WITsend - A place for women in IT

Calling all men who tech - time to speak out for female colleagues

2009-11-04T11:05:46Z

Sue Black is one of the UK's best known campaigners for more women in technology, and she says it's time for men to stand up and be counted when it comes to women at work.

Things have moved on from 20 years ago - more men now understand the rationale behind the women in technology debate. They get that we're not saying all IT staff should be women (that would be just as unpalatable as the seas of masculine suits that currently greet us at most conferences), but that mixed teams are a better idea for everyone: they're more fun, and the number of ideas (or solutions to problems) floating about increases as diversity does.

Sue said, "Now is the time to make it about all of us, rather than just about women. Twenty years ago there weren't enough men on board but now there are. We really need men talking about it. It's a problem for all of us.

"In the past people would assume I wanted there to be only women in technology and no men. That's wrong - I want a balance. I wouldn't want to work in an all-female environment, the same as I don't want to work in an all male one. You want different people, not everyone having a similar mindset."

More men speaking up might help boost the current glacial pace of change on women at work. A report from the Women and Work Commission said the proportion of women in science, engineering and technology is not expected to reach 50% this century, with current levels at 18.5%. It's not just up to women to change things - it's up to men, who, for the most part, are the ones in positions powerful enough to change workplace cultures and implement new policies. It's difficult for some men to realise why so many male dominated teams pose a problem for women, and how covert sexism continues to affect them. It would help to have both male and female voices explaining things if the opportunity arises, because it makes it much harder to brush it aside or pretend it's just women complaining about nothing.

Until men are fully on board with the need for more equality in technology workplaces things won't change. It remains to be seen if those men who already understand the argument, and recognise the problem, will actually start talking about it on public platforms. This is an issue that affects everyone - it's not a niche problem that affects only women. Men may not feel the effects of a monochrome culture quite so directly, but they do lose out. Hopefully a few more will start to agree that it's no longer just down to women to keep bashing on about this.

Is the Nude London Tech Calendar a good idea?

2009-10-22T11:25:00Z

When I first heard about the Nude London Tech Calendar my reaction was one of indifference. It reminded me of the popular people at school and their regular charity fashion shows. Back then, I decided if people want to go parading around showing off their knobbly bits, that's fine. It's insane, obviously, but fine - I couldn't get my head around why anyone would want to jump about on a stage being judged by little weirdos like me. But it's up to them. I'll watch with a vague sense of fascinated horror before going home to read my Enid Blyton books, while you parade about. That was how things worked between me and the popular people.

I'm still pretty indifferent, and mention the calendar on this blog long after I heard about it, mainly because of a blog shared by Techcrunch Europe editor Mike Butcher on Twitter this week by Eileen Burbridge.

The calendar will feature both men and women; it's for charity; and god knows technology needs a marketing facelift. But I'm with Eileen on this one - I thought the "stars of the London tech scene" being featured in the calendar were supposed to be business people? And surely there's a way to improve the tech sector's image that doesn't involve copying the Women's Institute?

Eileen, who runs her own tech company and was formerly at director level in Yahoo!, says, "If you're in this business and want to be taken seriously as a woman, keep your clothes on. If you want to be perceived and judged as clever, quick-witted, with good business acumen, laser-focussed on your work and generally with your shit together, then keep the primary attention and focus on your cerebral achievements and don't over-flaunt your physical assets."

I'm still fighting my indifference but my biggest objection is that it all seems a little bit ego-driven, a little too similar to school-time fashion shows and perhaps not the image I'd want to cultivate if I was starting and running an internet business. But then again, I'm not starting a tech business, and I'm not an internet big-wig, so maybe I know nothing about how they want to be perceived. If London's hottest tech stars feel the need to share their knobbly bits with the rest of us, they have my blessing. I haven't enjoyed fascinated horror on this level for quite some time.

