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To be fair and in the interest of looking for the positive, I believe
that
Simon has a point (don't flame me yet, read on). I will also give him
credit for opening such a discussion on a women's list and apparently
hearing the replies.
I am only in school for IS/IT, and am already experiencing the joys
of breaking into the good 'old boys club: The instructor ignores the
guys in the class to hover over my friend Monica and I to see if 'you
gals are doing ok.' Other students are astonished that I'm not in
teaching or nursing, as is the expected college route for women to
take. People ask if a tech career won't interfere with my [assumed]
desire to raise a family (surprise! I no more want children than I
want botulism, and even if I did, why does that have to mean I
can't have a career?). The glass ceiling, as I see it, is 3-layered:
Visible, Invisible, and Imaginary.
Layer 1: The Visible glass ceiling. Sorry to break it to you Simon,
but women, at least in the U.S., still make $x for every man's $x+y.
Add that to all of Jenn's examples of being blown off as someone's
wife at a geek gathering or assumed to be the secretary and asked
to pass the phone on to someone who understands computers.
My current favorite is when someone in class or a study group
asks a question, I answer it, and they ignore me and get the same
answer from another guy -- giving him the credit.
Layer 2: The Invisible glass ceiling. This is the societal pressures
that keep women who would otherwise make fine geeks from
pursuing the field because it's not 'feminine.' Growing up, here's
how I viewed women as I watched TV: Rarely the hero, always the
damsel in distress. Expected to dress in clothes that prevent
physical activity, reliant on a man to save her when in trouble, very
reliant on a man to fix something around the house. Little girls are
supposed to want a Barbie and an EZ Bake Oven. Little boys are
supposed to want model airplanes and toy robots. Male lawyer,
female paralegal. Male doctor, female nurse. Male shop/math/
science teacher, female English/home economics teacher. Male
businessman, female secretary. Male police officer, female meter
reader. Male is attractive because he is smart and rich, female is
attractive because of her looks. Male expected to work overtime
to provide for family, female expected to make time to have kids.
Men look for 'someone I can take care of', women look for
'someone to take care of me.' And yes, I am talking in
generalizations here. There are exceptions, but these attitudes are
the general norm.
Layer 3: Imaginary glass ceiling. This is where the previous two
are blown out of proportion and where Simon's complaints are
justified. I've seen women who buy into the "I'll never make it
in a man's world" mentality, therefore don't even try. It's the
real glass ceilings pounding the message in so hard that people
think "I'll never get accepted to that school or hired by that
company, so why bother to apply?"
I don't believe the answer is to create a new stereotype or attitude
that a young woman has an -obligation- to her gender to break into
a male dominated field (and I don't think that's what anyone on this
list is suggesting). I do believe that until the glass ceilings go
away,
an extra effort needs to be made to assure women that they are not
genetically incapable of soldering a motherboard or programming in
C+ (and I do think that folks on this list are saying the same thing).
I too get angry when I hear minority groups say "We need to PUT
more [your favorite minority] into [your favorite job field]." The
battle
cry needs to be "We need to make [your favorite job field] more
open/environmentally accessible/socially accessible to [your
favorite minority]."
Finally Simon, among the things guys can do to improve the
situation: Join a list such as this, raise the issues such that you
are and listen to (don't just hear) the responses.
- --
" 'Impossible' is a word humans use too much."
- Seven of Nine, Star Trek: Voyager
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