said Slade, but the top reasons were bad relationships with supervisors; feeling they were not on the fast track to promotion; feeling they don’t get credit for their work and a hostile work environment.
One women who made it to the top of the IT biz is Patricia Andersen CIO at Apartments.com. She said she was lucky to have worked for companies in her career, including Waste Management, that didn’t discriminate against women when it came to women and technology roles.
“I really haven’t worked at a place where gender was an issue in moving up,” she explained.
Apartments.com, she added, is looking to get even more women in management and one focus of the strategy will be mentoring.
“I’ve had several mentors through my life,” she noted. The mentors helped her learn one of the most important skills you need when it comes to climbing the ladder of success, she said, “how to handle political situations.”
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It isn't just IT. My daughter graduated with a degree in Physics Ed - only 3% of those graduates nationally are women.
Well,, this was the case in medicine 50 years ago too and now there are more women graduating from medical school than men. It takes time.
I worked at a software company and the biggest problem is that the people that get promoted to middle management are the male "nerds" that are not married because they can easily put in 80 hour weeks continuously. THey often lack social skills; along with leadership, communication. and management skills. (All things that will push a woman over the edge and make her jump ship...along with any normal human being :)
We had a huge turnover of wonderful talent last year and it was directly due to ineffective managers and bad corporate culture. Overall we lost sales because the nerd-leaders can't function within normal social boundaries. ( they don't make eye contact, text while in meetings or with clients, they never say what they mean and mean what they say, they are also dirty and gross--another thing that made me leave)
The software industry needs to grow up or risk losing more talent and more profits.
1) The nerds put in charge of the other nerds need management training. They need it yesterday! This one thing will make more women willing to stay in the software industry if they feel they are being valued and listened to.
2) Software companies need to enhance their corporate culture. Offer on-site day care, good family health care/ insurance and competitive wages. No amount of rented bounce houses for the afternoon will make a woman stay at a software company if they are not helping her invest in her retirement ( and her children's future)
Honestly, when you have a family there are many other ways to make excellent money than working in the software sector. Teaching at the university or consulting offers better wages, a more flexible schedule, and overall better retirement plan.
Must be where I work but half our IT department downstairs is female and the other IT department is 100% female. We love them, they do great and I haven't heard any of them complain about their department at all. HR on the other hand.... I won't go there.
Has it been two weeks already? Time to turn over the "There's not enough women in STEM egg-timer" and write an article.
But nobody is concerned that the only male working at my son's elementary school takes out the trash and cleans the toilets.
Why are all the roofers working in my neighborhood men? We need to work on that. Or do you only want careers with air-conditioning?
Young men want to be Mark Zuckerberg not because he is a CEO, but because he created Facebook out of thin air with his keyboard and maybe they can too.
Bingo. The recession has hit working age males the hardest, but that doesn't translate into sensational headlines for the PC crowd so it gets swept under the carpet. Where's our special interest group?
Actually, there have been several articles and studies about the lack of males in elementary schools. It's sad, because many of those youngsters need a good role model.
Absolutely agree with you, DeVille.
certainly nothing else not being mentioned that women can do that man cannot, something that makes them miss work and sidetracks work careers between the ages of 20 and 40.
nope, robust and informational article. notice something not perfectly equal and wonder out loud why it might be happening. thats considered news.
Newsflash. Not all women leave to have families.
As a retired IT professional woman, I can attest to the discrimination in the field. That's why I retired. I was tired of being discriminated against by bosses and co-workers who made life in a career that I loved so difficult. It didn't matter that I was handling and succesfully completing twice as many IT projects as my male counterparts, I didn't get the opportunities or respect that they did. At one point I thought, gee maybe I should get one of those plastic male appendages, and slap it on the table to see if it would make a difference. Of course, I didn't but it was tempting. Women in IT are marginalized despite the good work that they do, it is too bad because we have a lot to offer.
