Tech's Lady Drought

According to a study by the National Center for Women & Information Technology, women only hold 27 percent of computer-related jobs, with many companies’ numbers falling below 15 percent. The lack of women in the technology industry is becoming a big problem.

NBC News reports women control more than 83 percent of all consumer purchases, including 66 percent of home computers. They even outpace men when it comes to buying consumer electronics. If this is the case, then why have the number of women working in technology decreased drastically since the 1980’s, when they should be thriving in a culture that needs to be building products with UX/UI created uniquely for them?

Women and the Brogrammer Culture

The biggest argument that the media makes for the lack of women in tech is the the misogynistic nature of the industry.

According to the Washington Post, “Twitter’s womanless board of directors, reports of assault and harassment at tech conferences and “brogrammer” culture are just the headline-grabbing symptoms of sexism in the technology industry."

However, I call bullshit. These reports aren’t headline-grabbing symptoms of sexism in tech they’re headline-grabbing symptoms of sexim in the workforce.

It’s not just tech. It’s any field in which women are working alongside men. The complaints that women in tech make are the same issues I’ve faced for the last 4 years working in marketing, an industry that is statistically dominated by women. I’ve had men at work try to kiss me at work functions, make unsolicited sexual advances at the bar, and ask me out multiple times, refusing to take no for an answer. I had to stop wearing makeup to work and dressing fashionable in order to stay under the radar. As a female in the marketing department I was never taken seriously. My opinions didn’t matter. My skill set didn’t matter. As hard as I kept pushing, I couldn’t break through the ceiling. So I taught myself to code

Code took me out of the black abyss of the marketing department. Since becoming a software developer, I’ve never felt more respected as an employee, a coworker, or a peer and never once has my gender played a negative role in my growth as a Developer. When I take the lead on projects (which I often have the opportunity to do now), my team allows me to run with it, reaching out with constructive criticism and assistance as needed. When other teams have a UX or UI questions, they’ll come to me to get the “female voice,” and take advantage of my design expertise. Never once has anyone hit on me, never once has gender played a role in the way my peers viewed my skills, and never once have I had to worry about how I dress, how I speak, or if someone’s going to try to hit on me after hours. Oh. And I’m 1 of only 3 females in our department of 48. And only 1 of 2 that codes. And I like it that way.

I guess I can only speak for my experiences, but if there is one thing that I learned working for the “Real BroClub of Marketing” it’s that gender discrimination is everywhere and the only thing we can do about it is control our own environments. This comment by an anonymous poster on a Forbes article about women entrepreneurs getting hit on by venture capitalist poignantly states what women need to start doing if they are going to change the industry:

“Man here. Look. Control your environment. Own your emotions. Don't do things you don't want to do. Make excuses to leave. Don't take shit. You can't completely control everyone else, but you can out life effort into controlling the time of day, the location, whether alcohol is consumed, how close you sit to others, and her variables. Buck up. Own your shit. Otherwise you're basically just accepting behavior you don't like in the hopes of someone giving you cash, and then complaining about it in secret.”

The Real Reason Women Aren't Joining Tech

So what’s the real reason for women not joining the techforce? Well, we’ve never thought it was an option for us.

Harvey Mudd’s President, Maria Klawe, bases her explanation of the lady-deficit on a number of studies she has participate in. “We’ve done lots of research on why young women don’t choose tech careers and number one is they think it’s not interesting. Number two, they think they wouldn’t be good at it. Number three, they think they will be working with a number of people that they just wouldn’t feel comfortable or happy working alongside.”

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, the real fault for women not joining the technology workforce lies within the medias portrayal of computer science. According to a study done by Sapna Cheryan, Victoria C. Plaut, Caitlin Handronand Lauren Hudson in a paper published by Sex Roles, the most common stereotypes mentioned when students were asked to describe computer science students were “Intelligent, technology-oriented, singularly focused on computers, socially awkward, interested in science fiction and video games and physically unattractive.”

Needless to say, women are not not pursuing engineering because of male enhanced barriers to entry, but rather due to misperceptions about the field as a whole and a lack of information about the benefits of pursuing such a career.

So How Can We Fix The Problem?

The only way we can really solve this problem is through better education about the field and the opportunities within it.

Rather than bashing the industry for the alleged crimes it commits against the female gender, media outlets need to focus on raising awareness about women in the industry and the amazing technology that they are building. Media needs to focus on inspiring women to take the leap into technology rather than scaring them away with sensationalized reports of harassment and barriers to success. They also need to break the nerdy and less attractive stereotypes associated with computer science and web development.

Schools also need to start putting in the work to guide women into STEM positions. Although a graphic design major at a university with both engineering and computer science programs, my university failed to provide me with a basic understanding of what could be an extremely lucrative (and far less competitive) career path.

Schools need to inform students, particular those of the female gender of the benefits of working in a technology related field. According to the Washington Post, jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics not only pay better and more equally across the sexes than non-STEM jobs, they also have higher rates of full-time year-round employment.

According to research by Penn Schoen and Berland, 74% of teens that considered engineering did so only after being explained the economic benefits and impact they can have on the world.

Had I known what software engineering and web developement was like and where it could take me 8 years ago, I would be so much further in my career than i am today. But I literally had no idea what happened behind the scenes of my favorite websites or phone apps. I had no idea what could be built.

But I guess it’s better late than never.