Posted by metaltoad on September 18, 2012 at 7:45pm
I would like to see more diversity at my company, but representation by women (not surprisingly) stays representative of the percentage of female applicants we see. That is too say, not very high. I would like to encourage more female applicants to apply to our development shop and to tech positions more generally.
So, here are my questions:
- Are there any recommendations on what an employer can do to make his/her company more attractive to female applicants?
- How can a business do more to encourage more women choosing tech as a career path?
I am a father of a young girl (age 10) and I'd like to be sure the industry is as open to her - and other aspiring female programers - as possible.
This is a link to the full post:
http://www.metaltoad.com/blog/gender-diversity-tech-require-applicant-di...
Comments
I believe that the best way
I believe that the best way (and most obvious) is to create more qualified women applicants. No better way to do that than for the current women professionals to encourage and mentor other women. If employers were inundated with women applicants -- i.e., choices -- the numbers would grow. But, apart from that, HR departments should strongly consider women candidates for tech jobs, as minority applicants.
Personally, I have been extremely disappointed in the Drupal community to this end. I have hit such a wall with Drupal (with open module issues and lack of assistance) that I am now looking at non-tech jobs. Frankly, I can earn more as a secretary (a job that I hate) than I can as a Web Designer. That is pretty sad, and does nothing to further women in tech. "Mad Men" anyone?
Women Mentors Only?
I agree that the best way to increase the number of candidates is to create more qualified applicants, but does mentorship of women in tech need to be limited to women?
As a caucasian, I had a similar hang up before doing some after school program work in Los Angeles inner city schools. I had heard a lot about the importance of "[INSERT MINORITY] role models", however when I was working in under-privileged neighborhoods I was struck simply by the importance of role models, regardless of race or gender.
I think that women make great role models and mentors for other women who may be able to more closely identify with the person teaching them, but given the present disparity in the industry, shouldn't men be able to provide role modeling and mentorship as well?
Mentorship
You have a really good point there. When I got into my first tech jobs, my mentors were mostly men. As a result, I think the mentor's attitude toward the person they're mentoring matters more than the mentor's gender. Mine encouraged me to try and to risk, and always told me that they thought I could do it. They didn't condescend to me at all, or give me help that I hadn't asked for, but they were there to cheer me on and help as needed.
I think their attitude made a bigger difference than if they had been of the same gender as me. But there were also women along the way, outside of my organization, who were doing similar work, or that I could ask for help in risk-free ways, and that helped as well. (It didn't hurt that one of my early role models was the head of programming for the organization, who also happened to be a woman. She didn't work with me directly but knowing she was there, in a position with a great deal of authority, was reassuring.)
I wonder if it would be helpful to have a direct mentor inside the organization, of any gender; paired with another mentor, outside of the organization if necessary, who is someone of the new hire's own gender (or race, or ethnicity, or whatever criteria). The employer's role would be to make that outside mentorship connection available, if it was wanted, and to nurture the relationship between the new hire & their mentors.
The "if it was wanted" part is really important, I think. Most women you might hire probably just want to be given the opportunity to do their jobs, so you'd have to make sure that they actually wanted, or felt they needed, mentoring.
per Biz Stone
From Biz Stone (Twitter co-founder) blog:
http://blog.twitter.com/2012/06/working-with-girls-who-code.html
"Working with Girls Who Code
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
If we want there to be more women who pursue careers in engineering and computer science and feel welcome in these fields, we have to work on ways to increase the number of women studying engineering — it’s that simple. This is one reason we have an active Women in Engineering group (@womeng) at Twitter, ...
While great for developers and computer science
Not every woman who is an information specialist, scientist, taxonomist, or ontologist is an engineer. And not every woman should be an engineer. Some of us are not predisposed to that way of thinking - everyone's brain is different. So I would disagree that it is not just "that simple."
Some of us are addicted to Drupal for the content management aspect of it while being able to pick up coding skills and other skills needed to tackle the jagged learning curve of Drupal. So there are other areas - I would encourage female librarians and other female information specialists to branch out in this manner and mentor in those fields as well as computer science and engineering. Nothing is that simple.
~Antoinette
Antoinette A
Biz Stone is not even a woman!