I'm sorry, I don't have kids now or ever. So I don't "miss work" any more than my male colleagues. I'm a software engineer but at my last job I was a Linux Administrator. I was continually passed over for promotions by a jerk of a boss who almost didn't hire me because the shift I would be working had a differential and it would make me earn more than my husband who worked there. It was so bad, the other male supervisors told him to be careful or I might sue. I didn't, I left for a better paying job elsewhere.
The problem with the IT industry is you have a lot of nerds who have poor social skills to begin with. They don't know how to talk to other men, let alone women. Give a geek power of people and he takes out all that pent up "I was bullied" energy on his underlings. I've seen it time and again. At my current tech company, half the VPs are women and about 25 percent of the Dev staff are women. They treat us very well and I would recommend them to any gal in the tech world. But, I can say from experience, my current employer is an outlier in the way it treats its employees. Both men and women.
I'm looking for a nerdy girl!!!
That might be your problem....if she is brilliant, nerdy and over 18, paying rent/mortage, health insurance, student loans, if she is saving and investing ...then she is a woman. sorry dude.
Its the war on women by both parties.. I dont know but when most college grads are women there is something wrong here besides just the gender pay gap.
Despite access to any field of higher study with affirmative actions programs, women flock to psychology/sociology/education/humanities. Every college and high school brochure shows a woman with eye goggles holding a test tube. There is no shortage of encouragement for women in tech fields, both social and financial.
Women don't want to work these grueling high tech jobs and compete directly with men. But what we see here is an industry efficiency : men are willing to work more hours for less than is needed to employ a woman in these occupations.
As a woman with over 30 years in the field of IT, I am calling this out Vincent.
I usually out earn my male counterparts. I know because my husband is also in the field and we are the same age with the same amount of experience.
The only difference is that he is a Computer Science major and I am Management Information Systems major.
I have almost always out earned him and most of my male co-workers.
High tech is not grueling work.
Try digging ditches, now that is a grueling, manly job.
Information Technology work is really for sissies like me.
Women are designed to work long hours.
So, what are you calling out? Female disinterest in high-tech despite full social and financial encouragement? Working long hours? Competing directly with men?
If women are designed to work long hours, why don't they? The US Dept of Labor logs that women work shorter work weeks in full time jobs, occupy more part-time jobs, log fewer over-time hours - all of which contribute to lower pay.
Not all high-tech is mentally-grueling work. This is why women like the "high-tech" jobs involving shuffling emails about and sitting in meetings for most of the day with the laptops open.
There are only like three "powerful" nerdy females in the world. Maybe two.
I have worked at a half dozen high tech companies and there absolutely positively is NOT an "unconscious bias" against women. The very idea is absurd. We would kill to have more women in our workplace. They just aren't in the field.
I have to agree. I am in IT. For the most part, I have not dealt with any bias that I'm aware of. I enjoy working with the boys... My last two DBAs were women and they were excellent. I'm sure there are many women not interested in the field or others that leave to have families, but certainly not all of us do.
Maybe it's because most women I know, including myself, put "become a world-class programmer" right up there on my list next to "shoot myself in the kneecaps" and "get a ph.d in cubicle design".... There are plenty of women who would probably be good at it, but I just don't know very many who are interested in pursuing work in the field! It just seems so very boring! (... says the historical research major, LOL....)
Working in high-tech is about as boring as playing chess, building computers, writing software for fun, aquaria, rebuilding cards, professional video. Women show little interest in these hobbies at an early age and are thus unprepared for a career in high tech starting with the 6th grade. Nearly all of the good high tech workers were good at high tech in their teens and put in the requisite 10,000 hours to develop their craft. Women in high tech believe they don't need to bother with these amateur pursuits and will be provided with on-the-job training to compete with those that did.
