Sexism in the technology industry

Sexism in the technology industry is overt, subtle, or covert sexism which makes the technology industry less friendly, less accessible, and less profitable for women. It is believed that a high ratio of men to women in salary, graduation rates for engineering degrees, and the industry itself are the cause of sexism in the technology industry.

History

In 1997, Anita Borg, then senior researcher at Digital Equipment Corporation complained that women "run into subtle sexism every day." At the time, only 5.6% of Silicon Valley technology companies were represented by women.[1]

The Athena Factor is a research report that the Harvard Business Review published in June 2008 that addressed the future of the technology industry in the United States by proposing solutions to a looming shortage in workers in the science, engineering, and technology field. The report suggested that, rather than hiring immigrants, there are many women native to the United States to fill the positions.[2]

Statistics

In 1970, 13.6% of U.S. computer science and information science bachelor's degrees were awarded to women. By 1984, that number rose to 37.1%. In 2011, however, only 17.6% of undergraduate computer science degrees went to women.[3]

In May 2014, Google posted on its official blog that only 30 percent of its employees globally were women.[4][5]

In January 2015, the New York Times said "the largest technology companies have released reports showing that only 30% of their employees are women,"[6] with the percentage of technical employees being even lower.

A Fortune Magazine review of data available for the 92 US-based venture capital firms which had raised "at least one fund of $200 million or more" between 2009-2014 found "only 17 had even one senior female partner", and 4.2% of "partner level VCs" were female.[7]

An Open Diversity Data website has been created to provide access to diversity data for specific companies.[8]

Only 11% of Silicon Valley executives and about 20% of software developers are women.[9] At Google, only 18% of technical employees are women.[10] On Forbes' 2015 Top Tech Investors list, of 100 investors, only 5% are women.[11] Women in technology earn less than men, with men earning up to 61% more than women.[9] "Bias against women in tech is pervasive", according to an October 2014 op-ed in The New York Times.[12]

Media reports

In 1997, Anita Borg, then a senior researcher at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) complained that women "run into subtle sexism every day." At the time only one woman, Carol Bartz of Autodesk, was a chief executive officer (CEO) among the largest Silicon Valley technology companies, and only 5.6% of the area's 1,686 major tech firms were run by women. It was even harder for female entrepreneurs. Of the $33.5 billion in venture capital invested in tech from 1991 through the second quarter of 1996, only 1.6% went to companies launched or headed by women.[1]

The 2015 Crunchies award event, organized by Silicon Valley tech industry blogs, was criticized for its use of derogatory language towards women.[13]

Multiple gender harassment and discrimination lawsuits in Silicon Valley have received media attention. One of the most widely reported was Pao v. Kleiner Perkins, a discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins by then Reddit interim CEO Ellen Pao, which went to trial in 2015.[14][15] Pao's lawsuit, which alleged that Kleiner Perkins indulged in double standards and denied her the senior partner position, resulted in a verdict for the defendant. Three jurors cited Pao's "increasingly negative performance reviews" as the primary reason.[16]

Possible Causes

Gender Stereotypes

Men are typically more authoritative[17] and influential than women. In tasks that are perceived as masculine by society, women have less influence and are not considered experts. Only when a task is stereotyped as feminine will a women have more influence or authority than a man.[18] Violating gender-stereotypic norms results in social penalties.[19][20]

Men are believed to be more self-assertive and motivated to master their environment [while] women are believed to be more selfless and concerned with others.[17]

Macho Culture

Macho culture describes a phenomenon where women feel excluded. The Athena Effect lists multiple reasons for why a woman might feel excluded:

Macho culture has three subcultures:

  1. In a Lab Coat Culture, scientists are expected to work long hours that often extend outside a normal 40-hour work week. Women find this environment particularly hostile because it would require them to compete with others who choose to work longer hours.
  2. The Hard Hat Culture describes a subculture that primarily applies to the engineering field. Women feel uncomfortable because of "vulgarities and sexual 'humor' permeate these places".
  3. Geek Culture is believed to be a product of engineering schools whereby arrogant "alpha males" with poor interpersonal skills avoid women.[2] See also: brogrammer

Despite the satisfaction that many women find in Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math (STEM) careers, studies show that a main reason young women do not engage in STEM from an early age may be cultural messages inclining them to other subjects.[21] Women be uncomfortable engaging in STEM.[22] However, the technology industry itself is not solely responsible for the lack of women in STEM careers. According to Brown and Leaper, “Many parents tend to have higher expectations of sons over daughters in math, science, computers, and sports”.[23] Therefore, childhood upbringing may also contribute to the alleged gender bias in the technology industry.

