The 2012 theme of the Grace Hopper Conference was 'Are We There Yet?'. The Agilistas wanted to take a look into what this question meant for each of us, and how we would propose to begin answering it.
I want to talk about teams I have been on, and their gender diversity, and my observations on how it affects dev work.
On my current team, we're half female- including the dev team! Our tech lead is female. Our product owner is female. It is very different, and I enjoy it a lot.
Instead of making small talk about football and cars, we talk about haircuts and volleyball and being a girl scout troop leader. Mentioning that I like someone's shoes gets agreement, not disdainful looks. (I have a strong memory from a previous project of someone saying something like "Jeez, girls always talk about shoes." )
It is comfortable. I'm not sure why; I think it has something to do with subtleties of communication style. That said, I don't think that our communication is not noticeably better than on any other project I have been on.
We don't have "cat fights". (I seriously cannot believe that I was asked that by an industry professional, however jokingly.) There is not backbiting. We are not catty. We are professional. We get work done.
A few projects ago, I was on a briefly all-female dev team. I think this is a phenomenon which is only likely to happen at ThoughtWorks, and even here it's an oddity. I think that our communication was excellent. Perhaps we spent a little more time on arts and crafts setting up our card wall than other teams do, but it didn't impede our progress. We were very collaborative. I don't think that all-female teams are a good idea, just as I don't think that all-male teams are a good idea. Diversity of viewpoint is valuable.
Being the one female on a team of all male devs is awkward. Even if no one says anything scathing or accidentally sexist, the feeling of realizing that you are the only person in the room without a beard does not make up in amusement value for what it offers in winceworthiness and isolation.
Lately, I have been having more discussions on whether or not it is alright if we have a 'women only' event. The common response, as childish as it may seem, is if there can't be a men only club, you can't have a women only club. The difference is, that most of us live in a men only club.
Most project teams I have been on have been majority male, and most of the time I have not minded that. I have no problem being one of the guys, and sometimes I do prefer to not have so many women around. However, the problem of being surrounded by mostly guys always seem to come back when I need someone to talk to.
And I have been astounded by how many guys are ready to start that conversation. It is truly amazing how many guys do want to hear what it's like being a women in technology. How many men want to be part of the support network, but not all of them know where to begin. It is up to us, in the end, to be able to explain what it's like being women in technology. However, to figure out exactly what I'm feeling, does take a support network of women to be able to talk to, hear stories from, or just be with.
We don't want to have to put up a sign saying 'No Men', but the fact is that we just aren't there yet. These conversations need to start small, and it takes time. So for now, we will continue to have our women only club meetings. Because without meetings like those, voices like these might not be heard.
No! I get excited when there are other females on my team, I get downright giddy when I hear of another female developer walking anywhere near my team area. Downright giddy I tell you.
We are far from there.
There is talk about this gender gap in technology, big talk happening often.. which is amazing. But to make change, to get there, we need small talk. We need talk in our project teams, we need talk in our offices, talk between women, talk between men, talk between men and women. This is one (of the many) things I love about ThoughtWorks. We are having these conversations. And I’ve been surprised to learn that men don’t understand what it’s like being a female dev, and even more so.. that they are actually interested in understanding, so that as a team we can make better software.. together.
Then we need actions, small actions.
The gap is there because of reasons that start way before we start our careers. So we all need to think about how we're talking to little girls (and boys for that matter) each day. Whether directly related to how we talk to little girls or not, studies have scientifically proven that gender bias is real. And we’re all guilty of it, whether we realize it or not. So please, let’s realize it. More so, let’s make a conscience effort to reevaluate how we’re judging our colleagues based on their gender in the field. We need to think about our hiring practices, are you removing the names from code submissions before you send them out for review?
Ladies, we need to find our own voice and then to help other females out there find theirs. Other studies have shown women are less likely to speak up in a group of men. And I believe that once women have been given “permission” to speak up, they are much more apt to do so. Give your fellow female colleagues permission, and then make sure they know they don’t need it. Make it an expectation in your workplace that they will speak up.
There are so many avenues to read about us not being there yet. My plea is that you take it one step further. Figure out how you can contribute on a small scale, even if it’s just a conversation with one other colleague about the issue, or rethinking how you talk to a little girl just once. Until then, you’ll find me practicing my ninja skills and kidnapping female dev’s from other teams so I can work with them on my own.