You make some very good points that really hint at a much deeper level of disfunction in most societies on this planet. Until very recently, "female" pursuits and hobbies were mostly of the practical and home-making arena, and there has been very little that men and women had in common to become real "friends" as well as partners in intimate relationships and ultimately marriage. Most women do not share the same interest sets as most men, and that is amplified if you are talking about men in any specialized employment sector, and specifcally the examples you mentioned. I'm sure you could almost count the number of girls who built their own computers at 10, or taught themselves to program so they write their own games on two hands. These are the kinds of men who are pioneering and leading the industry.
CEOs need to quit outsourcing all the IT management jobs and recruiter jobs to men from other countries.
Non-american men do not hire American women.
I am a woman with over 30 years in IT.
IT work is not boring. You can travel, meet great people, make a really good salary or hourly wage and your mind is constantly challenged to learn new things.
It is one of the best jobs on the planet.
Men are just telling women that men are the pioneering ones while pounding their chests and saying how great they are for plugging in a motherboard or a disk drive and being able to use a little tiny screwdriver, push a button to boot the computer and click a mouse and RTFM.
Those are all very MANLY things, don't you think? Ha Ha.
That sounds like "ID ten T" to me.
As a self proclaimed science nerd, and a woman, I do not find working with computers all the time all that rewarding or interesting. I'm guessing that is more of the problem than anything. Guys seem to be more into computers.
You're kidding yourself if you think you can do science these days without some data processing involving programming. Scientists these days are needed to have software development skills.
Unfortunately in some cases of IT, women are generally shuffled off to the areas where they are in more of supporting roles and not really given the opportunity to be in leadership type positions. I think some of that comes from bias about woman in general. "You don't have the gravitas necessary" (I've heard this more than once). And obviously a lot of men still see women as support people due to the history of what women have been allowed to do in the work place. So women are not even given much consideration if they do show interest in promotion.
Communication is often done in what I call Men Language and Men perception. For example it is never acceptable for a woman to say to a guy, "I'm not sure how to do that". You must always say, "I'll get it done" Doesn't matter how little you actually know about it nor whether you might feel you need a little extra time for a learning curve. You will be penalized for showing any signs of doubt. You are then viewed as not confident and not someone they can trust for the project.
I get truly irritated though when a guy will tell me, "i've got it" and I know full well he doesn't and he ends up taking wayy wayyy longer than it should have taken. Had he not lied (guys say it is not lying.. they call showing confidence), a better timeline would have been included in the project plan and there would be less pain at the end of the project.
However, I now have a female boss and I do not have to talk in Man Speak with her. It is quite refreshing. However, the guys are starting to find it difficult because they've never had to communicate in anything other than Man.
The reason women do not go into IT in the first place I think is because family will often tell them, "that isn't conducive to having a family" and also because they don't know any women who do it. I had never ever met a woman who was working in IT when I made the choice.
Unfortunately IT can be quite Non family friendly in places. I've seen guys that lived at work. I've seen women passed over because everyone assumes she will slow down once she has a baby. I myself have completely hidden any plans I might have for family so as not to be penalized. Fortunately now that I have been here for 10 years I will be afforded some leeway (albeit not a lot) should I decide to have a child. Of course, it is quite likely they may call me for support during labor and if I don't respond I will likely be penalized despite the fact that guys have taken off time for knee surgery and not been pestered at all.
Interesting bias you have there, Annsrum. There is 1 reason, and 1 reason only that there are not more women in the field. Women in general do not care for it. Ever taken a moment to wonder why there aren't more men running daycare centers? Probably never gave it a moment's thought because it doesn't serve your agenda. The majority of women HATE IT. Stop trying to read too much into it.
I guess I must be an exception to the rule. I can't think of anything less appealing than running a daycare center and I love computers. :-)
What you call a male-speak, "showing confidence" is a load of rubbish. It's called problem solving and it is the very heart of IT. If you don't have the self-belief for solving puzzles then IT isn't the field for you. Your post seems to reek of misandry but I will ignore that and instead focus on the fact that you are making up a lot of excuses for not being where you want to be in the field. Next time there is a problem and you don't know the answer, STEP UP, say, "I got it," and work to find the solution because that is what IT is. If you can't do that then you will never be very good at it, male or female.
