Where the Women Are in Tech
If you’ve been in science and technology for a while, you know how our conferences look. In my experience, conferences are done by rote: Panels, poster sessions, paper presentations, small-group breakouts. Awkward lunchtime conversations with near-strangers, relaxed happy-hour conversations with your new best friends, and coffee that runs out the next morning when you still need it. But what truly distinguishes scientific conferences—to me, anyway—is the sharp demonstration that we really do work in a male-dominated field.
Academic or industry, tech or science, every old plenary session in every old convention center or hotel meeting room is replete with men. Of course they are. Our conferences reflect our industry, and with only approximately 23% of computer science bachelor’s degrees going to women, it’s not surprising that so few of us are represented as attendees, speakers, and session leaders.
There are exceptions, though, among them the Aspiration Nonprofit Software Development Summit, which I attended for the first time this year. The summit brings together developers, nonprofit staffers, and volunteers working on the intersection of technology and social justice.
I’m not sure of the exact gender spread, but there were certainly far more women than you typically see at a technology conference. An unconference with many sessions scheduled on the fly, women stepped up to lead discussions, present projects, and give reports.
My first realization that this experience would be atypical came right after registration, during the most awkward part of any conference: drinking coffee and awkwardly introducing yourself to strangers. Despite the protestations of my inner introvert, I struck up conversations with five or six people, including four women. A coincidence? A random clustering of women in one corner? A sweep of the room told me otherwise. The women were all over the place.
Does greater representation of women change a conference? It does for me. It’s encouraging to see so many women at any tech-related event. What do you think?
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