Effects of sexism in the technology industry

As of 2004, only 4% of the engineering workforce in the UK were women.[24] In information technology (IT), the Dice Salary Survey estimated that between 2008 and 2009, women earned an average of 12.43% less in salary than males.[25] However, it is unclear if the Dice survey specifically addresses sexist discrimination as a possible cause for women to earn lower average salaries in technology, or if the pay gap between men and women can be accounted for by differences in training, seniority, competence, overtime, or other variables that can effect salary. In addition to unequal pay, one study suggests that women are often excluded from informal work networks and become targets of bullying such as sexual harassment.[26]

Proposed solutions

Current gender roles and expectations may hold back women from entering, sustaininrg, and advancing in the technology field.[27] To combat sexism in technology, researchers have suggested that companies take responsibility and change their organizational structure issues instead of expecting women to adapt to the current state of the work environment.[28] One proposed change would be to have more than simple diversity programs; companies need to ensure that their work environments allow people with various backgrounds and thought processes to work collaboratively to achieve organizational objectives.[28] According to Schiebinger, women should not assimilate to the profession, they should modify it; increased minorities in IT means nothing if there is an unaccommodating industry.[28] Ray McCarthy, a Middle School technology education teacher, believes that schools have a role to play in the solution to sexism in technology industry. He suggests classrooms have a welcoming feel that engages all students, validate their interests, and support positive inquiry.[29]

Criticism

In July 2014, a young, male computer science major at Yale College wrote in Forbes that although women only constitute 16% of the tech workforce, they also only account for 18% of computer science undergraduate degrees awarded to U.S. residents. He opined that the low numbers boiled down to "ultra-capable, math-savvy women" having "a different profile of interests, on average, than their male counterparts."[30]

Forbes columnist Joseph Steinberg wrote of witnessing multiple sexist situations, including a technology company founder referred to as a “Booth Babe” at a trade show. He blamed disproportionate technology-industry sexism, and a low number of females in the field, on a large number of computing-related startup companies hiring primarily young workers, thereby creating “an environment in which many firms' technical teams consist largely of workers who are just out of college, sometimes giving the businesses fraternity-like cultures, leading to sexism that discourages female participation.”[31] Douglas Macmillan of Bloomberg Businessweek has referred to this phenomenon as “brogrammer culture.”[32]

A cover story appearing on the January 15, 2015 issue of Newsweek magazine, titled What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women proved controversial, both due to its illustration, described as "the cartoon of a faceless female in spiky red heels, having her dress lifted up by a cursor arrow," and its content, described as "a 5,000-word article on the creepy, sexist culture of the tech industry."[33][34] Among those offended by the cover were Today Show co-host Tamron Hall, who commented “I think it’s obscene and just despicable, honestly.” Newsweek editor in chief James Impoco explained "“We came up with an image that we felt represented what that story said about Silicon Valley ... If people get angry, they should be angry.”[34] The article's author, Nina Burleigh commented, "Where were all these offended people when women like Heidi Roizen published accounts of having a venture capitalist stick her hand in his pants under a table while a deal was being discussed?"[35]

Incidents

In 2012, women created "creeper move" cards, in red, yellow, and green, to hand out at the DEF CON security conference as an indication of what they perceived to be inappropriate behavior from men.[36] The conference in 2013 featured a game show called “Hacker Jeopardy” (a spoof of Jeopardy!), in which hostess Vinyl Vanna presided by removing an article of clothing with each correct answer.[37]

In March 2013 at PyCon, attendee Adria Richards overheard a conversation by two men where they joked about a "dongle" as well as saying they'd "like to fork her repo" (a non-sexual phrase meaning they'd like to build on the speaker's code). She photographed the men and Tweetted their photo to complain to the Pycon staff. This led to a controversy that came to be known as donglegate which included counterpoints that Richards herself had recently made penis size jokes online about a man.[38] This resulted in one of the men being fired along with Richards herself.[39]

