Can You Hear Me Roar Now?

In her 1970s hit, Helen Reddy proclaimed that women were roaring in "numbers too big to ignore." But from where I stand, I can hardly detect a purr from the women in IT. Men send in their What's Hot picks, write Reader to Reader tips, and sometimes even appear on the cover. November's cover story, "Windows IT Pro Innovators Share Their Successes," highlights community innovators, all of which are--you guessed it--men. The innovators are deserving of their awards, but to me, the fellas' presence makes women's absence all the more noticeable. You can't convince me that there aren't many women working in IT or that they're not doing noteworthy things. So where are the women in Windows IT Pro?

Could this lack of women in our publications be a symptom of sexual discrimination in the IT workplace? (I know. I totally just went there.) In a world where it seems like discrimination accusations are on the tips of everyone's tongues, I really hate to throw in one of my own. But I can't help but consider this possibility after reading desse's comment on Megan Bearly's blog post "Motivating Women in the SQL Server Community," about the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Women in IT luncheon. desse says, "Upper managements still have difficulty accepting women as [candidates], usually for family-demand reasons. I will work as long as it takes to get things done. I always work at home after hours, but I do leave to handle taking kids to acting class or band or whatever activity they are involved in. In my current position, I will never be considered a real candidate in that fashion because they think I don't have the dedication to do what is needed, when really, I just don't have a wife to do all the familial duties for me."

Women's IT forum member valoriz seems to support this idea with her comment in the "Struggles" thread. She says, "I'm in California at a conservative Aerospace supplier in an IT role. I'm seeing a few women in IT managerial roles, but unfortunately [they] report that they are repeatedly left off the meeting invitations, their responsibilities are minor, and they feel as though there is still a 'good ol' boys club' in which they are not allowed. For me, I'm supporting an engineering group, which is very predominately male. The discrimination is rampant. I am repeatedly asked to take notes in meetings. I respectfully decline and recommend an administrative assistant. Change happens slowly in some areas compared to others. I hear the Government jobs are much more equitable. Here's hoping."

But what if I'm just making a mountain out of a male-hill? (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) In her blog post Megan says that she "expected at least one of the women on the panel to say that she had to fight to be equal with her male coworkers." But nobody did. And in response to the article "Resources for Women in IT," an anonymous reader says, "We have to read about how women are all upset…. We are developing a society of promoting complaining so media like this can thrive over lack of providing essential material and skills to help improve us all and achieve more within this industry."

Maybe we're trying too hard to be politically correct. The answer might be to just chill out and take after Mary B., self-proclaimed IT Granny, whose monitor bears a post-it note that reads

Offer no excuses
Give no apologies
Don't smile so much

She advises, "I'm American, but work in a country that is extremely "male biased". I've far surpassed my own expectations, and am well respected and considered one of the guys (and proud of it). Prove yourself first before expecting rewards. Good things come to those who have patience." Michelle A. Poolet seems equally in control of her surroundings and offers her perspective in a response to forum member Keatron:

I've found that if I act like a person and treat my colleagues like people, instead of differentiating based on gender, I get much farther, faster. It also helps that I'm the president of my own company... ;)
My thoughts: IT is still basically a man's world, and men and women absolutely DO think and act differently…. Your comments about not crying foul unless it truly is foul, be accountable, become an expert, learn to live with discrimination (turning it to your advantage if you get the chance)--they're all right on. In our society little girls are generally over-protected; we don't get to take the risks that little boys do as a part of growing up (unless you're a tomboy, like I was). As a result, when little girls grow up and become women, we need to shed the expectation that someone (namely, a man) will come to our rescue. It's not easy to do, but we're nothing if we're not adapable, so it can be done!

You tell me: Are women shut off from the IT community, or should I just shut up? Join the discussion at our Women in IT forum, comment on this blog post, or send me a message at chumphries@windowsitpro.com.

