Yesterday on Twitter I saw the launch of the Women on the Web conference and, although I follow Liz on Twitter and find what she says valuable I have to say, I sighed a big, annoyed sigh when she mentioned this event. I left off writing about it so I could think of a measured statement, and Dom’s fantastic post today has made me think even more about what I want to say.
I have very strong opinions on the whole ‘women in technology’ thing, but I’m going to give you my own personal experiences of working in the industry so you can see where my conclusions come from.
Does Gender Matter?
I think the digital industry is one of the most equal forums you’re ever going to find. What you do online doesn’t have to reflect your education, wealth, race or gender – it’s a completely open forum and your success is what you make it. If there’s anywhere that women can compete on an equal footing, it’s on the web. That’s not to say that this isn’t a male-dominated industry – men gravitate towards programming but I can guarantee that you’ll find a hell of a lot more female ‘marketing managers’. That’s just the way it is. From an ability point of view, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female – there’s no glass ceiling on the web.
Sexism in the Workplace
Having said that, any industry (that’s male dominated or not) has its fair share of…for a better word…asshats. Drawing from personal experience, men talk about women a hell of a lot and if it’s in the workplace well then, you’ll just have to listen to it. “Would you do her?” “She’s a complete Gremlin” etc etc…put ten men together and they’ll be looking at page 3 models before you can say “boobs”. This Is A Fact. Yes, if you’re working in that office you have to deal with it, but at the same time, a lot of men have enough common politeness to keep the porn at home. If you’re a girl in the web industry I think you have to grow a thick skin.
I’m not saying this to have a go at men – I’m saying it because from my experience, it happens. If you’ve got a personality that can deal with it you’ll go far. If you’re going to file a lawsuit for discrimination you probably shouldn’t work in a web company.
Feeling Like A Minority
Over on Dom’s post, Celine commented that women feel like a minority at industry events. I have to disagree – women are a minority at industry events, but feeling like a minority is a different matter. I have never, ever felt uncomfortable being a woman at an industry event. It may be because I have an older brother, or because I have a lot of male friends as well as female, but I’ve never even
Women-Only Events
I was at the York Press Awards last year when they handed out a ‘women in business’ award. I just thought, “why can’t women compete on an equal footing with men?”. Don’t give a woman an award because she’s the best woman, give her an award because she’s the best business person. As I said before, digital is a great leveller and I for one don’t want to compete unless it’s against everyone.
Why should I go to a women-only event when there are so many great ‘normal’ events out there? What am I going to get out of them that I wouldn’t get elsewhere? It seems that with a women-only event you’re excluding a lot of interesting people – why don’t you all just come to the inclusive events instead? Maybe the women-only events focus on women-only issues….like what? We’re all equal in the digital industry so what are these ‘issues’? You tell me.
Conclusion
Being a girl in the digital industry isn’t always easy – you’re working mostly with men and I’m being completely honest – Not All Men Respect Girls. So what? Get that chip off your shoulder and take any negativity for what it is – immaturity on the part of the men involved that has no bearing whatsoever on your job. The vast majority of blokes are fantastic and there are as many cretins amongst women as there are amongst men – you just don’t meet as many of them in this place! Any sexism you come across is banter – not work – and I think the web is one place where women really are respected.
I think anyone, female or not, that tries to create an unequal playing field by saying that women have special issues is doing women a disservice. If some women feel more comfortable attending a gender-specific conference then fair enough, but please don’t think you’ve got a mountain to climb to succeed in this industry.
Very interesting, thanks Amanda. I’ve been trying to get rid of that chip for years but it’s just too big and heavy, it won’t shift!
I completely respect your point of view and it’s nice to hear from an insider. I hope you’ll agree that “feelings” are completely personal and subjective and that there are women out there who feel uncomfortable at very male-dominated events, for whatever reason. Maybe they should work on that “reason”, but therapy is so damn expensive.
I guess my point was that, as an outsider, I can understand why *some* women might want to meet up with other women from time to time, and I don’t understand why events like GGD (which is, by the way, not women-only) cause such outrage. The fact that 68 women chose to go to GGD last night surely is a sign that they are enjoyed and useful to quite a lot of women.
I don’t know whats gone on with your name Céline but my issues with the GGD arn’t that it shouldn’t happen, I think it should and I blogged about it a while ago (I won’t drop a link) but you can search for geek girl on my blog and it will come up.
The Women on the Web event is women only (or at least it sure looks that way) and that I do have some concerns with.
As I said previously if everyone who went to the GGD went to Geekup blokes would be the minority and it wouldn’t be male dominated but i’ve yet to see a convert from GGD to Geekup (I’ve seen a few go the other way
)
I’ve had my arguement dismissed off hand today in a few emails because I’m a bloke and its just a bloke moaning about “women getting together” but if I was just moaning the post would say “get over it” but it didn’t.
There are some points I agree with on both sides and there’s going to be some heated opinions but I’m glad the discussion has been opened..
It’s been really illuminating. Nothing like a good debate to round off the week.
Thanks for the comments guys. Celine – I think we both feel pretty strongly about the subject and it’s something there’s always going to be a lot of different opinions on – both men and women take both sides which I find interesting. I understand women wanting to find inspiration from other women, but maybe events like Geekup should just be publicised more to women who’d normally go to female-only events. It’d be great for more girls to come along.
Zoe
I do feel strongly about this subject and it’s been brilliant exchanging opinions with you about it: I feel like I understand your point of view a lot better. What you say makes complete sense, although I think we’ll carry on disagreeing about the value of women-only events, which is perfectly fine. I must say I don’t understand why more women don’t go to geekups, in my mind both types of events are great and should coexist for the benefits of all.
If you start out with the understanding that men and women are different, then factor that into your projects, then there are few surprises.
As far as I’m concerned, I don’t take any sides or have any preferences; if the person has the qualifications and the qualities I need then they get the work.
I feel really bad now that I never offered you ice cream or an optimistic picture of an cat to look at, Piper. And sorry for dropping all those pencils. You’re right: I could have picked them up myself.
From how you’ve described some workplaces, it seems these issues might be: surviving in a sexually hostile work environment and cultivating a thick skin.
John – see comment on your blog
Carpsio – i didn’t even know we had so many pencils until they tumbled to the floor like a hundred long, pointy tears.
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This isn’t making sense to me. First you say: “I think the digital industry is one of the most equal forums you’re ever going to find.” Yes, true.
Then you say: “If you’re a girl in the web industry I think you have to grow a thick skin.”
Why would you have to grow a thick skin if the digital industry is one of the most equal forums we can find?
Excellent article, I have to say lots of the points you raised struck a chord with me! Where I’m not a strong advocate of womens only events, I can see the value in being able to meet / network with other women in the web industry but I also agree with your point about awards for a top business woman category, why segregate by gender for these awards?
I’ve always worked in web teams where I’ve been the only woman and never found it to be a problem, in fact the most frustrating thing for me when I first start work in a new team is when my male counterparts try and tone it down because there’s a ‘woman in the room’, like you said as a woman working in this industry you tend to develop a thick skin and I can confidently say nothing the team I work with has said or done has ever offended me.