Why is it that there are more boys/men in the growing fields of Science/Technology/Engineering/Math fields than women? I know lots of cool (feminine) women who grow into self-confident, self-realized uber-nerds that most of us (men or women) only aspire to be in our wildest dreams. It's a cool life, and frankly should be featured on more reality-shows and celebrity award statuettes.
My personal experience is that of commonly being the only woman in a room full of developers. Sometimes there are issues with it, sometimes not. I'm sure there's a lot I miss and a lot I imagine. Some of it has to do with the social ties that encourage team-building in the software development environment. If you are good enough to bring value to the team, you are a welcome addition.
As an additional caveat, a UX person sometimes comes in as an unwelcome interloper. Someone who is asking for an extra step, and creating more work for the group. If it's in the context of a temporary or "Contract" position, then there is even less incentive to bring a person into the social tie as a "team member". And the person is not taken seriously, and the work is not taken seriously. Add to that the additional bias against anything that reeks of "fuzzy science" or psychology in the business world, and you begin to see the challenge.
Apparently, in the current media, it's back to bolstering confidence in women again. Sometimes the other end of the spectrum involves the "men beating the women down" bit. Is it the trend that stops girls or the circumstances influencing the trend?
This article boils it down to 2 words: "You matter". And, especially when encouraging young women, I'm all for the positive side of things. I went to an all-girls high school and then an all-women college, both of which barely acknowledged the other sex. We didn't miss them (except for the romantic side of things, which tends to be more of a great distraction for both sides, at those ages, anyway). There was certainly no male-bashing, and we filled in information in the vacuum of their absence.
I remember that most of my friends in high school seemed to be pretty equal in their math/science/art/English abilities, because there was no reason not to be. We were helpful and encouraging to each other and happily flourished in our talents. Cindy was good at Math and Drawing, Caite probably wrote an entire novel during senior year, Andrea was amazing at English and Drama, Megan was good at everything. We were all held up to very high standards. We felt as if we mattered.
Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) wrote a book called, Lean In. Her famous TED talks are about making sure you get a seat at the table and why we have too few women leaders. And her talk at Davos was about gender equality.
My personal experience is that of commonly being the only woman in a room full of developers. Sometimes there are issues with it, sometimes not. I'm sure there's a lot I miss and a lot I imagine. Some of it has to do with the social ties that encourage team-building in the software development environment. If you are good enough to bring value to the team, you are a welcome addition.
As an additional caveat, a UX person sometimes comes in as an unwelcome interloper. Someone who is asking for an extra step, and creating more work for the group. If it's in the context of a temporary or "Contract" position, then there is even less incentive to bring a person into the social tie as a "team member". And the person is not taken seriously, and the work is not taken seriously. Add to that the additional bias against anything that reeks of "fuzzy science" or psychology in the business world, and you begin to see the challenge.
Apparently, in the current media, it's back to bolstering confidence in women again. Sometimes the other end of the spectrum involves the "men beating the women down" bit. Is it the trend that stops girls or the circumstances influencing the trend?
This article boils it down to 2 words: "You matter". And, especially when encouraging young women, I'm all for the positive side of things. I went to an all-girls high school and then an all-women college, both of which barely acknowledged the other sex. We didn't miss them (except for the romantic side of things, which tends to be more of a great distraction for both sides, at those ages, anyway). There was certainly no male-bashing, and we filled in information in the vacuum of their absence.
I remember that most of my friends in high school seemed to be pretty equal in their math/science/art/English abilities, because there was no reason not to be. We were helpful and encouraging to each other and happily flourished in our talents. Cindy was good at Math and Drawing, Caite probably wrote an entire novel during senior year, Andrea was amazing at English and Drama, Megan was good at everything. We were all held up to very high standards. We felt as if we mattered.
Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) wrote a book called, Lean In. Her famous TED talks are about making sure you get a seat at the table and why we have too few women leaders. And her talk at Davos was about gender equality.
I would have thought (when I was going to school) that the conversation would get beyond discussions of gender and on to productivity. But there are larger elements at work here. This is a perfect opportunity for a UX Research study. A vague problem that cannot be answered by either end of the spectrum.
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