End of Article

You're right, there are far too few women in the IT field. Interesting, given that a large proportion of computer USERS are women. Quick, picture a computer geek. What image comes immediately to mind? I'm betting it's a nerdy-looking white guy in his twenties, black flood pants, white socks and white short-sleeved shirt, with or without BC glasses. The stereotype is alive and well, folks.

I have worked with women in IT and they are no more or less capable than their male counterparts... only that there are far fewer of them. I now own a small IT support company and have only had one female IT tech, albeit only until her husband took a job out of state and they moved. But she was good. In response to a help wanted ad for techs, I got 26 responses. 23 of them were male and the 3 women who applied were programmers, not techs.

As a fair percentage of our customers are women, I would love to have a female tech. Don't get me wrong, my male techs are good, but put yourself in a woman client position. Would you rather have a female tech who knew her stuff and could explain it to you in terms you could understand instead of "geek speak", or a guy who you suspect stays up until the break of dawn playing World of Warcraft, tells you that Debian Linux rulz and you're supposed to know what that means?

Interestingly, most of our senior (senior in terms of age) clients seem to prefer male techs. The one female tech I had, though she was just as good as any of my male techs, was looked on with a jaundiced eye by our more elderly clients, both male and female.

Also interesting is the fact that for our corporate clients, more often than not, the office "go to" person for computer problems is a female staffer.

I don't have any answers as to why there is such a small percentage of women in the IT field. Sure, we can cite all the sexist stereotypical reasons til the cows come home, but it seems to me that there's got to be more to it than that.

drmicro@att.net October 31, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Your point that "there's got to be more to it" is well taken. This discussion reminds me of a conversation I had with my husband about his chosen field. He's a high school teacher, but the interesting twist is that he's from Germany. In Germany, high school teaching is a high-status job and well paid. When we first move to the US, my husband asked me why teaching was such a low-status, low-paid field and why most teachers in this country are female.
I think there's a historical basis for both the status and the preponderance of females in teaching. Teaching was one of the first careers that were socially acceptable for women and became a field dominated by women because it was a field that was open to women way back when.
I wonder if something like that dynamic isn't at work in technical fields--only the other way around?

KarenLForster November 02, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Couple of points
Few women in IT - most women do not want to work the long hours and travel as much as the job may require. They get tired of the constant hassle between bosses and end-users. I think men work more for the money and are willing to put up with more hassles to get the compensation.

Why women do not speak out as much - my wife and I raised 3 daughters who were all very vocal and participated in discussion in school. They were rare. Many of the girls did not speak out. My wife is currently working with 4th and 5th grade girls. She noticed that she gets better discussion responses from the girls when they are separate from the boys. Not sure if that carries on into adulthood.

Why more men than women contribute to technical discussions and know how. Some guys really get satisfaction from experimenting and understanding techie stuff in great detail. Although women are just as capable, I am not sure that the percentage is as high as it is for males.

The hospital I work at has a great number of women in leadership positions throughout the organization. Our IT staff has 5 women and 7 men. The men tend to be more technically orientated - network engineers and helpdesk. The women tend to work with applications. We have had one woman apply for an open technical position in the 4 years I have been there. There were probably about 100 men who applied for the same position.

djacobs November 08, 2007 (Article Rating:

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I can only speak for my daughter, but I think women are wired differently. She was going to take a minor in IT, but found the courses boring. She had trouble with C++, even though she's had 3.5 averages through college. Nothing against women they're just different. I bet if we had more women politicians, people wouldn't be blowing each other up around the world.

theitdude November 09, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Christian - Please, whatever you do, do not shut up!

mkielman November 18, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Thanks to all of you who commented on this topic. I really love hearing your opinions. Most of all, I love knowing that someone actually reads my blog! :)

drmicro@att.net
You ask "Would you rather have a female tech who knew her stuff and could explain it to you in terms you could understand instead of 'geek speak,' or a guy who you suspect stays up until the break of dawn playing World of Warcraft, tells you that Debian Linux rulz and you're supposed to know what that means?" And I had to chuckle a bit because one of my best girl friends stays up til the break of dawn playing WOW. She never mentions Debian Linux to me, though. *woot*

I think that we have to be careful and not assume that men are the only ones who use 'geek speak' when dealing with customers. Would it be safe to say that some female techs are just as unapproachable as some male techs and that some male techs are easier to talk to than some female techs? Or wouldn't it? I don't know. I've never personally encountered a female tech on an IT project or answering my desperate Help desk call.