Debbie-246220- Thanks! My thoughts exactly.
Aye, and women like both of you are not only welcome in the field but desperately wanted. Look at the game industry always lamenting that they can't find women to help them make better games targeted at women. There is no bias here. The entire IT field would kill for more women to be interested, but most have no interest in it.
annsrum wrote "However, I now have a female boss and I do not have to talk in Man Speak with her."
Congratulations. You now speak Woman Speak, a language that women, but not men, understand.
The primary reason for the absence of women in the high tech field is that very few women collect degrees that lead to a career in high tech. Most of them were not engineer/scientists at heart before they collected the degree, and they never had an intention of a job as a high tech worker other than as some sort of manager.
The % of computer science degrees in the US earned by women is the same today as it was in 1975. Nearly all women employed as high tech workers are foreign-born, as are nearly all of the high tech degrees issued to women in the US. If a company has a female engineering manager, it is only because it is large enough to afford this luxury.
One of the main reasons for "Man speak", specifically when men say they will do something even if they have no clue, is the desire to not show weakness in front of other men. See, we men aren't much evolved from apes... it's a primal behavior.
A short story inspired by annsrum:
There once was a young woman named Julie. Julie was engaged to a handsome lad by the name of Bruce. Getting married was always a dream of Julie's she had thought about it many times since she was a little girl and finally she was going to put all of her dreams and plans into action. She didn't want to dominate the wedding planning though and asked Bruce to help. Bruce though, just didn't seem very interested. "Sweetheart, I only want to marry you I don't care about anything else."
Julie had big plans though, she wanted the perfectly planned out dream wedding. The flowers? Oh she always loved lilacs, the smell and the hue were always special to her not to mention that it matched her mother's wedding dress. It was this same wedding dress that Julie was going to use, she didn't want to do anything unorthodox in that regard and her mother still owning her dress made for the perfect opportunity. Ice carvers would be really cool too she thought, have some angels and maybe even have them carve out a sculpture of the beautiful young couple.
Soon the big day came. Everything was all planned and set... or so she thought. The first hiccup came when she received a call from the florist, "Hey Julie, I have really bad news. Some sort of weird lilac blight has struck, I don't have any lilacs and I can't get any from any other florists." Julie was shattered, the lilacs meant so much to her plans. Her brother Mike, upon seeing this, took it upon himself to order a bunch of flowers to try and help out. He told her, "Don't worry Jules, I got flowers ordered everything will be ok." "But they aren't lilacs she cried out, they won't match my dress." After much reassuring from Mike and her mother Julie finally resigned herself to accepting this.
Julie then headed out for her stylist to get her hair, makeup and nails done. Her mother had to go get the dress from the house and told her she would meet her at the stylist's which conveniently was right next to the church she was to be married in. Her family had always gone there and had all known Father O'Neill for most of their lives. At the same time Mike went over to the reception hall to make sure things were going smoothly there.
So Julie departed and soon her mother showed up at the stylists with the dress, or what was left of it anyway. "Julie I have terrible news, I left the dress out last night after the rehearsal and Bowser got ahold of it, it's destroyed." As this horrible news was being delivered Julie got a phone call. "Julie this is Steve. Mike has had an accident, he tripped and knocked over the ladder the ice sculptor was on and he came down with the chainsaw, he's cut bad." Too make matters worse in the havoc the sculpture collapsed and was destroyed.
Julie was devastated. She began bawling and ran out of the stylists. She didn't know what to do so she ran to the church to seek out Father O'Neill's counsel. Father O'Neill didn't have much experience with women though and Julie finally told him she couldn't go through with the wedding. She couldn't tell Bruce though he would be devastated too and she didn't want to hurt him. She asked the good father if he would call Bruce and inform him of what had happened which Father O'Neill dutifully did.
