La Geek, arrogance and the non-stop question of women in technology

A consistently recurring theme of discussion, whether it is in the blogosphere or in the meatspace is 'Gee, why aren't there so many women in technology?' From what I've heard, engineering college grads are comprised of roughly the equivalent numbers of each gender. So, where do they go? Or are there oodles of women around who just aren't profiled as publicly?

Either way, with my upcoming position on a panel dealing with this issue at SXSW as well as a flurry of recent discussions about this with tech community event organizing types (Barcamp, bratpack2.0, etc.), I finally sat down and put some thought to the issue.

So, why aren't there more women in technology? Or...to rephrase it...why aren't there more prominent women in technology?

First off, although I seem to be happily taking this issue on right here, I certainly don't appreciate the burden of it. I mean, really, I'm busy enough as it is and I certainly don't see myself as being able to speak for all women. I know why I sometimes feel like I struggle a bit with the identity and position of being female in a heavily male-dominated space. I know that, in regards to Barcamp, I'm not so pumped about sleeping on office floors and waking up the next day and presenting, unshowered and not-so-well-rested. But, hey, I'm a girly girl and I just don't feel the same without my morning ritual - cleaning, blowdrying, styling, etc. Not every woman will be so concerned.

So, issue #1 as to why women may shy away from technolgy centered social events? Maybe they don't want to draw the attention to the fact that they are one of the few present, nor do they care to muse the evening away on why this seems to be the case or offer suggestions on how to change this...

Secondly - and I've mentioned this previously - the geek image still has a way to go in the general public. Sure, sure, there are plenty of women who dig geek guys - and some very hot ones to enjoy (as well as plenty of reasons to enjoy them), but being a geek girl is really only hot to a handful of geek guys. Even I have to cringe when someone refers to me as the 'smart one' and my geek pride is proud and mighty - not that I don't want to be the smart one, I just know what that means in the general context of things. Alternatively, I've had to pull way back on my feminine side in order to fit in better with the geek community at large. Sure, I'm still a girly girl, but I very rarely wear a dress or a skirt, never discuss shopping with my peers, have to watch my desire to squeal and giggle over stars and such and just generally reserve anything referred to as 'fluff' for my moments away from the community.

Now here is the issue: there is no reason that someone cannot be girly, giggly, stylish, sexy, even tartish (when she wants to be), hot and flirty AND smart, kickass, and competent. I still think about Tag Camp, where I tarted myself up and ended up being called a bimbo by two of my (former) heroes. This is why I appreciate projects like the Women in Technology calendar...which I'm hoping we have more of. As a woman in technology, I want it all. ;)

Now we come to the whole issue of arrogance. Seriously, the Open Source community (of mostly white dudes) has some of the most arrogant people I've met since I was first introduced to the academic community. Yes, I know it's a labor of love. Yes, I know you dedicate your time and very big brains to something amazingly worthy. Yes, I know that the world at large is a cruel place where you don't get enough credit for this work. But jeez, as a person who wholeheartedly dedicates alot of her time to supporting OS and the community (but doesn't write lines of code), you could at least look me in the eye and give me more than 2 seconds of your time when introducing myself. Really. It's rude.

Chris and I attend alot of events where, even though I'm perfectly capable of conducting myself in a conversation about Open Source, I'm rarely invited into those conversations. Chris, on the other hand, is greeted warmly and enthusiastically. You may say it's because I'm not a developer...but guess what? Neither is Chris . He has a bit more knowledge than I do of programming (as well as a year longer in the Open Source community), but I do HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash, etc. Hell, my first year of university was in Computer Science. I learnt C++. Retained nothing, sure. Whatever.

The biggest issue here is that people assume Chris is a developer, but never make that assumption of me. I have to contribute quite a bit (sans mistakes) before being accepted.

On the other hand...Do you know what I love seeing? What I see happening?

The feminization of the web. Take a look around. Ajax? Sure, it sounds all masculine and such, but it's so darn girly. Synchronous, smooth, flowing, etc. Those are very feminine traits in a logical and masculine space. And think of all of the Web 2.0 companies that are appealing to less masculine UI and flows? Flock (totally girly), Flickr (girly, girly, girly), Technorati (chick centric stuff...c'mon...the Technorati Kitchen?), Skype (baby blue, need I say more?), Odeo (okay, even though it's pink, it still needs a little girlifcation in it's UI), Mag.nolia (hello! Flower! Screw del.icio.us with it's ugly interface), Drupal (cute droplet alien mascot, sweet, smooth UI)...etc. etc.

I think we can blame it all on Apple, who, even if they aren't dominating the market, are certainly influencing design in a big way. And Macs have always been the 'girl' of the OS. So, as we are seeing a serious de-masculinization of the web, and we know the kinds of numbers of women who are online, we understand that we need to shift our thinking. As well, there is plenty of literature out there that asserts that the days of pure engineering are gone...creative engineering will win the new jobs and capture the imagination of the online community. It's not so 'lines of code' written in solitary anymore. It takes a great deal of EQ (that's emotion, folks) to be successful today.

So, to sum up my non-position position on this matter:

1. Don't pay special attention to me being a girl
   
2. Don't be surprised if this girl likes shopping and being pampered and being sexy AND is smart
3. Stop assuming that being a girl means non-developer and that non-developer means can't contribute
4. Enjoy the next generation as the web looks and functions much better because of creative people getting involved...including girls

Oh...and that photo on the top of the 3 sexy geek girls, that's our new band, La Geek (members include: Cindy Kate, Ruby Unreal and Ajax Coder). Sure, we can't play any instruments, but we want it all in that world, too. ;)

technorati tags: womenintechnology, diversity2.0, women, feminism, web2.0, girlyweb, geek, geekimage, geekevents, bratpack2.0, lageek