Some thoughts on diversity (particularly for gender) in tech.
So I’ve got some pretty strong opinions on the issues raised by that whole “Google manifesto” thing. Buckle up.
First and foremost, there are no jobs that anyone’s gender automatically disqualifies them for. Yes, there are biological trends that make certain types of professions more suitable to certain genders — such as manual labor, where men tend to be larger (and by extension, stronger). But there is absolutely nothing that requires that a potential employee fit that mold. Particularly when it’s merely a “trend” or “average”, and there are always exceptions to that norm.
When it comes to more brain-oriented jobs — particularly science or tech — there are no such trends in play. Do different people tend to approach topics from different directions and perspectives? Of course they do. But that isn’t exclusively a factor of gender — considerations like socioeconomic background, race, religion, and many others also affect how a person would view a situation or problem. Here’s the thing, though: that diversity and the different perspectives that it brings is a strength, not a weakness.
Or, as a tech person would say it; it’s a feature, not a bug. I’ll use software development examples to illustrate what I’m saying, but this applies to pretty much any STEM field.
When you want a solid group for software development, you want people who take different approaches to things. You need people who are good at the big-picture design. You need people who can work on the tech requirements (and negotiate against things like feature creep). You need people who can test the heck out of something and produce coherent and actionable reports of the problems. You need people who can work with users to get UX feedback and incorporate it into the design. You need project managers to keep things on track (and keep upper management in the loop and happy). And you need people who can just buckle down and bang out the code.
And those people can be anyone who has the skills and the desire to fill that particular position. It doesn’t matter what’s in their pants; the very concept that someone’s sexual characteristics have anything to do with someone’s ability to perform an intellectual task is repulsive.
And even in a narrow slice of that pie, different perspectives can be a huge asset. Take algorithms, for example. Some people are focused on Big-O performance for everything they write. Other people want their stuff to work with every possible edge case. Still others are concerned about ensuring that their code is flexible enough to be re-used for other purposes. And there’s another group that wants to make sure that the program is well-documented, so that other people can step in and work with it in the future.
Which of those perspectives is needed in order to design a successful algorithm? All of them, of course.
And that’s not even getting into simple things like having someone help proof your code for mismatched parentheses, finding typos, or similar things that just require another pair of eyes.
Please note that none of these things depends on what gender (or any of the other items above) somebody ticks off on their checkboxes. Sure, you may not require a diverse group (gender, race, religion, or what-have-you) to succeed, but the more diverse your group is, the more likely you are to be able to find people who can provide that diverse set of perspectives and talents for particular sections of a task.
And honestly, speaking as a cis white male… I’m tired of the tech field being a boys’ club — particularly because of all of the negative stereotypes that it perpetuates. (I’m looking at you, Gators!) I want to work with people who are good at their job; not people who match my gender or skin color or anything else superficial about me. In fact, I’d rather work with a diverse group of people, because it helps me keep my own perspective that there’s all kinds of people out there, from all kinds of backgrounds — and each and every one of them is talented and worthy of respect.
Anyone who tries to argue some unsourced bullshit about “biological differences” between the genders is a bigoted moron.
On the flip side… just calling people out on it isn’t enough. Firing the person who wrote the memo (while deserved) isn’t going to make this problem go away.
The only way it’s going to change is if people who are in the field stand up and say that it’s not okay to have these kinds of prejudices. And that it’s not okay to sexually harass (or do worse to) fellow employees. We have to demand better from our co-workers. If someone cracks a “joke” about women only being productive for three weeks out of the month (or anything else similarly offensive), we need to shut that down — via HR, if necessary. And if that doesn’t work (for example, if HR or upper management is entrenched in those kinds of views), take it public and let the sunlight of some juicy news articles cleans and burn that out.
And if there’s someone from a more diverse background in your workplace? Encourage them to do their best and recognize and respect them for what they do. Do the whole Golden Rule thing and be as supportive to them as you’d like them to be to you.
Diversity (of all types) is a positive good in the workplace — particularly in tech. Differing perspectives should be embraced and encouraged. Not stepped on with “manifestos” of pseudo-scientific bullshit. We — each and every one of us — have to do better.
