March is about to end, and this year I felt the urge everywhere about gender diversity. So I will quickly collect some of my thoughts of this year around the meme “Woman in technology.”
I wrote this for SQL Saturday Cambridge 2019 magazine:
Not a new species—just a specialist!
I have been working in Information Technology for almost 25 years. Today this field is full of people like me, but I’m supposed to feel special because I am part of another species called “women.” And Women in IT seems to sound so deliciously provocative, transgressive, whatever… Am I like a unicorn in a Zoo?
Yes, I am a feminist. A real one (–evil and patriarchy-blaming with big scissors in my hand). ☺
Revendication and aspirations???
Things will be ok when it is ok for women to be an asshole without gender being relevant: I do not wish to be disparaged nor sanctified because of my gender. That said I am glad that this event chooses to put the spotlight on reality. Women in IT remain a sort of curiosity. The same day I received this request for content, I was asked on my new project if I was comfortable to work with men. The same question I had been asked over 20 years ago in my first job interview as a consultant! #rollingeyes
Are there potential solutions to these frustrations? It is a global representation/ stereotypes problem. For instance, I always struggle between the will to raise my voice for Women in the IT world and the fear to be known as that not-technical person, a girl who is known for being an activist more than being an expert in their field.
But today I do it. Because I do not wish to read mansplaining about my reality, and I merely want to highlight those facts. But it is trying feeling the urge to be responsive, pointing things out, and trying to fill this gender gap.
So now you know….
I was also curious about my own biases and diversity in my networks… I am doing worst than Twitter…
DatAtypical 