Accidentally in Code

Category: women in computer science

  • On Language

    On Language

    Credit: Pixabay / Alexas_Fotos I’ve encountered a lot of words that I would sooner not, working in tech. I have found the word whore in a design document, had colleagues who refer to women as “bitches”. I’ve been called – as most women have – abrasive, or more bluntly, a “c***”. I have been told,…

  • If Lists Don’t Change Anything, What Does?

    Credit: Max Pixel This is a follow up to last week’s post about lists. Because if lists don’t change anything… what does? The short answer: hard work. The long answer: A common piece of advice is to broaden your network. But… see all these people as human beings. I’m not on Twitter as a woman…

  • Lists of Women Don’t Change Anything

    Lists of Women Don’t Change Anything

    I have mixed feelings about lists of women. Well I say mixed: my feelings on lists are, broadly, negative. I understand the appeal — either people genuinely believe that people not being aware of women is a problem. Or they think that with a list this can really, finally, be refuted. It seems unlikely that either of…

  • The Not-So-Secret Feminist Agenda

    The Not-So-Secret Feminist Agenda

    I put together this talk as part of Design+Exclusion. It’s about the ways in which women get told to be quiet, and some of the thought behind our approach to inclusivity with Technically Speaking. Watch it here. This was a challenging talk to put together because part of it involved looking up some of the…

  • But Unfortunately, As You Know, People

    But Unfortunately, As You Know, People

    We’ve been relatively public with Technically Speaking about our commitment to inclusivity. We only include conferences with a Code of Conduct, and we heavily weight whether travel costs are covered in our consideration. There is something we haven’t talked about (although I touched on it a little in this podcast). A Code of Conduct is…

  • Sponsorship Can Start Small

    Sponsorship Can Start Small

    My friend Duretti asked for tips on being a mentor, and here was mine: figure out how they learn and help them surface that info (buy books). Look for opportunities to SPONSOR not just mentor. — cate // @hachyderm.io (@catehstn) March 20, 2017 That seemed like impossible advice. But! some of it is just sharing…

  • The Reaction

    The Reaction

    Since that article on Uber dropped, I’ve been watching people’s reaction. There was the shock from people who should know better, and the lack of surprise from many women but there was also something that I can only describe as a PTSD reaction from many technical women I know. I saw it on Twitter. I…

  • All The Shades of Unsurprised

    All The Shades of Unsurprised

    We’re all outraged at Uber – again. Because it turns out that the company that tolerates sexual harassment from their drivers, and in the government they work with, also tolerates and enables it… amongst their own employees. And yeah, this was really bad, but it’s not like this is just Uber. I’ve heard similar stories from…

  • #NotAllMen Like Playboy

    #NotAllMen Like Playboy

    So I hear that a conference gave away Playboy magazine as part of the event swag. The internet expressed their outrage, and there was an apology. I haven’t read it. I hear it wasn’t stupid, but… meh. Here’s the thing. There are some classes of problem in conference inclusivity. Someone at our event behaved inappropriately.…