Linda:
I want to talk about teams I have been on, and their gender diversity, and my observations on how it affects dev work.On my current team, we're half female- including the dev team! Our tech lead is female. Our product owner is female. It is very different, and I enjoy it a lot.
Instead of making small talk about football and cars, we talk about haircuts and volleyball and being a girl scout troop leader. Mentioning that I like someone's shoes gets agreement, not disdainful looks. (I have a strong memory from a previous project of someone saying something like "Jeez, girls always talk about shoes." )
It is comfortable. I'm not sure why; I think it has something to do with subtleties of communication style. That said, I don't think that our communication is not noticeably better than on any other project I have been on.
We don't have "cat fights". (I seriously cannot believe that I was asked that by an industry professional, however jokingly.) There is not backbiting. We are not catty. We are professional. We get work done.
A few projects ago, I was on a briefly all-female dev team. I think this is a phenomenon which is only likely to happen at ThoughtWorks, and even here it's an oddity. I think that our communication was excellent. Perhaps we spent a little more time on arts and crafts setting up our card wall than other teams do, but it didn't impede our progress. We were very collaborative. I don't think that all-female teams are a good idea, just as I don't think that all-male teams are a good idea. Diversity of viewpoint is valuable.
Being the one female on a team of all male devs is awkward. Even if no one says anything scathing or accidentally sexist, the feeling of realizing that you are the only person in the room without a beard does not make up in amusement value for what it offers in winceworthiness and isolation.
Amanda:
Lately, I have been having more discussions on whether or not it is alright if we have a 'women only' event. The common response, as childish as it may seem, is if there can't be a men only club, you can't have a women only club. The difference is, that most of us live in a men only club.
Most project teams I have been on have been majority male, and most of the time I have not minded that. I have no problem being one of the guys, and sometimes I do prefer to not have so many women around. However, the problem of being surrounded by mostly guys always seem to come back when I need someone to talk to.
And I have been astounded by how many guys are ready to start that conversation. It is truly amazing how many guys do want to hear what it's like being a women in technology. How many men want to be part of the support network, but not all of them know where to begin. It is up to us, in the end, to be able to explain what it's like being women in technology. However, to figure out exactly what I'm feeling, does take a support network of women to be able to talk to, hear stories from, or just be with.
We don't want to have to put up a sign saying 'No Men', but the fact is that we just aren't there yet. These conversations need to start small, and it takes time. So for now, we will continue to have our women only club meetings. Because without meetings like those, voices like these might not be heard.
Megan:
No! I get excited when there are other females on my team, I get downright giddy when I hear of another female developer walking anywhere near my team area. Downright giddy I tell you.
We are far from there.
There is talk about this gender gap in technology, big talk happening often.. which is amazing. But to make change, to get there, we need small talk. We need talk in our project teams, we need talk in our offices, talk between women, talk between men, talk between men and women. This is one (of the many) things I love about ThoughtWorks. We are having these conversations. And I’ve been surprised to learn that men don’t understand what it’s like being a female dev, and even more so.. that they are actually interested in understanding, so that as a team we can make better software.. together.
Then we need actions, small actions.
The gap is there because of reasons that start way before we start our careers. So we all need to think about how we're talking to little girls (and boys for that matter) each day. Whether directly related to how we talk to little girls or not, studies have scientifically proven that gender bias is real. And we’re all guilty of it, whether we realize it or not. So please, let’s realize it. More so, let’s make a conscience effort to reevaluate how we’re judging our colleagues based on their gender in the field. We need to think about our hiring practices, are you removing the names from code submissions before you send them out for review?
Ladies, we need to find our own voice and then to help other females out there find theirs. Other studies have shown women are less likely to speak up in a group of men. And I believe that once women have been given “permission” to speak up, they are much more apt to do so. Give your fellow female colleagues permission, and then make sure they know they don’t need it. Make it an expectation in your workplace that they will speak up.
There are so many avenues to read about us not being there yet. My plea is that you take it one step further. Figure out how you can contribute on a small scale, even if it’s just a conversation with one other colleague about the issue, or rethinking how you talk to a little girl just once. Until then, you’ll find me practicing my ninja skills and kidnapping female dev’s from other teams so I can work with them on my own.
