Clever Women*, Come Join Technology
Being a woman has rarely impacted negatively on my career. I don’t often encounter overt sexism. I find my colleagues to be far more interested in my geek credentials than what sex I am.
And yet I find myself consistently in a very small minority. This is frustrating, because there is no doubt that women are as capable of men of not only being good at coding, but enjoying it. Everybody will know women who are brilliant at crosswords or Sudoku or balancing the books, or who can adapt a complex knitting pattern to suit their needs. Yet still, women are often considered to be less adept than men at complex problem solving.
Often when people consider “How can we get more women involved in IT?”, the starting point is along the lines of “How can we convince women that IT can be a soft feminine thing?” rather than “How do we find all those women that have always loved solving puzzles, but have been encouraged to think they are freaks, and that they’ll never be as good as the men?”
My mother and aunt both studied maths at university, and this is important in how I and other women find ourselves in technical jobs: we had role models**. If there are women visible environment who are enjoying and succeeding in IT, others are more likely to join them — and join them with enthusiasm.
Despite it being the case that I have rarely experienced sexism in my career; despite having grown up with such positive female role models and encouraged to follow a technical path with no reservations; despite sixteen years of sustained industry proof that I‘m clever and capable, I still find myself having arguments with a small voice at the back of my head that says “But you’re a girl, and girls aren’t as clever as boys.” This doesn’t often come from my colleagues, and certainly not explicitly. But it does come from a lifetime’s experience of a society that not only believes it, but regularly trots out false Bad Science explanations as to why it might be true.
Various studies have shown that there are connections within men’s brains — to do with, for instance, spatial awareness — which are (on average) more pronounced than they are in women. People have taken this as proof that women are less capable in these areas. But these results vary wildly in individuals. I and many other women, for instance, regularly score in the 99th percentile for spatial awareness. And more importantly, brains are like muscles. Areas of the brain will grow or shrink depending on whether they are exercised, and other studies have shown that boys and girls are treated significantly differently from the day they are born**.
I count myself lucky that I was nurtured by parents and a wider family where many gender stereotypes were contradicted. It was normal for me to see maths as fun, to be challenged to solve puzzles, and for there to be no question that I could follow a technical path and be good at it.
And thus I find myself where I am today: Loving my job, loving my colleagues, loving the privilege of being allowed to spend all day every day solving puzzles and using my brain. Hopefully this also puts me in the unique position of spreading the word: All you clever women out there, you can do this too!
Oh, and if you happen to be a passionate and analytical software developer, with a thirst for knowledge and an open mind, then maybe you can literally come join me — at @LateRooms (in Manchester, UK). Currently recruiting. Contact me via Twitter (@claresudbery).
* That’s all of you. YOU’RE ALL CLEVER.
** I recommend the book Delusions of Gender, by Cordelia Fine — which describes the important effect of role models, as well as the way in which boys’ and girls’ brains develop in response to their environments and conditioning.
