How to Get More Women in Tech in Under a Minute, Caroline Drucker

[bitplane]

Call yourself a girl, woman, man, boy or whatever you like, the only way you'll get respect from engineers is by having a passion for making stuff and striving to be awesome at it.

Regardless of whether she works for a technology company she's in marketing.

[bougie1980]

@bitplane Hi there - FYI - I used to be product manager for our web app, iOS and Android apps.

[JXSmith84]

I'm sorry to say the biggest obstacle to getting women into tech is the attitude of most women. Believe me, us geeks would absolutely love to have more women around the office. Too many women proclaim with pride that they know nothing about computers, but would be ashamed to say that about literature. A man gifted with math/science skills is shunned by women, whereas a gifted writer is adored. It is EASIER for a woman to get into tech than a guy, because there are so few of you who try.

[videopostrrr]

@JXSmith84 You need to ask yourself why many women proclaim these things. It is because of expectations placed upon them by male dominated power structures. As a woman you are bad at numbers, you can't maintain a car, you shave your legs. You may not personally say these things to women but male dominated structures such as the media and big companies do. Its hard to stop that conditioning from taking effect when it is so prevalent.

[JXSmith84]

@videopostrrr

Not sure what you're getting at. Are you saying it's the fault of men that women do some things poorly because men expect them to do it poorly? If everyone told me I was bad with numbers, car maintenance, or shaved my legs etc. I would simply prove them wrong. A woman can study and become a brilliant engineer "in defiance of men" if she wants to, but too few even bother to try. Either the male dominated structures are just stating the truth, or women need to prove them wrong.

[bitplane]

@videopostrrr The reality is that most women don't find geeky things interesting. and I'd say it's most likely biological. Males have less chance of reproducing, live shorter lives, are more likely to be stupid or smart and take more risks than females. Being prone to take a geeky obsession over something is nature's way of taking a risk, it's only been a useful part of society for a few tens of thousands of years.

[mutez0r]

After 5 minutes of hearing this woman speak, all I can think of is why hasn't she made me a sandwich yet?

Hold the tomato.

[lizhenry]

I like calling myself an adult and see the point, but I don't think that I fucking *cause patriarchy* if I don't, nor does power inequity get magically fixed if I do, since MEN WHO HAVE POWER WILL STILL BEHAVE BADLY.

[michaeldhopkins]

Well, there aren't any men in tech either because they're all "guys" and "dudes" and "developers."

[mcdonaldbrian93]

This is the way feminists should approach the issues. Not just bashing males, actually figuring out reasons for things other than playing the blame game.

Also, for all those who took offense to the "menstruate" comment, do you not realize she was just making a generalization? She didn't mean you aren't a woman if you don't. She was just using it as a somewhat humorous example of it. Obviously she knows that not all women menstruate, she used that as a way to convey her point.

[polyanthesis]

Sorry, but in the workplace, women are women, not girls. Don't call me a child when I'm debugging your code.

[carolmoore]

I'm too old to menstruate and am a war tax resister (except when they garnish my social security). But I'm a kick ass woman on a certain wiki that will remain unnamed :-)

[brook1ify]

You go girl!!!!!!

[WerewolfOfTheWater]

Once you defined the word "woman" as menstruating, I stopped right there. There are many women who don't menstruate, namely ones who are post-menopausal, ones who have had their uteruses removed because of some health problem, and of course trans women, who are just as much women as you even though they've never menstruated. The definition of woman is this; An adult who identifies as a woman.

[bethrhu]

Many of us call ourselves women and still have a problem getting recognized in technology-related fields.

[lucynadegis]

@bethrhu Its because the problem lays deeper than that. Its all about prejudice.

[stilldistrakted]

I am heartbroken to see that so many have missed the point here. When Drucker said women constantly say "I'm not the expert here," I thought everyone could relate to that. Calling an adult woman a girl perpetuates this insecurity and devalues their contributions. A girl is a child; that cannot be redefined. A girl aspires to be a woman, not vice versa. If you can't claim your abilities and your maturity, you don't deserve to be called a woman.

[BevaBanzai]

In under a minute? That was five.

[Edikae]

I feel that if you have to now argue over words and their specific implications, you have nothing left to fight for - feminists won, please let it go.

[duchamp42]

@Edikae If "feminists won" why do women still make 75 cents to the dollar?

[Edikae]

@duchamp42

Is she fighting about wages? No. She's fighting over the use of a word.

I'm not talking about women winning EVERYTHING, I'm talking about this particular area of the feminist battle.

Please don't jump down my throat over it.

[aviatrix2000]

This doesn't have anything to do with getting more women into technology fields. It just demonizes the term girl. And what does that say to girls?

[burnzy3210]

you go girl

[82pot]

Is this a video on how to make a miserable office environment?

Women only have an issue with being called girl if they are under performing. The professional types have enough self worth tied to their own performance and abilities that it doesn't phase them and enough life experience to see context.

