A Geek Diary

I’ve had a couple of rants on Twitter lately, regarding what I consider to be unhelpful (although well-intentioned) attempts to get more women into STEM areas.

The first one was the #GirlScienceThing storm on Twitter.  The YouTube video which sparked it [link here] seems to be more like someone’s Film Studies project rather than a serious/credible attempt to get more women into science – and yet, it was comissioned and published by the European Commission [girl-science-thing site].

The profile videos, while a little better, still irk me somewhat. Marieke Huisman [profile video] who teaches Computer Science/Infomatics at the University of Twente tells us that maybe 3 out of her 50 students are female, that the perception of the subject is that it is full of “nerds” and then finishes by saying that studying a technical subject gives you a good opportunity to “meet some nice guys”.  If I wanted to meet guys – I’d go out socially, not sign up to a 3-year (or more) degree course.

The second thing I started firing off about, was the @womenwhocode twitter account – who were advertising their women-only hack night.  Face it ladies – if the event was reversed and was exclusively for men instead – you’d be outraged.  A couple of my tweets follow:

Personally think that the exclusion of men risks creating/promoting a Greer-esque superiority divide. Equality/balance surely can’t benefit.

— Kate Glover (@lifson) June 28, 2012

It makes me annoyed when people identify as “female programmers”, “female scientists” etc.Do breasts enhance your coding/science ability?

— Kate Glover (@lifson) June 28, 2012

I had a bit of a debate with Dr. Tom Crick on Twitter a few months ago about the relentless drive to get more “female programmers” and “female computer scientists”.  I contended that gender should be completely irrelevant (that women CAN get into ICT/CS and if they don’t that’s their problem, not the industry’s), and I didn’t understand why I had to be a “female programmer” when all I wanted to be was a “programmer” like the rest of my coursemates. He then gave me the first sensible answer I have ever had, despite many similar discussions with others on the topic – that studies show that mixed-gender teams are more productive. The lack of women CS (and other STEM) graduates means that mixed-gender teams are harder to put together in industry and this therefore has a negative effect on productivity and efficiency. That one piece of information has soothed my raging annoyance and has helped me to accept that perhaps, for the time being at least, it is a necessary campaign rather one driven by political correctness.

For your amusement, another of my tweets:

Genuine convo at previous job. “Hi, I’m Kate, I’ve come to fix your phone” / “Oh wow! A female technician!” / “Nope – just an IT technician”

— Kate Glover (@lifson) June 28, 2012

At the #RethinkingICT conference on Monday, along with various other observations, I voiced the idea that maybe we should be pitching ICT/CS as “creative” rather than “technical”. The perception of Computer Science, programming, etc. is that it is a cold, technical, mathematical, logical discipline – whereas in fact I find it a lot more like creating a sculpture or building something out of wood. The answers are not right or wrong. There are efficient and inefficient ways to do things, some simple, some complex, and some which don’t work at all. Websites, applications, mobile apps – why settle for what other people have made or paying someone a fortune to make what you need when you can write your own?

I don’t know how best to pitch this yet, but I’m going to start by getting a haircut and make some videos explaining why I’m doing a CS-based degree and what excites me about the skills I’m learning, the people I’m around, and the opportunities it is opening up for me already. The following video was taken at the BlackBerry10 Jam – World Tour developer conference in London, where I ended up doing a lightning pitch in front of around 500 BlackBerry developers and RIM staff. How many 1st year degree students (of any gender!) can say that?

Maybe my irritation grows (at least in part) from the fact that I am something of a solved problem.  I did A-Level Computing AND AVCE ICT at college.  I’m doing a CS-related degree now.  I spent 8 years as a Technician in a Network Services department between the two.  I own ties. I wear trousers with many pockets down the sides.  Perhaps these things aren’t aimed at me, and maybe that is why I feel more patronised than I should?