femsoftwareeng

Agh, I was hoping I was wrong. This is more in line with my experience.

It's a shame they don't release the numbers because it's easy for "40%" to float around the Zeitgeist, concealing a very real problem.

"No one ever treated them differently that I saw." This is a common and understandable reaction, but it's important to remember how hard it is to be an accurate observer in these situations. For instance, I have almost never witnessed evidence of racism in my workplaces, and yet I know for a fact that in those places racism was real, common, and huge problem for racial minorities. There are 500 incidents you don't see or maybe notice for every one you do. This is why I didn't really try to answer the last question here: http://femalesoftwareeng.tumblr.com/answers

Another issue is that some places are far more enlightened than others. Gaming companies, for example, tend to be much worse for female developers. So it's very possible you've never worked somewhere that was very bad. Or maybe your coworkers just never spoke up about it for fear of ridicule/backlash.

Wow, really? I've worked at a few large companies and the percentage of women in engineering seemed to hover around 15%. Where is this wonderful 50% land so I can go to there?

Sure, it's a valid question.

This is a collection of experiences across many settings, including professional, casual and personal. I don't think anyone would ever say this seriously in a professional setting, but shit like that still happens a lot elsewhere and has a real impact.

Joining a technical IRC channel for help and being told "tits or GTFO" is pretty demoralizing. It makes you feel like you don't belong in the community, that you don't deserve to be there and that no one wants you there.

That's awesome! I'm so glad to hear you're in a good place. Of the many places I've worked, I'd say about half were kind of hostile for women and half were pretty okay. I've found that conferences are more consistently in the former category.

Now let's figure out what to do about that other half.

You just did. Thank you and all the other allies out there. It's important for me and my cohort to remember most people are well-intentioned and many are even enlightened, in tech and elsewhere. (Source: this is my blog.)