Tech Has Nothing to Do with It

When Tracy Chou, software engineer and diversity advocate, challenged tech companies to share what percentage of their software engineers were women, they were surprisingly forthcoming. Behemoths such as Google, Facebook, and Pinterest shared their data and the results were of little surprise: Female engineers numbered less than 20%.

A former Google employee argued that women were underrepresented in tech jobs due to their biological differences (they thought more about people, while men thought about things) rather than discriminatory practices. Sadly, his manifesto was more fiction than fact.  Nathan Ensmenger, a professor and expert on the history of computing at Indiana University as well as the author of, The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise, sat down with TIME to explain: He said roughly 35% of all computer programmers in the US during the period between 1955 and 1970 were women. Ensmenger further expounded that the 1960s also saw the advent of the 4-year Computer Science program at major universities. A four-year degree soon became a prerequisite for entry level programming positions. Unfortunately, at the time, many universities didn’t accept female applicants into these programs, effectively pushing women out of the computer science and programming field and/or stunting their advancement.

By the 1980s, male domination of computer science was accepted as a cultural norm as celebrated authors like Stewart Brand glorified (male) hackers as heroes. Movies such as WarGames (1983) further solidified the notion of the male hacker/hero and mainstream media accepted it. Concurrently, the number of women working in computer science jobs plummeted and continues to stagnate.

So how do we reverse this trend? Affirmative action policies certainly help to diversify the workforce, but unless they are fully embraced by the corporate culture from top to bottom, their success will be stymied. For example, Facebook implemented diversity policies in 2015, but the company only saw women tech hires increase by 1%.  Google’s commitment to diversity and inclusiveness, is clearly not shared by all Googlers as evidenced by the recent backlash to their hiring process with the infamous James Damore memo.

So what is the solution? Clearly, public and corporate policies will not change decades of cultural bias and discrimination. The path forward then, seems to be through education in terms of awareness and advocacy as well as cultural influence. 

Creating awareness is the first step. Networking within the tech community to have these pressing conversations is a way to open doors to the change that is possible. Women who Tech is a great organization to get involved in to help start these conversations.

Advocacy is the second step. Studies find that the gender gap between boys and girls starts happening as early as kindergarten depending on how parents socialize their children. How actively involved parents remain in their daughters’ math and science education during the middle school years becomes critical. It is our job as parents to advocate for our children’s rights to equal access to quality education, especially if we want to promote change.

Awareness and advocacy will only take us so far, though. The only way to create change of seismic proportion is to pull on a cultural thread and watch the very fabric unravel. The final step then, is to influence mainstream culture. Challenging cultural norms and stereotypes is a tough undertaking. However, as odd as it may seem, pairing pop culture with education seems to do exactly that. The movie, Hidden Figures, provides an excellent example.

Hidden Figures depicts the true story of the African-American women behind the moon landing. This blockbuster exceeded expectations, broke box office standards and inspired many positive changes and programs! For example, following the movie’s debut, the US State Department piloted a new program called #HiddenNoMore. The program’s intention is to invite 50 women from 50 different countries to participate in a cultural and educational exchange. #HiddenNoMore will take place this October and aims to cultivate the efforts and achievements of women in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. 

We have definitely made positive strides in the past couple decades, but if we really want to have a society of equal opportunity, we must continue to push forward with intent and purpose. Using the steps outlined above as a blueprint that is repeatable and scalable, we have a fighting chance of making a positive difference that has lasting impact.