Nonsense! (referring to the specific quote. The rest of the article isn't too bad.)

Interestingly, women are well represented (perhaps even the majority?) in usability testing. Lots of reasons why: the social skills required for the work, prominent women leaders in usability testing, usability testing seen as a career advancement from other fields with a high proportion of women...

Posted by: Ron Zeno on August 6, 2002 10:09 PM

 

My experience is that while women are well represented and respected in areas of project management, design, content creation etc, they are extremely under represented in development and programming of web apps. In addition to the reasons given in the article, I also believe this is because:
1. Senior management are often middle-aged men (this is a generalisation but hey...)who are not confortable having young women assist them with technical issues/concepts they are embarrassed they don't understand themselves.
2. Being part of forums or finding mentors in these areas is difficult for young women vs young men. Senior management (who I will again generalise as being middle aged men) often have difficulty relating professionally to younger women.

Posted by: Vanessa on August 6, 2002 11:32 PM

 

Vanessa, I think those are good points. I have heard from girlfriends that they tend to lean toward the things you mentioned because they relate to it best.

I have to agree with some of the things the article says. I'm in an all-male office, and I smile woodenly every time the single guy talks about all the hot chicks he saw over the weekend. (Fill in the blanks on the rest of the language used.)

It's a frustrating double-standard. Women want to be treated like one of the boys and accepted, but that does mean talking about hot chicks and crowding around the window when the girl in the short skirt walks by. So, what is to be done? Ignore it as long as you are not being offensively leered at and drooled over yourself, or say something and effectively ask them to censor themselves whenever you are in the room?

Women are more used to private networking, I think. Examples: seeking out another girl and talking to her individually about the cute guy I flirted with over the weekend or being discreet about checking out the delivery boy's ass, then giggling about it with a girlfriend later. I would never think about doing that kind of thing in front of my male co-workers. I'm just not wired that way.

I think for men, letting women in means letting them see everything as is, and when women say "but I don't want that part" the reaction is, "well, what DO you want?!" and it's just frustrating and stressful for everyone involved.

Am I totally off my rocker with this one, or does anyone else see this happening?

Posted by: Lydia on August 7, 2002 05:06 PM

 

Lydia, I don't think anyone should have to adopt 'macho' behaviour to fit in. There are plenty of guys who don't want to work in an environment like that. I try and seek out like-minded people, be they men or women, and then see what we can do to try and change things ourselves. This may involve propaganda against soft-porn, or it may be agitating for equal pay.

However, I do not subscribe to the Political Correct attitude where problems are swept under the carpet by attempting to change the language without confronting the underlying issues.

There is more that unites us than divides us.

Oh my God, I'm getting a bit political now, so I'd better sto

Posted by: Mac on August 8, 2002 03:53 AM

 

Mac, I wish I worked with more guys like yourself. Fortunately, most of the older men here are perfectly delightful to work with. Most of them are married, too, so that might be part of it.

Posted by: Lydia on August 8, 2002 04:35 PM