KarenLForster
You rule! I completely agree with you in every respect. (Can I have a raise?)

djacobs and the itdude
You both bring up an interesting point that might speak to drmicro@att.net's comment about there being more to the small percentage of women in IT than just "sexist stereotypical reasons." There's no doubt that women are different than men. Maybe these differences alone are causing the lack of women in IT. Maybe there are less women in IT because women seek different things out of a career than the IT field offers. As Michelle A. Poolet mentioned, women perform differently around men, and since the IT field is dripping with males, it affects the amount of women who try to enter it.

mkielman
Be careful what you wish for. :)

chumphries November 19, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Great post, Christan! Re your comment about the dearth of women among the Innovators winners... over the past 3 years we've done the Innovators awards, we've had 3 entries from women (out of about 200 total entries). Why the low turnout, I cannot say for sure, but something I can speculate on is that perhaps female IT pros, even more so than males, in general are loathe to take sole credit for an "innovation" and so are reluctant to put themselves forward by submitting an entry. We have had a few women who have been either runner-up award winners or IT Pro Heroes since 2005, and most of them have insisted that their co-workers share credit for their accomplishment.

AnneG_editor November 19, 2007 (Article Rating:

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I've received some emails about this Savvy Assistant entry, and I'd like for the readers' voices to be heard here on the blog.

One anonymous reader shared with me:

"I believe being a women working in IT does certainly add an extra layer of challenge.…
From the small issues through larger ones, I believe that most people, men and women--without realizing it--have an inherent concern that a woman may not fully understand the complexities of a technical problem, may not get to the solution, or may not get to that solution as fast as their male counterparts.
Recently I had a fellow attendee at a conference flat out tell me that women aren’t as attentive at solving his technical issues (i.e., when he calls tech support), and he found that instead they just focus on making him feel better.…
In summary, I feel the need to always be especially on my toes; I may be the other person’s only experience working with a woman on a technical topic, so to make a gaff of any kind not only reflects on me, but on all womankind. And there already is, in general, a predilection to believe that as woman, I’m not going to cut it. I fear if I make one error, I’ve lost any credibility I’ve painstakingly built.
In most cases, I don’t feel there is any maliciousness to this bias. I think it’s just one of those unexamined biases that the majority of us don’t realize we have. Including myself. It’s so pervasive I don’t think we notice it.…
Yet my minority status is obvious via any of the following: The occasional gender reference by [a workshop] teacher (the user needing help is typically female; the IT professional is male); Videos, intended to be entertaining, played during a break; marginally sexist jokes (often about wives); contests with prizes very much geared towards 'the guys' (why would I want a poster with a hot babe on it?). None that offends me as makes me feel singled out.…"

chumphries November 20, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Another reader, Scott, wrote:

"You ask are women shut off in the IT Community? Not mine. Until recently I was an Army of one. Now I have as an assistant; one bona fide, technical assistant, qualified and ready to work. When I was looking to hire believe it or not, one of my personal goals was to hire… yes… a woman....
I do want to say however when making comparisons such as IT Innovators, that you need to look at the sheer numbers of men versus women before you start lamenting about why they were all men. We can’t simply ignore an innovator because we don’t have enough females on the list. How would you feel if you were put on the list of innovators not because you were an innovator but because somebody thought they needed a 'token' female on there to look politically correct. If you start putting one gender before another you are simply going back to what we had before; gender bias.