Know someone with good advice? No Country for Young Women connects the generations

2009-10-20T14:26:28Z

No Country for Young Women is an exciting new project from freelance film maker Elena Rossini, an Italian who is also behind the documentary-in-development (and popular Twitter feed) The Illusionists.
Elena is turning her attention from notions of female beauty (which The Illusionists tackles) to how women are treated at work. She hopes to connect younger women with older - the older women will be interviewed about their experiences and what they've learnt about coping with discriminatory workplaces, while the younger ones (those in their teens and twenties) will be asked to describe how they've found it so far.
Elena says she wanted her next project to focus on women in the workplace after her research led her to all kinds of stories of harassment, discrimination or alienation. She says, "It really bothers me to see a wage gap, and it's mostly men in the top spots of everything from academia to the corporate world. It's seen as normal now."
The website - which is still being built - will eventually hold all kinds of resources including links to articles on women succeeding in male-dominated fields, both filmed and written interviews, and anonymous essays. Elena hopes to bridge the gap between younger and older women and open up conversations.
"The ultimate aim is to provide inspiration and provide a space for these issues. It's a positive thing, despite the negative topic," she says.
Elena will be interviewing women on film and via email, including those working in technology. "I hear a lot from people in technology how most conference speakers are male, so interviewing women from the technology field is definitely one of our objectives." If you know any female technologists who have advice for younger women starting out in the field, let us know. Keep visiting the site as it's developing - Elena hopes to have around 20 interviews up by the end of the year, and it will grow from there.

Making it really easy: more women in IT means more money

2009-10-19T15:11:43Z

After a few months of looking into the women in technology debate, something has slowly dawned on me: It needs to be made easy. Very easy. There are a lot of people who just do not get it, or don't care. They don't see a lack of women in science and technology workplaces as a problem.
Big IT companies haven't really thrown their weight behind the problem, presumably because somewhere behind all the marketing talk is the secretly-held conviction that there isn't one.
There are both women and men who think like this, and they have various reasons for doing so.
Some men (not all) suffer from simply not being able to put themselves in another's place - if it's not a problem that directly affects them then it's not a problem they can conceive of.
And then there's apathy - the idea that this is just how things are, for whatever reason, and drawing attention to it isn't going to change it. People should stop complaining and get on with doing their jobs, because things aren't going to change drastically in the short or medium term.
This is actually a point I sometimes get close to agreeing to. Other times, I want to yell "Where would we be if the suffragettes had thought that? You fools!" Arguing about anything with even a vaguely feminist slant to it is exhausting, and you can only make the same points a finite number of times before wanting to resort to violence. Most of the time, you do just have to get on with things and ignore your colleagues' really funny porn or women-related jokes or the vague alienation and lack of communication that can come with being the only girl in the village.
But, irrespective of the reasons for people's lack of understanding, the argument for more women in technology needs to be made really simple. So here's an easy reason to get on board for those who just don't get it: Money! Profit! Lots of lovely revenue! Amazingly enough, companies with a mixed workforce make more money, in general, than companies without. An article in the Harvard Business Review last month said that the female market has twice the potential of China and India combined. And a study by advertising consultancy Lady Geek, founded by Belinda Parmar, found there's a possible £0.6bn up for grabs in the UK technology market alone. That's right, you could make loads of money convincing me I need another one of your lovely laptops. If only you'd stop slapping butterflies on them and trying to tell me they're a fashion accessory.
The money is there for the taking - if you get it right (which very few companies have yet). And what's more, to tap into this market, you need people who are able to get it right (which very few companies are yet). If you want to make money out of women buying technology, you need more women working for you. It's genius! I might patent this idea before the big boys catch on.
In a further extraordinary revelation, McKinsey's 2007 "Women Matter" report showed European companies with the highest proportion of women in senior management experience better-than-average financial performance. It makes logical sense, because different types of people are likely to have different ideas. Discussion will hopefully throw up the best way of approaching something. (That's if everyone is capable of communicating and discussing things properly, which is admittedly a fairly big if.) There's a steady stream of articles and books backing up the claim that mixed teams do better.
It doesn't get simpler than that: more women in technology companies means more money. Until the big technology companies cotton on and start to actually do something, my services as a management consultant are available for the excellent price of £9,000 an hour.

Women look for flexible careers

2009-10-02T14:59:25Z

A quick post to point you in the direction of an article written by Ian Grant: What IT women want is more flexible career paths, well worth a read.