At first Bruce was confused but he couldn't stand by and let this happen, this was a day he had waited for as much as Julie. He sprang into action and dashed out. In record time he had gotten to a dress store and bought a dress, he got to the reception hall, applied a tourniquet to Mike, told him to suck it up and get to the church. Finally he went to the church.
Julie was still there when Bruce arrived. He approached her and said gently, "Julie baby can I talk to you. Look I got this dress. Mike is gonna be fine I patched him up and it really wasn't that bad." Julie was despondent though, "I can't do this. All my plans are ruined. Everything is ruined." Bruce responded, "nothing is ruined honey. Look do you remember when you got upset because I didn't really want to help with the planning. Do you remember what I said? Why are we here today?" "To get married," Julie responded. "YES!" exclaimed Bruce. "Look I know this is not how you imagined it and things have gone terribly wrong but it's not all the planning or circumstances that matter, that is all trivial, all that matters is that we get married. That is why we are here today."
Finally Julie understood, it really was all irrelevant, all that mattered was that they had each other and were married. It didn't matter if it took some unorthodox quick thinking just that they got to the end result.
At long last the wedding was finally underway. Julie despite the day's hardships looked very lovely in her misfitting wedding dress. All the yellow marigolds looked pretty out of place but at least there were flowers. Julie was walked down the aisle by her brother Mike who, though hobbled by his injuries, made it down the aisle nonetheless.
Finally Father O'Neill began to speak but just then a horrible smell struck the air and Father O'Neill clutched his chest and began gasping. The stress of the day had been too much for the old father and sadly he passed. Bruce could see the same reactions as earlier building up in Julie. "Please Judge Otter would you please help us?" cried Bruce. The good judge stood and said he would.
After much consternation the couple was finally married and though it was nothing like how she had planned the end result was still the same. Through much of her wedding day she couldn't have imagined it happening without all her plans but in the end it did.
The end.
I hope you can understand the analogy of all this and in the end it helps you and other women to better succeed in IT. You talked about project plans and such but IT is about the business of finding solutions not of coming up with plans. Opposite to that life philosophy, in IT it is not journey that matters only the destination.
They're in school, learning math, science, biology, physics, medicine and other core educational coursework.
While young men? More drop out, look to get rich quick, or dumb down.
This seems to be an increasing trend; Men seemingly proud, or certainly not embarrassed, of looking and acting dumb, ignorant and self-absorbed.
Cute. Men continue their responsibility and drive to build and invent nearly everything. The female contribution to the US patent database is below 10%. Woman up, ladies !
A woman invented Kevlar! :) Then there was also Marie Curie that pioneered research in radiation.
There are some female inventors, and their inventions are to be respected. Still, there are so few female inventors that kevlar and Marie Curie are always cited as the cliched examples. Marie Curie shared her radiation Nobel prize with her husband and another man.
I also think it's because too many women see IT as being too close to "secretarial" and they are trying very hard to get away from that.
I have seen, in my time, a woman with good IT credentials, stuck over working on spreadsheets and word documents.
I'm a man, with 12 years electronics maintenance, systems administrating, and mainframe installation experience. Every job I've ever worked I was usually stuck working spreadsheets and word documents. That's the nature of business.
I understand that, to a point. But when you talk about computers and women, most people think word processing and secretaries, and not IT. Unfortunately, they are often paid that way too ... as glorified secretaries.
That's why many women don't like the career field.
Those women need to say NO. I have. And it was a WOMAN boss asking me to do all the spreadsheets and documentation. You have to stand up for yourself. If you get crap back, time to move on.
I've been rather lucky. The one time I got pigeon holed into a more traditionally female role on my team (data dictionary and screen generation), I just told my boss that I hoped I hadn't been passed by just because I was female. That did the trick, and I haven't looked back since.
