“Which Women in Tech?”
“History has taught us that diversification efforts (ie: initiatives to correct systemic inequalities) unfold like this: White men “let” white women into the halls of power they created, and little changes for the rest of us. Such is the case in politics, in elite universities, and in corporate America.
This pattern is currently repeating itself in tech, with Silicon Valley luminaries and media applauding “change” and pointing to a handful of highly successful white, well-networked women as the vanguards. As such, all women working in this field are expected to rejoice over Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer and take advice from them on how to replicate their success.
But something that everyone paying attention to diversity in tech needs to understand is this: White women speaking for us as representatives of the “diversity in tech” movement must stop. White women are a small sliver of the available talent, but are currently used as the proxy for all diversity. What works for them is not what works for us.”
This is shorty and snappy and I like it.
The thing in here about the phrase “women and people of color” is important. Even worse though, it is actually almost always “women and minorities” which like — what are we saying here? Because that phrase makes me imagine a bunch of sad white women and some sad brownish men standing around hoping a white man will let them in the club. I hate hate hate being called “a minority” because, beyond the terrible grammar and the fact that it avoids using any race words while clearly pointing to my skin color, it is basically a label that means lonely, powerless outsider. Totes empowering. I feel super included now.
