Tag Archives: sexism

Why Women Leave Tech Companies, And What To Do About It | Co.Exist

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[T]oday, women still leave tech companies at double the rate of men. Even the women who make it past all the hurdles of being a female in the field–the lack of role models, sexism, and so on–don’t stay very long.

Women Technologists Count, a new report from the Anita Borg Institute (ABI), examines the reasons why women in mid-level roles tend to leave technical career paths to become managers–or decide to leave the industry altogether. ABI offers up pages upon pages of recommendations on how to keep women in technology, but they boil it down to this:

Why Women Leave Tech Companies, And What To Do About It | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Read the full story: Why Women Leave Tech Companies, And What To Do About It | Co.Exist | ideas + impact.

This Is Why There Aren’t Enough Women In Tech | ValleyWAG

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This Is Why There Aren’t Enough Women In Tech | ValleyWAG
The discussion in the above post includes anecdotal stories of female computer science students and women in technology.

Taking computer science classes as a female post-secondary student, I recall the overwhelming ratio of males to females in classes. There were 5 girls to 45 guys on the first day of Intro to Java, with 2 of the girls dropping the class within a few weeks. When I decided to do a directed study in my final term of my undergrad I had two professors who signed on to guide me. Once of them was a computer science professor and he was never available to help me or provide guidance. That experience was demoralizing and there was a real fear I would not attain a pass for the course and graduate on time. From my experiences since then, I do think it is much harder for women to be hired and advance in technology related careers than men. The issue of culture fit being discussed here begins in university classes. There needs to be more inclusivity and acceptance of women in STEM fields.

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Sexism and abuse isn’t only on Twitter: one woman’s gaming experience | theguardian.com

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A commenter describes the reactions of male players she beat in an MMORPG – and the change when she played as a ‘man’.

Quotable: “…[E]ven though these personal threats were against the game rules, the game’s staff assumed no responsibility for enforcing the rules, or else blamed me for ‘provoking’ the male players. (One game operator did tell me that I ‘provoked’ the threats by ‘playing too well’ and suggested I deliberately lose more often so as not to bruise male egos. This game operator was, by the way, female.)”

via Sexism and abuse isn’t only on Twitter: one woman’s gaming experience | Technology | theguardian.com.