I agree with you. I was pointing that out as a reason why many women tend to shy away from an IT career, it's too easy to be pigeon holed.
Well, I'm sitting right here with a BA in film & video production, and the desire to go to grad school for Film Business or Cinematography! Im a HUGE nerd, but my nerdyness is not science/math/engineering based. It's art and film centered.
I think the real issue is that young women are not given options to succeed in areas that come more naturally to them, like art, health care, teaching...ect. Smart, educated women are forced to forgo jobs they may love, because of pay and instead, exist in a man's world where there is more money. Unfortunately, the issue is that men don't always like to see a woman doing their job and think they ought to stay in their place.
I base this on the fact that I went to film school and was the only black female to graduate in my entire class. My films were amazing, you can watch them by clicking on the link below. I did just as well, if not better, than the guys in my major. But as a woman, trying to break into film production, there are a lot of obstacles. The biggest being, that men in the film industry don't trust women behind the camera. Most filmmakers only want to see women in front of the lens. So, my resume will get passed over purely because of my feminine name. Some employers wont look any further than my name, and will never see the 10+ years of experience I have at 24 years old.
It's not that they aren't educated, nerdy, women, its that we are forced to struggle so much in male dominated career paths, that many of us just give up. We end up getting married, having kids, and working middle management, instead of aspiring to more.
If you do not have the technical depth or interest to operate a camera, no one will hire you to operate a camera professionally.
How would they know if they never give me a shot? I got my degree just like every other guy in my major. I worked just as hard, if not harder. The fact is, I do have the skills, but I am limited by my gender. That is what this whole conversation is about.
Poorgirl54 wrote "How would they know if they never give me a shot?"
The same line is uttered by men. You're not limited by your gender. You're limited by your expectation to leverage your femininity.
The world will not survive with art, health care or teaching. Nor can you have 10+ years of experience at 24 years old.
You obviously do not fit "the nerdy female" as you seem to not be able to think rationally. It appears that you think men always get the job that "they love." Actually, men just work, a job is a job, sometimes we love, but it is not a requirement. We know that working is required, regardless of "loving it."
The world doesn't care about "feeling good," it actually needs folks that can produce things; electricians, plumbers, actual folks that can fix computers, do siding, plant food and harvest it.
Feeling good doesn't put a roof over your head nor food in your stomach. We don't need 24 years old that think they have 10 years of experience in nothing.
Amen, Bill. All the hair twirling "...but it's BOOORING...". Try this on -- women simply do not have the intellectual wherewithal or desire. I'm entirely done with the whole men and women are equal. In rights, yes, as functioning bodies, nothing could be further from the truth.
Go with your strengths, ladies and look to your 50's brethren who consistently ranked themselves higher in terms of happiness and fulfillment than do your modern sisterhood of lost, unfulfilled and empty souls out in the wilderness running into people talking about science and math and demands and requirements when you're more suited, psychologically and physiologically, to assemble pens.
Produce me a Henryetta Ford. A Wolf Gangette Amadeus Mozart. An Alberta Einstein? A Jerri Seinfeld? A Melony Brooks. A Stevie Jobs. A Stephanie Wozniak. A... do I really need to continue? No I certainly do not.
Continue the farce ladies.
Why I have rejected feminism as nothing more than the counterpart to masculinism and have embraced humanism. Yes equal rights but equal capabilities? That is laughable and a joke to anyone who has even a modicum of knowledge about biology and natural sociology. Do I deny a woman the option to pursue whatever path she wants in life? Absolutely not, that is her choice as a free being. Do I expect an equal number of women to ever be laborers, mathematicians, engineers; regardless of the level of education they receive? No that is ignorant. Likewise I would never deny a man the opportunity to pursue a field which lends itself to attributes females tend to possess but again I will never expect that one day there will be an equal number of stay at home dads as there are stay at home moms because that is contrary to the nature of the human species.