In September 2013, an application called Titstare made its debut at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Its subject, men staring at women's breasts, proved too much for several commentators. After he defended the app against allegations of misogyny on Twitter, Business Insider Chief technology officer Pax Dickinson was forced to resign. Dickinson later wrote an apology, which was published on VentureBeat.[40] His former business partner wrote an article titled That's It — I'm Finished Defending Sexism In Tech, and said "I had defended DefCon's right to do whatever they want. I had suggested on Twitter that Women 2.0 and the Hacker Dojo start an alternative security conference. I was wrong. I take this back. We shouldn't have to."[40][41] Much of the criticism appeared on Twitter, with one representative tweet stating, "There goes my attempt to teach my 9 [year old] girl how welcoming tech industry is to women."[42]

At the 2015 SXSW festival, White House Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith was interrupted multiple times by Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt during a panel discussion on "Sexism in Technology". The head of Google's Unconscious Bias program pointed this out during the discussion and received applause from the audience.[43]

On October 5, 2015, software developer Sarah Sharp, known for contributing USB3 support to Linux and coordinating Outreachy, revealed that she had stopped writing kernel patches after feeling antagonized and seeing what she called "subtle sexist or homophobic jokes" on the mailing list.[44] Although noting that the community's lack of resources was partially to blame, she referred to past discussions in which she sharply criticized the attitudes of Linus Torvalds and Ingo Molnár.[45] The following day, Matthew Garrett stated that he would also leave kernel development and agreed with Sharp's assessment of Torvalds' communication style.[46] One kernel developer, James Bottomley, urged them to reconsider and stated that the mailing list had made efforts to increase civility in the two years since the most vocal clashes involving Sharp.[47]

One month after the posts by Sarah Sharp, Eric S. Raymond addressed readers to claim that women's advocacy groups were looking for opportunities to accuse Linus Torvalds and other open source figures of sexual assault at technical conferences.[48] The post contained logs of an IRC chat with an anonymized contact who claimed that the Ada Initiative had such goals. The source claimed that “They have made multiple runs at him.”, and as a result he was no longer willing to risk mentoring women who are already in the technology industry. He then elaborated that Linus Torvalds no longer spends any time alone at conferences, to which Eric S. Raymond responded by stating that he would take his source's implied advice.

Nadella controversy

While speaking at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on 9 October 2014, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella responded to a request for what his advice would be for women who are uncomfortable asking for a raise. Nadella stated: "It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along," Nadella said,[49] according to a recording on the website of the event.

"Because that's good karma," Nadella continued. "It'll come back because somebody's going to know that's the kind of person that I want to trust."[50]

After the comments produced a strong backlash in the media and in social media,[51] Nadella issued an apology, "Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias" he tweeted several hours after his remarks.[52][53]

Microsoft also issued a memo on its website in which Nadella wrote: "I answered that question completely wrong," said the memo. "I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask."[54]

C+=

In November 2013, a HASTAC user named Arielle Schlesinger, studying the relation between feminist theory and programming paradigms, made a post soliciting feedback on the creation of a feminist programming language.[55] Referring to her statements on paraconsistent logic and the principle of explosion, most software developers who responded, questioned her understanding of the subject.

Later that year, a group calling itself the Feminist Software Foundation released a language called C Plus Equality with syntax similar to C++. Although announced as the type of feminist programming language that Schlesinger had in mind, the alleged purpose of the code was satirizing the social justice–oriented part of Internet culture and included numerous references to rape, patriarchy and trigger warnings.[56]

