A reader’s first impression of this post, based on the title, may be that this is yet another rant by a “girl geek” about how the tech industry is difficult for women to get into; how men hold an unfair advantage, and how we need to help girls to succeed in the industry. However, you may (or may not) be pleased to know that this is not my opinion at all. I am of the mindset that the current obsession with women in tech is, quite frankly, wrong, and most importantly, discriminatory against the men in the industry.

I’ve seen many articles lately (mostly written by women) which sing the praises of the tech groups and meet-ups aimed solely at girls, to help them get into the industry. While some of these, in theory, could work to get more women interested in tech, I do not believe this is the correct approach to the so called problem.

Time and again, I’ve heard people say “we need to get more women into tech teams” and “we need to get more women interested in tech”. One of these phrases I agree with. One, I disagree with completely until the other is fulfilled. I’ll discuss my viewpoint on both of these comments and welcome any feedback or opinions of your own.

“We need to get more women into tech teams”

The argument that tech teams and the industry are unfairly dominated by men is a ridiculous one. In my current workplace I am the only female on the tech team, making up about 10% of the headcount. Does this make me uncomfortable? No. Does this make me feel that women are poorly represented in tech? Absolutely not. I am not sure what percentage the “pro girl geek” squad would like to see; I certainly hope it isn’t 50%.

My reasons for thinking that the balance in the industry is perfectly fine are based on the sheer number of women who decide at an early age to work in tech. During my degree (BSc (hons) Computer Science), there were at most 10% women on the course. This means that, on average, 10% of the people to graduate will have been female. Now, take the argument that there should be more women in tech teams. If you want to hire more women in tech just to even out the gender divide, you are completely discriminating against the men out there.

Based on the graduation figures for my course, for a random tech job, if there were 10 applicants, only one would be female. Now, would you expect a company to hire the woman? To even out the gender divide? If they do hire her based on pure talent, then that’s great. However hiring should only be done based on who is best for the role, and not to fill some “minority” quota. My personal opinion is that the gender percentages in tech teams should be on a par with those of technology courses, and as such, a 10% female headcount is perfectly fine.

Hiring figures are not the only issue here. The other is that there seems to be a large “lets empower ourselves as women and be better than the men *punch the air*” mentality. I’ve had so many people say to me “come on, do X, you need to represent the girl geeks!”. These comments sadden me. Yes I am a geek – I write code and I play games. This does not mean I want to stand up and say “Look at me! I am a girl and I can do geek things too!”. Gender is irrelevant in how good you are at your chosen profession. Fellow women – don’t be so weak as to think you need a special support group to help you succeed. If you’re good at your chosen career, you will naturally do well. The men of the industry don’t rely on groups to help them get on with their jobs – they just work hard, get the job done, and see the rewards. Us women (and I know a lot of us already do) should do the same. Work hard, keep learning, and you’ll do well, without the need for meet-ups and support groups.

This isn’t to say that I am completely against all groups/media aimed at women; and I’m certainly not opposed to the occasional girly lunch! We’re naturally going to have slightly different interests to guys, but we don’t need to have discriminatory groups to assist people in their chosen career paths. Why can’t we just have groups to help everyone of EVERY gender/race/sexuality etc rather than individual sub groups? Surely it would be better for everyone as a whole if we could all just work together on this. You want to support women? Great. You want to support non-straight sexualities? Awesome. You want to support people of ethnic minorities? Brilliant. But what about the average, straight, white guy? What support does he have? In all the battles to make the workplace and industry more equal, you risk positive-discrimination. Let’s, for once, just ignore race/gender/sexuality and all work together to be the best we can be.

“We need to get more women interested in tech”

So, how do we fix this issue of so few women choosing a career in tech? I do agree that it would be nice to see more women in the industry, but we can’t hope for some magical 50% on the gender divide. From a young age, both genders are conditioned to fit social stereotypes. Young girls are expected to like pink and play with dolls. Young boys on the other hand are given toy cars and building sets. If you want to fix the issue of gender inequality in certain industries then society as a whole needs to stop imposing these classic viewpoints upon our children. Everyone out there has the potential to do and be whatever they want. If a girl wants to race monster trucks, she should. If a guy wants to be a beautician, then he should be supported to do so.

There are fundamental issues in what society expects each gender to like/say/do, which is what causes these divides later on. To get more women interested in technology from a young age, stop giving them dolls, and let them pick what they like without fear of upsetting the classic social view. Schools need to teach technology in mixed-gender classes, with lessons that appeal to as wide a range of students as possible. And of course, this doesn’t just apply to tech – anyone should be free to show an interest in whichever areas they like.

A Vague Summary

I call this a vague summary because it is not easy to summarise a problem that doesn’t really exist. There is not (or should really not be) an issue with gender equality in the tech industry at present. If one in ten employees is female then we’re doing ok. What we do have a problem with, is the hype, the ridiculous moaning and complaining (mostly by women) saying that the tech industry is impenetrable. For goodness sakes ladies, just grow a pair, and prove you can do the job without any hand-holding from support groups.