There was at least Marie Curie though and that is why a woman must never be turned away or prohibited from any path just as a man must not because there will always be some who fly against these inherent trends.
Well, you tell the billions of people who watch, enjoy and desire entertainment that I am wrong for wanting to provide it. You watch movies, you watch TV. In fact, I argue that TV and entertainment is the most influential thing on this planet. Consumed by far more people than just about anything, besides food and water. You are only able to sit here and make sexist comments on the internet because someone wanted to provide that service to you. Imagine a world where movies and television didn't exist because everyone was too busy with things that are 'more worth while.' That is not a world in which I want to live. I don't expect people to see the importance of what I love when it is at their finger tips 24/7. But just imagine if it all went away. How different would the world look?
Feel good? You think TV and movies only exist to make people feel good? Well, you my friend, are woefully ignorant of the power media and entertainment have on people and you're hostility towards me has more to do with your own problems, than with mine.
Also, if you honestly believe the world can survive with out teachers, than you are a complete imbecile. Who taught you how to spell?
Agreed. Most TV advertisements are geared towards women because, unlike men, women have a superiority in spending power.
Do you really believe that you are rejected because you're a woman? As a "woman of color", you were provided with lowered standards of admittion, grade inflation and scholarships beyond anything men or women of other races were provided. Unfortunately, in the professional environment, your work will need to exceed that of the professionals around you. Have you ever worked gigs for free?
I know quite a few men who spend all their free time working on/with electronics/computers because they love to do it. They're socially stigmatized as well(not exactly crawling with friends and girlfriends), but they don't care. I'd love more women in my IT department, but they're just not out there. They don't even apply for the job.
These men are chastised as geeks, but in their free time, they acrue that 10,000 hours needed to be experts. Do any women build computers or write computer programs for fun?
This seems astounding to me. I left medicine for IT so I'd have more time with my family. Compared to the hospital environment, they seem to favor women in computers. 5 years into it I have been promoted three times.
I read a study on Forbes.com that the #1 reason people, especially women, do not get raises/promotions is because they don't ask for them. Yes, there will be occasions where your boss is a jerk, or there is not the budget nor a position to attain, but often times there are...you just need to ask, with confidence.
Pick a field that you love, and you are likely to do well. If you do well at something, find the self assurance to ask that you be compensated appropriately for your services, and if the answer is no, then it's time to look for an employer who values you. The economy is still weak, but IT is hiring.
You don't advance the field, do you..? You do what you're told to do. A manual is put in front of you and if you're not told specifically what to do; what is the goal and the path to get there, you will be clueless as to how to proceed. Again, they're ideally suited to mass manufacturer of goods and services once clear and easy-to-follow directions are given as to how to achieve them, but in terms of thinking "outside the box" is not a female pursuit. You will not find many females much drawn to the propulsion sciences either.
You all know what I'm talking about and you're all too afraid to say it. This isn't a value judgement. I don't feel better than I woman, but I *AM* better than a woman in many regards just as she is the better of me in many regards, but you don't see me out there trying to pretend to enjoy teaching children; or frolicking in clay or dancing in the tulips.
Yes, since you asked, I *WILL* continue....
I just bashed women pretty mercilessly on earlier posts and I need to balance that real quick.
If only as a society we recognized our strengths AND our weaknesses. I want women in positions of power EVERYWHERE. I want them at head of state. I want female Presidents lining those halls. I almost would go so far as to initiate a ban on men in positions of political power. I want all female congress; house and senate. That is where you excel. That is your natural instinctive leaning.
Men? Instinctive leaning is towards progress and exploration of the unknown. Women have equally contemplative minds, once given the parameters to work within, however, they're not good at establishing the rules of these new parameters through the application of logic and reason.
Men can conceptualize, develop and design the hadron collidor, or name the parts of matter and their significance or place in reality and the female mind is equally able to enjoy the permutations of analytical thought within the given constraints, once established.