Clueless technology companies in "women are lazy" shocker

2009-09-25T14:37:48Z

Two brilliant headlines from recent tech press releases: 1. Women don't work hard and 2. Women are clueless about technology.
So I'm lazy, and I can't turn my computer on, because I'm just so female and flimsy. I don't even know why I bother leaving the house in the morning. I'll probably get sacked soon anyway, on account of my laziness.
You might assume there must be some high quality research backing up such strong statements. But you'd be wrong - it's lazy, sexist PR guff. It's companies desperate for some coverage, coming up with a "controversial" headline to try and get it.
I auto-deleted my copies of these press releases, but was prompted into mentioning them by Maggie Berry at WomeninTechnology.co.uk, who blogged on the "clueless" story.
In the "women are lazy" shocker, a "performance analysis software vendor" (sorry?) called OfficeMetrics informs us all that women start their days earlier than men, but are less productive. I almost can't be bothered to explain the rest of this ridiculous story, if I can call it that. Blah blah numbers blah and at the end - a statement saying actually, we don't really know what we're talking about.
I'm not usually one for PR-bashing, a sport that a lot of unjustifiably smug journalists like to engage in. But any agency who pitches or sends this sort of rubbish is wasting their time and making their client look stupid.
What's more, companies like TechGuys (the bunch behind the story calling me clueless) need women to get interested in working in IT. The UK (and I think the US) don't have enough good quality technology staff. Alienating half the population by calling us clueless and lazy is a great way of attracting decent people to work for them. Nice work TechGuys. Who calls their company that anyway?

Only 9 Women Make T3's Tech100 List

2009-09-17T13:08:00Z

T3 have announced their Tech100 list for 2009, naming the 100 most influential people in technology.

Whenever these lists are published, I always immediately scan through to:

a) see if I actually recognize any of the names listed.

b) see if there are more than five women listed.

Well, congratulations women in technology, 9 of you are influential! N-I-N-E!

90. Liz Schimel, Nokia, "Free music for the mobile generation"

86. Maggie Shiels, BBC, "Frontline news hound in Silicon Valley"

89. Claudine Beaumont, Telegraph, "Gadget Inspector and Telegraph tech guru"

81. Helen Keppel-Compton, John Lewis, "Your mum shops there, yes"

79. Ilse Howling, Freeview, "Most TVs have it"

66. Carol Bardtz. Yahoo!, "New Yahoo! helmswoman"

50. Dr Tanya Byron, UK Government, "A controversial name for this list"

41. Emma Scott, Freesat, "HD content for next to nothing"

37. Martha Lane Fox, UK Government, "One of nine women on the Tech 100"

I believe Martha Lane Fox's quick description really sums it all up, doesn't it?

9 out of 100.

Not even 10%. Not one woman in the top 5, 10, 20 or even 30. There are 3 women in the 1 - 50 zone.

Now before I go off on one about how T3 probably would have added more women if they had been standing around in bikini's nonchalantly holding an XBOX controller at their well-oiled side - let's be calm.

Let's breathe.

The first thing that people ask when you complain about a "top whatever" list, is, "Who would you have put on this list and why?"

And then, angry bloggers and journalists everywhere, will spend hours creating a list, and writing reasons for why they should be on the other person's list, and then get in some sort of troll-esque Twitter argument about it.

So, who would I have put on the list?

Some names I can think of straight away are Sarah Lacy, Mike Butcher, Paul Carr, Liz Stone, Nick Halstead, Andy McLoughlin, Julie Meyer, and Jemima Kiss...

These are people I can think of straight away who are big influencers in the tech scene - whether they're reporting on it, giving commentary, running a successful start-up, or helping give entrepreanuers in Europe exposure.

I can also think of a few entreaprenuers who are more fitting on the list than Jonathan Ross (yes, he uses Twitter. Waheeeey!) and Trent Reznor (great, he "understands what the internet can do for his brand", so does Lily Allen).

I'm sure if I went through my contacts and searched around I could find some more women. I'm sure if I thought about it I could add some women to their list. Certainly I could make the number out of 100 bigger than 9.

My honest opinion, is that I don't understand why bringing Lucky Voice to the UK grants Martha Lane Fox the highest ranking spot for a woman on this list. She's helping getting the poorest people in Britain online, but is she more influential in Tech than Julie Meyer?

People and especially women who are in tech get very defensive when discussing lists like this. Especially when people like me are honest and say that other than a handful of names, they're not sure what other women should be on the list.

If T3 really cared about having more women on this list, they would and could have found a way.

However, you can always argue that women don't want special handouts, and therefore there shouldn't be a quota for how many women are on this things. These lists should be truly reflective of the tech industry, right? We don't want a BS list, littered with PC handouts!

Ultimately, I'm sure we can name loads of influential women in tech, or just women in tech in general - but can we name women that have similar ranking to Shigeru Miyamoto? Marc-bloody-Zuckerberg?

Aside from the crap people on this list, and the absence of some key women, perhaps what people passionate about getting more women in tech don't like about these lists, is that - like it or not - they mirror our the mainstream tech culture.

