What Can Men Do?

Men working with other men against patriarchy in technology. 

I get asked this a lot.

Sometimes it is less a question than a veiled accusation or criticism. More often, it is revealing of the guilt, insecurity and helplessness men in our industry tend to feel around discussions of the systemic sexism they are the primary beneficiaries of.

So here you go. Here is what you can do so you can stop asking me to do your job for you.

Please remember two things.

1. Men need to work with each other on sexism. It is not okay to lean on the class of people you oppress to solve your system or your discomfort with it.
2. Men need to work within their own communities on sexism. It’s typical of male arrogance in tech to go galavanting into other people’s communities trying to solve their problems, but there’s enough problem right here to go around. Get to work.

Money

White men in technology have access to an enormous amount of wealth and cash. White men in tech can make six figures for being a mediocre Rails programmer any day of the week. They also control more flow of money inside companies, can raise money more easily, and accumulate more non-salary compensation than women.

• Give your money to people who know what the fuck they are doing. Seriously. While you are reading feminist lit for the first time, give your money to people who are actually educated on sexism, diversity and feminism, people who are working in tech everyday to make things better. Check out my list of feminist orgs and projects to give money to, or use the powers of Google to find some of your own.
• Get company funds diverted to the cause. Men have a lot of ability to influence company spend, and advocating for social justice causes is likely to result in their career advancement, while women advocating for the same can expect often serious career consequences. Get your company to sponsor feminist organizations, conferences, hackerspaces, development academies and more. This will help more diverse candidates flow into your pipeline and help your company’s reputation among underrepresented people in tech.

Education

Men in technology need to work with each other on getting more educated in feminism, intersectionality and the way sexism plays out in the industry. Stop relying on women to teach you material that is readily available on the open internet.

• Start a feminist bookclub for men. Seriously. I would love to see men in our industry getting together to read and discuss feminist books, literature and research. Start with some bell hooks Feminism is for Everybody because it will change your life, and go from there. Need more? Try this reading list.
• Educate other men. Call other men on their sexist, microaggressing, misogynist bullshit. I know you see it and hear it all the time at tech events, on the internet, in your meetings and beers after work. Speak the fuck up. It’s sad that often the only people speaking up about the way men in our industry treat women are the people who suffer from it.
• Get better management training in your company. Male-dominated management is one of the primary sites where inequality is reproduced in the tech industry. At the same time, very few managers have any training or educating whatsoever on diversity, sexism, racism and explicit and implicit bias. Men are in a great position to demand better and more comprehensive management training that addresses these issues.

Support Women

• Use your platform. The writing and work of men in tech gets much more attention, audience and respect than the writing and work of women. Use your platform and your authority to direct attention to the work women are doing in your industry and community.
• Be an agent of good in the workplace. Get educated on the ways women get treated in the workplace. Read up on microaggressions, pay attention to how men around you consistently talk over the women you work with. Understand how women are consistently underpromoted, underpaid and underrespected at work, and how women leaders are villianized just for doing their job. Then work with other men in your workplace to flag and eradicate this behavior.

Hiring

• Get women hired. Make your workplace give a fuck about hiring diverse teams. You are in a wonderful position to advocate and agitate for more diversity in your workplace. Draw attention to your company’s demographics internally, bring in speakers on building team diversity, start a committee dedicated to auditing and improving the hiring process. Oh and make sure this doesn’t just end up in a position where you just hire a few white women and call it a day. Not good enough.
• If you are a manager, YOU HAVE THE DIRECT POWER TO HIRE A DIVERSE TEAM. If you are not a manager but your team is hiring and growing, let your manager and your teammates know that you care about diversity, and help recruit diverse candidates.

Community Events

Men have an extraordinary amount of power and over-representation at technology events. They are also critical to changing the representation and experience of marginalized people at these events.

• Don’t speak at events or on panels where women speakers aren’t represented. Be up-front, verbal and clear with conference organizers. Work with them to find and promote women speakers in your field.
• Get your company to only sponsor events with a code of conduct. These policies help to build events where women and other underrepresented groups are safe and welcome.
• Encourage diversity at conferences you go to. Let conference organizers and the community know that you want to attend diverse conferences. Use Twitter, email, comments, whatever. When conference organizers know that their attendees want to see more diversity, they are more likely to take steps to improve.

This is just a preliminary list that I would like to see grow over time. Have additional suggestions? Please send them to me on Twitter.

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