[t4tchk0ma]

In my opinion this was pretty pointless. Whether I call myself a girl or a woman has absolutely no barring on anything significant in my life, nor does using the term girl to describe myself preclude me from being respected.

[LaBeJohnson]

My boss always calls me "Sister", i think it's the way to go.

[tigerbrowngirl]

This makes me feel like women and girls are being put into separate buckets and I learn a lot from girls in tech and don't want to feel segregated from them, I want to be alongside them. If there is an issue with the word "girls" then use females. Comparing women and girls and demeaning girls for not being women is not the right thing to do IMHO.

[stilldistrakted]

@tigerbrowngirl Who are you defining as "the girls" exactly? All she is saying is to own your maturity and ability. "Girl" has the connotation of a novice; a "Woman" has the experience needed to get the job done. Calling a woman a girl is demeaning.

[82pot]

what a load of tosh.

our female tech manager refers to the men as the boys and the lads. it creates a comfortable atmosphere, it's not condescending.

maybe being ok with this is an english thing, we're not out to change the world and all that excitable american nonsense.

[TheRawrnstuff]

How come the gender of a person has to come up in a conversation at work?

She's right about using phrases like "I'm no expert, but..." etc., though. Confidence is sexy and assuring, whether you are a girl, a guy, a woman or a man.

[antifuchs]

I didn't watch this video at first because of the highly unfortunate youtube preview picture. I regret that now. Very, very good talk and important.

[zrogon]

wow, bitching and moaning about women calling themselves girls... I want my 5 minutes back...

[cyranothe2nd]

Wow, what victim-blaming crap. Not to mention trans- and post-menupausal (and a lot of other stuff) phobic. DNW!

[EngagingDesigns]

As a female game designer and former coder, I believe focusing on the semantics of this issue directs our focus away from real gender issues.

I choose to redefine people's perceptions of a label (in this case "girls"), rather than falsely accuse people of being insensitive for using a perfectly innocuous word. I'm a girl, a woman, a female, and a lady. You have no right to judge anyone for choosing to wear any of those labels. I'm offended you tried.

Sorry, Caroline, you do not speak for me.

[Ivorybird09]

@EngagingDesigns I agree! I am not sure why IT IS ALL ABOUT POWER anyway. (How about creativity, team work, getting work done, enjoying cooperation and sharing inspiration!) EXAMPLE: people who have issues with their self-esteem due to lack of education or slow brain, are easily upset when someone calls them "silly" (endearing term to the one who has no issues and insulting to the one who has issues) Obviously Caroline has control issues. far from everyone does.

[moknowspromo]

Amen---this is the absolute truth.

[Pumpsify]

Heh, typical American bullshit. Here we evaluate someone on their performance, not some stupid name - be it girl or boy (how many men don't go to game with the "boys"). But then we still use the term "stewardess" about females, without a bunch of idiots get totally upset over something which isn't there (ie that its suppose to be a misogynistic pejorative to say stewardess.

If you have a problem with a word you have a bigger problem.

[Solleaes]

Thanks for this wonderful talk <3

As a female game designer, I've always fumed at the women who use the term 'girl gamer'. Not just because of the girl issue, but the fact they need to parade it around as 'look at us, we're so special'. This too, has a negative result on the way women in the tech industry are viewed, as special snowflakes without skills who do need to prove themselves even more to be taken seriously.

[raguaviva]

Also women don't flake and don't have mood swings... men, we want women too!

[evilworldofhiglet]

I could not agree more. Words have power, and how we define ourselves shapes the way others look at us.

(I went to Geek Girl Con and had a blast. I don't see any disconnect there.)

[MsAfroCAN]

Tax paying menstruator in tech here.

[christiekoehler]

Aside from a problematic definition of 'woman' (not all woman menstruate), this is a good talk on why not to use 'girl' to refer to an adult women, particularly those who work in technology. Thank you for addressing this pet peeve of mine!

[carolinesound]

@christiekoehler Hi Christie - thanks so much for your feedback. I understand your concerns about my "definition" of women. It was by no means meant to be exclusionary or a philosophical definition of womanhood, rather a lighthearted attempt to broadly describe physical and societal maturity. A bigger point was "You define the woman that you are." I hope anyone who may have felt slighted sees that as a more important takeaway than whether tampons are necessary or not.

[EngagingDesigns]

@carolinesound - I define the "woman I am" as one who is not threatened by innocuous terms like "girl".

I also define my feminism as that of supporting the rights of females to make choices for themselves, free of judgement and insult. I support your choice to not be referred to as a "girl". I even support you questioning the impact this term may have on our industry. I do not support you insinuating one "correct" answer and attacking those who disagree.

[area51manah]

thats quite nice :)

[basmithtx]

Not quite the talk I was expecting, but I agree with her. :)

[boflex03]

Girls rule