Face it, a majority of women still gravitate towards the non technical job roles. I hate to see where the media makes women look bad by virtue of them taking on more 'traditional' roles in the workforce. A women is no less a person because she takes a role in society that other more powerful women think is beneath them.

I think that if all women and all men could understand and embrace our differences the workforce would be a much better place… We are different and no matter how many laws are passed or bras burned we are still different. Recognize that and you will reap the benefits of the opportunities placed before you with that knowledge.

Maybe I live with my head in the clouds but my generation (X) does not carry with it the preconceived notions of what a women is or what she should (could) be. Heck you should see the looks I get when I tell a bunch of men I like baking and decorating cakes in my spare time."

Now I'm hungry for cake. . . and for more answers!

Let me first say that I think all of our Innovators were well-deserving of their awards. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't have wanted any of them to be bumped for a "token" winner. Also, I have plenty of friends--including my mother--who are stay-at-home mothers/wives and aren't pursuing a more (so-called) "powerful" career. And I don't see them as less influential or important than those that do work in the business worlds.

I'll say to you what I said to Scott: I suppose my question is not "Is it OK that there aren't many women in IT?" but instead "Why aren't there many women in IT?" Scott seemed to say that it's because of how women are wired, but he also mentions how well-suited his assistant is for her job and how much he appreciates her work performance and qualities.

So why is there such a disconnect between the career and such great candidates? Do women just not know how well they'd do at this type of career? Or do they just not care? Sadly, the anonymous reader's message brought me back to what I feared when I first wrote on this topic: Maybe women aren't given the chance.

And, for the record, why would any (mature) person want a poster with a hot babe on it? (Don't answer that.)

chumphries November 20, 2007 (Article Rating:

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A response to some comments on this blog:

"For all of those who believe 'it’s just that women are wired differently than men'--that’s like saying 'men are taller than women.' Many men are taller than some women. AND some women are taller than many men. Though there may be a norm, or tendency (culturally and/or biologically induced), there’s still a whole bunch of folks who just don’t fit inside that small bell curve. Culturally, we have this weird tendency to want to stuff everyone back under that curve, especially in regards to gender. These kind of arguments remind me of discussions about racism 40 years ago, where similar arguments were made about blacks just being 'wired differently' than whites.

As to why women don’t stay in IT, I expect it is very similar to the experience of women in Engineering (my sister is a Masters level Mechanical Engineer). She introduced me to the study and book “Women in Engineering: Gender, Power and Workplace Culture” by Judith S. McIlwee and J. Gregg Robinson. It is a comprehensive academic study of the experience and astronomical drop out rate of women engineering students and engineers (http://tinyurl.com/ywcted). It is well worth reading. Though my sister survived the early brutal student days (there were over 60 women in Engineering with her as a freshman; when she graduated, she was one of two left), after working as an Engineer for about a decade, she is no longer working in Engineering because she just kept bumping up against many of the issues outlined in this study; and many of the things you and I have already put forth. It can get very tiring to battle the same stereotypes and assumptions over and over again. I know I feel it. I work with two female engineers (one mechanical and the other software) and I know they feel it too.

As to why young girls are not interested in technical stuff--my father used to say to me, when I came home from school proud of myself for besting everyone else in the class on some topic, 'don’t be better than the boys or the boys won’t like you.' Fortunately I continued to strive to do my best, regardless of what the boys (or my father) might think. And how many times are things taken away from girls out of courtesy or politeness?: 'Here honey--let me take care of that for you…' One cannot be strong if one always has the opportunity for building strength taken away. The book 'Reviving Ophelia' by Mary Pipher, Ph.D. (http://www.amazon.com/Reviving-Ophelia-Mary-Pipher/dp/0399139443), also an academic work, does an excellent job addressing the issues of growing up female in our culture. The book offers compelling arguments--cultural arguments-- for why girls who originally excel in math and science, suddenly significantly drop in these areas upon reaching adolescence.

Many of those stressors and assumptions are fully alive for adult women too."

chumphries November 20, 2007 (Article Rating:

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