[TriLUG] The biggest deterrent for women in tech

[Brandon Van Every]

On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 2:53 PM, William Sutton <william at trilug.org> wrote:

> I still don't think that that is something to discount.  There should be
> equal pay, and to say that "well, the fact that it's unequal across the
> board shouldn't matter" isn't a proper solution to the problem.
>

Of course it isn't a solution to the problem.  But saying "I want this
problem solved, or I'm not going into the tech industry" doesn't make any
sense.  It flies in the face of reality.  What industry *is* a woman going
to go into, what career is she going to choose, where she won't face
discrimination?  It's quite possible that no such industry exists.  So
what's her alternative, no career at all?  Yes, I realize historically
women have often taken that option.  But nowadays, a lot of women choose to
have a career of some sort.  They are going to face discrimination no
matter what, so I don't see why that's stopping women from going into tech.

The overwhelming 65% response from women in that survey, says to me that
the women respondents are merely ideating about what they'd like to see in
a perfect world.  Who doesn't like equal pay?  Heck, if the question was
"do you want to get paid *more* money," regardless of gender, don't you
think the majority of respondents would say, "Yes!"

What if the survey had asked some different questions:

- Do you think there's more discrimination against women in the tech
industry than in other industries?  (Doesn't necessarily speak to
realities, but it does speak to perceptions.)

- Same question but compare to some specific industry that has a lot of
women in it, not just "other industries."

- If gender discrimination in the tech industry was eliminated, do you
think more women would enter the field?

- Would (concrete approach X) lessen the amount of gender discrimination in
the tech industry?


Cheers,
Brandon