Sexism in Tech

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13 thoughts on “Sexism in Tech

  1. awesome podcast. loved all the various points of view – when they agreed, and when they disagreed.

  2. Tracy,

    A valid point and I regretted that comment as soon as I said it. Not because I believe she has any talent as a NASCAR driver but because it didn’t belong in the conversation. I know Ms. Patrick has had success in IRL but in most of the NASCAR races I’ve seen her participate in she has not fared well. I don’t have a problem with women drivers mind you, I have a problem with her.

    But that’s a personal opinion and as I said, the comment had no real point in the discussion. I apologize if it distracted you from the main conversation.

    =C=

  3. Excellent point around the 38:40 minute mark. I worked at a very (and self-admitted) “hostile” work environment. I am a man with Aspergers (and HSP – Highly Sensitive Person), and it was an incredibly stressful work environment and I finally left. I never felt discriminated against, it was just a very juvenile and unwelcoming environment. I can only imagine what women must go through. I told them why I left in my exit interview, and I believe they made some changes after I left (I wasn’t the only one who left because of this).

  4. There are more female employees in the healthcare industry – should we make efforts to make it less empathetic (or have girl’s serve drinks!) so as to attract male interest? Frankly, interest in a given industry is a matter of gender bias and not because of a members-only mentality; if change was/were to occur, it could only been done so organically – not through silly PC efforts, or by raising awareness.

    Here is the only insight I can offer, though it is entirely empirical: I graduated nearly a decade ago from a major east-coast state university (35k+ undergraduates), with a BS in Computer Science; of every CS core class I took, there was MAYBE a 20/3 ratio of men to women. Since then, I’ve worked in big/small shops in Washington DC and Manhattan and have worked with exactly 2 female developers: both were competent, but not good. My point is, is that would could only occur if these massive disparities were to even begin to normalize.

    At the end of the day, this is a question more-so suited to IO psychs..

  5. Great show! Fantastic discussion on a VERY important topic in our industry. Having participated in similar discussions many times in the .NET community, great knowing our PHP peers share the same concerns regarding sexism in tech.

  6. Queuing up this for listening later. I just want to say that I get a little crazy when I see overt sexism (like the talk given by one of the guys from Path a while ago: https://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/silicon-valley-brogrammer-culture-sexist-sxsw ) but I also think going the other extreme isn’t good either.

    I’m in favor of treating everyone the same and handle them based on their capabilities. I know this is overly idealistic, but most of my friends have this attitude as well and it’s really hard to understand how anyone could be professional and still treat men and women differently. If it’s clear that a workplace treats everyone based on their skill, then it opens the door to anyone getting a job there and being treated fairly.

    I’ve worked with a handful of women (specifically in the various tech departments I’ve worked) and they’ve been just as varied in temperament and ability as the men.

    Cheers to all the right-thinking people who don’t make gender an issue in the tech room. 🙂

    -Trevor

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