I am a technical woman

[sonia]

This video from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology made me cry and cry. I feel so mismatched to the world so much of the time, puzzled, lost, adrift. I hadn't realized that being a technical woman was part of that.

Perhaps it still stings not to have found a home in the technical world. Perhaps I can still find a part-time technical job which will feed this part of me (and financially feed all of me). The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is in Portland this Fall. I'm thinking about attending. I like the diversity in their poster, too.

My only complaint about the video is that almost all the women smile intensely as they speak. Their joy is delightful, and also seems a little placating. "See, we're technical, and we're still nice. Don't feel threatened."

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

The three women who did the "walk like the egyptian" dance were the funniest.

I think your criticism is right-on. Why do we have to "defang" our presentation? Are the men in tech so fragile they can't handle us as we are?

If they're not going to caption the ad, they could at least add some scrolling data on sex breakdown in tech fields now, salary levels, some of that crunchy data we tech women love to consume.

The good news is that I know lots of female computer scientists, and none of them were in the picture.

Signed, former C.E. drafter, typesetter, plate stripper, and software designer.

[sonia]

Yay, another technical woman! :-)

I've been lucky enough to work and study at places with several technical women. I know we're out there! That's one of the reasons my reaction surprised me.

I don't think of technical men as fragile, but some of them sure do need to prove they're better. Then again, many non-technical men seem to have that need too.

I think the smiles are also about "See, I can still perform my gender 'correctly', even while being technical."