2008-12-16 feminism and IT
by Vasil KolevReading some stuff that was sent to me on the topic, I think I should really write something on the stuff that has gone through mu head, that’s (as usual) not really politically correct…
Let’s start with this – I definitely hate the people that try to make me feel guilty for something I haven’t done. This includes a lot of feminists.
I’ll just talk on the women in the IT, as an example of the equality and how it doesn’t really exist. Not like some people think – women aren’t discriminated against, it’s the opposite – a lot of allowances are done for them…
Let’s start with the fact that IT (not including the management, there the IQ is mostly double-digit) is a meritocracy – everyone is graded based on what can he/she can do and what does he/she accomplish – the rest is left on the background. You might be a black, gipsy, jew, leper, fitness maniac, chalga listener or a combination of them – in the end what matters is what you can, leave the rest (which is one of the main reasons for us to put up with chervarium :) ). Everyone has the same equal conditions – work to be done, time for it and grade based on does it work and how well it’s done. Pretty simple, actually.
And the practical observations – the women in the IT are not a lot. They can’t stand it, don’t stay, don’t find it interesting, don’t develop, they run. Most of them don’t ever think aout starting. And for them there are a lot of allowances made (for example, the swearing in an office goes down drastically when there’s a woman around, and swearing, disliked as it might be, is an important part of the job), we get it put into our heads to be considerable, not to shout (which is about 10% of my communication with the management), etc.. I’ve also noticed that for the really good women in the IT those don’t really matter and they fit in the teams with no trouble. And if someone does some research, it will be pretty obvious that the women can be found on all levels – and that they’re somewhat equally distributed, they just are a small number. And you can ask them, are they judged on chest size or on merit.
A nice example is the Debian project that has more than 1000 debian developer, and each and everyone of them has gotten through an one year long test and examination by a lot people (maybe working for the military is easier). They had a small percentage of women, until at some point some people started saying how women got repelled and discriminated against for being women, etc.. The example they give is how a woman asked a question in a mailing list, and got a reply how she has the hysterical woman syndrome.
So what? If I ask a question in the same way, I’ll get told to go copulate with myself sideways, they might not even talk to me that much (which has happened a few times). The whole industry is full with crazy people that have seen too many newbies with stupid questions or have too big of a hangover to car – most will treat you the same way even if you’re God. If yo can’t stand this, then it’s pretty much impossible to stand the usual stress of the job and it’s better to go do something else. Fact of life.
So, dear ladies wanting equality – come to IT. Study, read, spend sleepless nights in front of the machine, argue with people on different technical topics, make things, have fun and you’ll be accepted as equals. I know a lot of such women and have no memory of any of them saying that she was mistreated. And they’re some of the most clear-minded people I know :)
And yes, the joy of creating something working is not comparable with a lot of other things …