Females were not going out of their way to replace the horse and buggy -- it worked. Females weren't going to develop solid rocket boosters. Females weren't going to invent telecommunication. They don't waste their time on frivolity, as they see it. The cart works, my friends. No need to make it do the work of 50 carts, right..? I don't know. You reason that away.
Conceptualize? Where'd you hear a big word like that?
Listen sweetie. Sure, women can do some of the leg work - they definitely have the gams for it. But when it comes to doing the big-boy work..well..there's a reason Watson & Crick did most of the heavy lifting for Rosalind Franklin.
Don't go worrying your pretty little heads about things like science or math. You should be worrying about who's dating who in reality tv or what celebrity is "Just like US!". Or sex and the city. Or shoe sales. Or shopping. These are important things to women, from what I have observed.
Stereotype much, Paul?
I'm in IT and this sounds like pretty much every IT job I've been in.
But since I'm male, how can I blame these issues as being a sexist and get my pity party going?????
Anyone?
Heh, well said. Rather than drum up make-believe sexism let's look at the underlying problem that women ARE NOT INTERESTED IN IT. That is the answer, look no further.
Where are the nerd girls? OMG Diablo 3 releases tonight at midnight! We're stocking up on Mt Dew and Doritos for the gaming bender like the nerd guys of course.
YES!!!
"Where are all the powerful female nerds?"
Has the author checked the kitchen?
Im graduating in December with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Math. Im wondering what it will be like for me in January...
From the crap out on the thread, things look really dismal, Jill. But take heart. I've been in IT for 30 years now, and for most of that time, I've been one of very few women in my area of expertise and not encountered much prejudice.
Thanks Suze! At 45 I'm about to graduate with my BS in Computer Science as well. I must say, my cup of coffee and reading experience has been rather depressing this morning. Well, until read your post.
I received an IT degree & the ratio was 4 males for every female.
I am currently back at school for Electrical Engineering. My classes have 33 males and 3 females.
Women in general are more into gossip and other social activities & I find many more men interested in science & giving up their social life to learn circuits & physics.
I also used to work construction & I only once saw a female in that field working with rebar.
Want more women in IT, EE, and construction? Convince your daughters to turn off Twilight & replace it with Stephen Hawking. Convince your daughters to stop having social outings to the mall & instead stay home & learn differential equations. Convince your daughters to stop painting their nails & start swinging hammers.
If there are more men than women in a field, then there will be more men than women excelling in that field. All this talk of sexism is for the ignorant who never stepped into an IT or EE classroom or never worked in construction.
This is by far the best response I have ever seen. :)
I go to Texas Woman's University where men comprise 15% of the student body. About 50% of my Computer Science classes are female.
To determine how many will be working as software engineers, ask your fellow students how many programmed a computer as a hobby before they took the classes. Ask them what they did over their spring, summer and winter breaks. Ask them what they do when they get some spare time. If they didn't spend any time outside of class working with computers for fun, it will be difficult for them to compete with those that did.
Where are all of the powerful female nerds? Getting set up by Jamie Dimon for bad trades he knew all about. Just Ina Drew about being a powerful female nerd in a corrupt bank like JP Morgan!
Ina Drew was in a position high enough that she deserved what she got.
To sum it up, a person's genitals do not perform the job for them. Especially now, there is no bias in IT. You either have what it takes to succeed or you don't, but it is only due to your merits and flaws. Blaming anything on bias and sexism is only kidding yourself. You know where and how you failed, either address it or shut up about it. Just don't expect to excel by doing nothing.
Maybe women just aren't as it interested in pursuing these careers. Not every gender disparity is the result of discrimination or oppression. Men and women often make different choices through out their lives. I don't see anyone complaining about the lack of male elementary school teachers.
If the absence of women in high tech is discrimination, so is the absence of male teachers in the elementary school system. My son's K-6 elementary school employs men only to clean the toilets/hallways and to direct gym class.