C+= was originally posted to GitHub but was removed on December 14 after numerous complaints of sexism.[57][58] The repository was moved to Bitbucket but after a debate with the legal team, it was removed on December 19.[59] The code is currently hosted on Gitorious and has since reappeared on GitHub.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Hamm, Steve (August 25, 1997). "Why Women Are So Invisible". Business Week (Bloomberg LP). Archived from the original on January 17, 1999.
  2. 1 2 Hewlett, Sylvia Ann; Luce, Carolyn Buck; Servon, Lisa J.; Sherbin, Laura; Shiller, Peggy; Sosnovich, Eytan; Sumberg, Karen. "The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and Technology" (PDF). National Science Foundation. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Table 349: Degrees in computer and information sciences conferred by degree-granting institutions, by level of degree and sex of student: 1970-71 through 2010-11". nces.ed.gov. July 2012.
  4. ↑ Bock, Laszlo (May 28, 2014). "Getting to work on diversity at Google". blogspot.com (Blog). Google. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ Sullivan, Gail (May 29, 2014). "Google statistics show Silicon Valley has a diversity problem". Washington Post. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  6. ↑ Wingfield, Nick (2015-01-06). "Intel Allocates $300 Million for Workplace Diversity". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  7. ↑ Primack, Dan (2014-02-06). "Venture capital’s stunning lack of female decision-makers". Fortune. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  8. ↑ "Open Diversity Data". Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  9. 1 2 Corbyn, Zoe (2015-03-08). "Silicon Valley is cool and powerful. But where are the women?". The Guardian - Technology. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  10. ↑ "Google’s workplace diversity still has a long way to go". Fortune. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  11. ↑ "The Midas List features technology’s best investors, whose savvy investments have a made a total of $95.2 billion in exits.". Forbes. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  12. ↑ "Hacking Tech Sexism in the Time of GamerGate". NYTimes.com - Room for Debate. 2014-10-29. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  13. ↑ Tiku, Nitasha (2015-02-09). "Sexism and consequences at TechCrunch’s annual award show". The Verge. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  14. ↑ Rogers, Kaleigh (2015-03-10). "Why Ellen Pao's Gender Discrimination Suit Matters". Motherboard. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  15. ↑ "Sexual Harassment News". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  16. ↑ Levine, Dan; Christie, Jim (2015-04-23). "Kleiner Perkins seeks almost $1mln in costs in Pao case". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  17. 1 2 Eagly, Alice H. and Johnson, Blair T., "Gender and Leadership Style: A Meta-Analysis" (1990). CHIP Documents. Paper 11. http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/chip_docs/11
  18. ↑ Carli, Linda L. (2001). "Gender and Social Influence" (PDF). Journal of Social Issues 55: 81–99. doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00106. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  19. ↑ Heilman, Madeline E.; Wallen, Aaron S.; Fuchs, Daniella; Tamkins, Melinda M. (Jun 2004). "Penalties for Success: Reactions to Women Who Succeed at Male Gender-Typed Tasks.". Journal of Applied Psychology 89 (3): 416–427. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.3.416. PMID 15161402.
  20. ↑ Buttner, E. Holly; McEnally, Martha (1996-04-01). "The interactive effect of influence tactic, applicant gender, and type of job on hiring recommendations". Sex Roles 34 (7-8): 581–591. doi:10.1007/BF01545034. ISSN 0360-0025.
  21. ↑ McCarthy, Ray (October 2009). "Beyond Smash and Crash: Gender-Friendly Tech Ed". The Technology Teacher: 16–21. See p. 17.
  22. ↑ Brown, Christina Spears; Leaper, Campbell (2008). "Perceived Experiences With Sexism Among Adolescent Girls". Child Development 79 (3): 685–704. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01151.x. See p. 686.
  23. ↑ Brown, Christina Spears; Leaper, Campbell (2008). "Perceived Experiences With Sexism Among Adolescent Girls". Child Development 79 (3): 685–704. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01151.x. See p. 685.
  24. ↑ Sappleton, Natalie; Takruri-Rizk, Haifa (2008). "The Gender Subtext of Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) Organization: A Review and Critique". Womens Studies 37: 284–316. doi:10.1080/00497870801917242. See p. 284.
  25. ↑ Quesenberry, Jeria L.; Trauth, Elleen M. (2012). "The (dis)placement of women in the IT workforce: an investigation of individual career values and organisational interventions". Information Systems Journal 22: 457–473. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2575.2012.00416.x. See pp. 458-459.
