Women in Tech Aren’t Welcome and It Needs to Stop Now

It's International Women's Day, and I have some things to say about women in tech. It's something I’ve said many times before, an old tale that you’ve undoubtedly heard: tech needs more diversity. The number of women and people of color in tech is staggeringly low, and tech companies seem to be taking their sweet time catching up. Meanwhile, the demand for diversity in tech is growing stronger and louder by the minute. We are the townsfolk waiting outside the castle with pitchforks and torches, and we’re tired of waiting.

Quit Blaming Others for the Lack of Diversity in Tech

For such an innovative industry, tech is pretty busy pointing fingers. Many companies blame a lack of talent for their lack of diversity. There are just not enough STEM people in underrepresented communities, they argue; it’s not their fault that the talent pool is so small. While this does hold a speck of truth to it (only 6.7% of women graduate with STEM degrees), it’s not really a viable excuse – 6.7% is not 0%. There are plenty of qualified women and people of color in the talent pools; tech companies just need to do a better job of finding them.

The pipeline isn’t the problem. We all know that. The problem is what happens at the beginning and the end of the pipeline, and it starts with recruitment efforts. Last week, Wired published an article covering a research paper that looked at 84 introductory recruiting sessions from 66 tech companies. The behavior at these sessions was undeniably discouraging to women. I urge you to think about this from a woman’s perspective:

• Many of the women at these sessions were working refreshment or merch tables. Most of the presenters were men.
• Most of the women engineers there had no speaking roles. When they did, they talked mostly about the company culture, while the men got to discuss tech challenges. Out of all 84 sessions, only 22% of women talked about tech. The research paper reports that the women were often interrupted when speaking.
• Women on both sides were just as quiet during the Q&A sessions. The men did most of the asking and answering. During one session, men asked 19 questions, leaving no time left for the women. Four of the 15 women attending left the room.
• Male recruiters and presenters often missed the mark when trying to appeal to candidates. One man, while touting the diversity of his company, implied that the higher ratio of women in his office helped him find a wife. Presenters often made sexualized comments, even mentioning porn a few times.
• The sessions that did feature women speaking about tech challenges saw much more engagement from female attendees. Women asked questions 65% of the time, as opposed to 36% of the time during the male-dominated sessions.
• When the author of the research paper, Alison Wynn, presented this information to tech companies, they were shocked. She noted that many of them had no idea this behavior was occurring at the sessions.

The boy’s club mentality isn’t just limited to the recruiting sessions, and it doesn’t just affect women in tech. Women and people of color are often discouraged from pursuing tech careers as early on as high school and college. In 2014, MIT senior Jennifer Selvidge published an article about the sexist and racist behavior at the school. Her article revealed the disgusting behavior with rage-inspiring detail, everything from professors making “get back in the kitchen” jokes to a TA arguing that black people are genetically inferior. No wonder STEM attrition rates for women and minorities are so high.

Sadly, the people who make it through the gauntlet of discrimination and discouragement don’t get much of a respite. For many, the harassment continues long into their careers, causing women to leave tech careers at a rate that’s two times higher than men.

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