To add to my previous comment where HE said "it's just that simple" - Biz Stone is not even a woman!
Antoinette A
Replace {engineer} with any
Replace {engineer} with any technology role to better illustrate the point. But, no, it really isn't as simple as getting an education in tech. College is a huge, lifelong financial investment (for most), and pretty foolish these days. But, that is where mentoring can come in.
If veteran women in tech would mentor those at intermediate levels, who in turn can mentor at beginner level, we'd further ourselves along.
Actually ...
That blog post was written by Sara Haider, not Biz Stone. Check the byline at the bottom of the post. I was put off by the headline but read it anyway, and discovered that it was about working with a group that teaches high school girls how to code, called Girls Who Code. More here:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/twitter-bets-on-girls-who-code/
Yup. I thought that
Yup. I thought that partnership sounded interesting, so I posted that link. (It was posted on Biz Stone's blog.)
communication
As someone who organizes mentorships in the Drupal community, I can say that in my experience, the biggest hurdle isn't gender, race, or geography - it's the mentor's ability to be a good communicator and be willing to spend the proper amount of time with their mentee.
I'd rather have mentors with less technical skills who are a great communicators over a poor communicators with amazing skills.
Mentors have to want to be mentors. They need to want to give of their time and help guide their mentee no matter what the mentee's current skill level is.
-mike
P.S. "mentee" is a word - I looked it up: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentee
mentoring
I don't think that mentors for women need to be women, any mentor who believes in their mentee is needed. I don't think I would even consider gender when finding a mentor, I would prefer one who had my back.
I have no idea how to bring more women/girls into tech, I stumbled into the career myself, and have had no negative experiences, so I don't have first hand knowledge of the obstacles to overcome. Though it would be nice if men stopped acting surprised when they find out what I do (I don't think of this as negative, necessarily, just tedious).
My point about women
My point about women mentoring other women in tech isn't about mentor gender, it is about being pro-woman. Extending oneself beyond what you might otherwise to help other women, especially where they are a minority.
I do this all the time. When I need professional services, I first reach out to women. In a way that I also reach out to other minority groups (or small business, or whatever), as the case might be.
If you want to see more women in tech, extend yourself to those with less experience, as a mentor. Else, don't complain about too few women in tech.
I don't think we disagree.
I don't think we disagree. I'm just saying that mentors don't have to be women, and that I wouldn't look for a mentor based on gender. Especially since where I live, women in tech are very far and few between.
Mentoring and role models
Rookie Magazine (a feminist online magazine for teenage girls) had a great interview with the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in which he talked about the problems of under-representation of women in science and finding good role models: http://rookiemag.com/2012/07/an-interview-with-neil-degrasse-tyson/
The whole thing is worth a read (especially for the clear explanation of the Higgs boson), but these quotes are worth highlighting:
I have had several mentors who were women outside of tech, and I've had one woman mentor in tech, but most of my tech mentors (and I use that term loosely-- to me it could be a manager, or a coworker who helped me navigate new waters, or someone inspirational I follow on twitter) have been men.
Having worked in IT for nearly twenty years, I've seen many of the subtle and not-subtle ways women get shut out of (and sometimes shut themselves out of) conversations and opportunities. While there will always be jerks, I have seen the environment and this conversation change for the better.
To the original two questions, I would say:
Companies that offer flexible schedules and/or the ability to work remotely are going to have an easier time attracting applicants with family responsibilities (men or women). Also, professional development (training budgets, and TIME) is crucial. As a working mom, time is my most precious commodity, and the ability to manage time and work in a way that works for both employer and employee is a challenge but so important. In your blog post you mentioned you have a higher proportion of women contractors than employees. Contracting gives many women the flexibility (and time off) many of us need to balance family and work. I'm not sure how you get around that... six weeks vacation? ;-)
Take advantage of school career days. Take time (and give employees time) to talk at elementary, junior high, and high schools about their work, emphasizing the coolest parts of your job, and the subjects kids need to work at (math of course, but reading and writing and art too!) Also, if you have an internship program, make sure the interns are engaged, learning and working on an interesting problem rather than doing cut and paste busy work.