  26. ↑ Sappleton, Natalie; Takruri-Rizk, Haifa (2008). "The Gender Subtext of Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) Organization: A Review and Critique". Womens Studies 37: 284–316. doi:10.1080/00497870801917242. See p. 289.
  27. ↑ Brown & Leaper 686
  28. 1 2 3 Quesenberry, Jeria L.; Trauth, Elleen M. (2012). "The (dis)placement of women in the IT workforce: an investigation of individual career values and organisational interventions". Information Systems Journal 22: 457–473. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2575.2012.00416.x. See p. 459.
  29. ↑ McCarthy, Ray (October 2009). "Beyond Smash and Crash: Gender-Friendly Tech Ed". The Technology Teacher: 16–21. See p. 18.
  30. ↑ Cohen, Isaac (July 30, 2014). "An 'Ether Of Sexism' Doesn't Explain Gender Disparities In Science And Tech". Forbes (Opinion).
  31. ↑ Joseph Steinberg (September 18, 2014). "Sexism In Startups: The Frank Conversation We Need To Be Having". Forbes.
  32. ↑ Macmillan, Doug (March 1, 2012). "The Rise of the 'Brogrammer'". Businessweek.
  33. ↑ Burleigh, Nina (2015-01-28). "What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women". Newsweek. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  34. 1 2 Grove, Lloyd (2015-01-29). "Is Newsweek’s ‘Red Heels’ Cover Image Sexist?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  35. ↑ Tam, Ruth (2015-01-30). "Artist behind Newsweek cover: it's not sexist, it depicts the ugliness of sexism". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  36. ↑ "Sexism and the single hacker: Defcon's feminist moment". CNET. 2012-08-17. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  37. ↑ Mills, Elinor (2013-08-31). "Sexism and the single hacker: Where are the women at Def Con?". PandoDaily. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  38. ↑ "The Internet Shaming of Lindsey Stone". The Guardian.
  39. ↑ "How "dongle" jokes got two people fired—and led to DDoS attacks". Ars Technica.
  40. 1 2 Miller, Claire Cain (April 5, 2014). "Technology’s Man Problem". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  41. ↑ Shevinsky, Elissa (2013-09-09). "Why I'm Finished Defending Sexism In Tech". Business Insider. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  42. ↑ Morais, Betsy. "The Unfunniest Joke in Technology," The New Yorker, Sept. 9, 2013.
  43. ↑ "Panels on sexism in tech get awkward at SXSW". Yahoo Finance. 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  44. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (2015-10-06). "Linux kernel dev who asked Linus Torvalds to stop verbal abuse, quits over verbal abuse". The Register. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  45. ↑ Brodkin, Jon (2013-07-16). "Linus Torvalds defends his right to shame Linux kernel developers". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  46. ↑ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J (2015-10-09). "Matthew Garret is not forking Linux". ZDNet. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  47. ↑ Linton, Susan (2015-10-09). "Linux Discussion Continues, Fedora Welcomes Chromium". Ostatic. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  48. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (2015-11-06). "Linus Torvalds targeted by honeytraps claims Eric S. Raymond". The Register. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  49. ↑ "Microsoft CEO says women asking for higher pay is 'bad karma'". HR Grapevine. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  50. ↑ "Microsoft CEO criticized for suggesting women not ask for raises". Reuters via Yahoo.com. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  51. ↑ Raphaelson, Samantha (2014-10-10). "Microsoft CEO Nadella's Remarks Add To Tech's Sexism Problem". All Tech Considered - NPR. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  52. ↑ Musil, Steven. "Microsoft CEO says he was 'inarticulate' on pay for women in tech". CNET. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  53. ↑ Peralta, Eyder (2014-10-09). "Microsoft CEO Backtracks On Suggestion That Women Shouldn't Ask For Raises". The Two-Way : NPR. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  54. ↑ "Microsoft CEO Apologizes for Comments on Women". ABC News. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  55. ↑ Schlesinger, Arielle (2013-11-26). "Feminism and Programming Languages". Hastac. Retrieved 2015-07-02.
  56. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (2013-12-19). "Feminist Software Foundation gets grumpy with GitHub... or does it?". The Register. Retrieved 2015-07-02.
  57. ↑ "GitHub Takes Down Satirical 'C Plus Equality' Language". Slashdot. 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2015-07-02.
  58. ↑ White, Molly (2013-12-14). "Why I'm not laughing at C Plus Equality".
  59. ↑ "Harassing Repository". Atlassian. 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2015-07-02.

Further reading

External links

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