A note on women-only tech events
This is my first medium post. For those of you who know me in person, you can probably tell that this is written in a very conversational style, much like the way I speak, and therefore if you think I’ve said something a bit “un-PC”, bear with. I have deliberately just gone on a very simplistic 10 minute rant about this, and of course believe that there are many other types of equality that need to be tackled too.
Women in tech. It’s a big issue, always talked about, yet hasn’t been “solved”.
There has been a recent surge in “women in tech” style events, whether that’s conferences for female tech undergrads, specific recruitment days at big businesses for women, or just casual socials over cake, coffee or something a tad stronger. A lot of these events however, have something in common, being exclusively women-only.
Whilst I agree there is the need for some women only events, to provide safe spaces in which women can share their experiences and seek support, having just these alone changes nothing.
Men are the majority, and therefore are the ones that need to be “convinced”, almost, that this is a big and worthwhile problem to be looking at. We don’t encourage men to see the issues in the field by meeting alone and locking them out of the discussion. When we do this, men just carry on with their day to day lives, not noticing that anything is amiss. You have to bring men into these discussions so that they can start to go “oh hang on a minute, maybe this is a thing. There really aren’t many women about. We should probably do something here”. It is only with their support that we can make a real difference. We stand stronger together, together as fellow women, but also between genders (oh dear, it’s like I’m starting a protest speech). A united front is the only way we tackle the massive problems in the field and start to rectify them.
A small minority of women meeting over and over and reiterating the same things time and time again, singing from the same hymn sheet doesn’t change the status quo. You have to change the opinions of and awaken the majority to get anything done.
So, let’s start inviting men to more of our women in tech style events, and making it clear that we actually want them there, to make a change… together.
TL;DR: you don’t change anything in life by preaching to the choir.