At the end of the day, it's still exclusively men at the top. It's men in the top 10 and we can't exactly rattle off the names of 20 more women who absolutely deserve to be in those top spots, so that frustrates us even more.

I would love to see more women on this list, and I think T3 could have easily added more women in there. (Again, THE LEAD SINGER FROM NINE INCH NAILS?!) But at the end of the day, this list just proves that it's technology's biggest influencers are still male...

Cate Sevilla is the founding editor of BitchBuzz.com. You can follow her on Twitter as @CupCate.

Great female IT role models - Catalina McGregor

2009-09-16T11:23:51Z

Catalina McGregor is founder and chair of the CIO / CTO Council Green ICT Delivery Group, and is producing real change in the way government IT operates.

The delivery group published the first strategic vision for Greening Government IT in Europe and has set targets for central government chief information officers.

McGregor is at the centre of government and seems committed to transforming the way IT is used, procured and disposed of in the public sector. She is passionate about the amount of technology that's getting dumped by Europe and the US in Asia and Africa, and says legislation and policy can only do so much. If we keep throwing away as much as we are, it will still get dumped in places like Ghana, because it's lucrative to do so. The people doing the dumping will find a way around the law if the volume of old IT remains as high as it currently is.

McGregor has been called "one of the most significant drivers of green IT in the western world", and she is the liaison officer to the UN ITU Focus Group for ICT and climate change.

Before working at the cabinet office, she held posts at the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Trade and Industry. She is also the former head of e-business and e-commerce for Richemont Luxury Group.

We're going to be writing more about McGregor's work but in the meantime, if you have a daughter who you think would do well in the technology sector, you could do a lot worse than leaving McGregor's CV lying around for her to find.

Do Women Want Female-Only Tech Events?

2009-08-28T14:18:22Z

Strictly all-female tech events seems to be a touchy subject for everyone involved in tech.

Just like gadgets aimed at women, all the WIT seem to get all funny when we're invited to a women-only tech event.

How dare they presume to know what all of us want? An event? For women? As opposed to a regular event? What - do we get pink cocktails and low-fat cannapés to nibble on as we giggle about boyfriends and periods?

While Rebecca thoroughly enjoyed her experience at London's Girl Geek Dinners Fourth Anniversary, and I'm a huge fan of Silicon Stilettos - when it comes to female meet-ups, what do we want?

Or do we even want them at all?

Personally, the majority of events that I go to are for both genders. So many "women in business" and "women in tech" events lose sight of what they're meant to be doing, and end up putting people off.

Why would I spend £500 for a one day conference...just because it's "for women"?

Why do I have to spend £50 for a dinner with influential women in my industry? Why can't we just grab a drink and talk that way? If you want it to be exclusive, fine. Only make so many tickets available - but why so much money? Can't we go to a Whetherspoon's on Curry Thursday and have the same conversation?

Oh, no. We need to have our power suits on and be drinking expensive white wine in order for us to feel like proper business women.

I understand that there is a need for different styles and different types of events for women, but what I find most of the "let's inspire some women" events similar to wedding cakes.

If you're buying a cake, it costs a standard price.

But a WEDDING CAKE? Oh lord. Break out the credit card because it's a WEDDING CAKE. It's not your average cake. It has...wedding stuff on it.

So, keeping in mind corporate business events take themselves much to seriously anyway, add that it's for WOMEN in business on top of it, and it's charge-happy central.

What are some female-only events doing right, that others are getting wrong? Do PR agencies and events coordinators avoid anything typically female? Do they avoid cosmos? Do they make it as gender neutral as possible? Can you have a gender neutral event when it's clearly only XX chromosones in the room?

One of the best all-female events I recently went to broke all of my personal rules about women in tech meet-ups.

When it comes to events for women, I'm usually against there being frilly things there because someone's assumed that's what women want. I'm against having bright pink gadgets and things "women like" on the table that they're hoping will "engage us" and cause us to "evangelize" and "connect" with their product.

However, this event I went to was at a well-to-do hotel, with the fanciest afternoon tea in existence (there were small cakes shaped like hand-bags), champagne, tea, and most of us were in dresses and skirts because of the nature of the venue.

So why didn't I start wretching and run out?

The difference was, was that there were five of us.

The gadget we were meant to be discussing was on the table - we all had our own samples to play with prior to the event - and we just got to know each other.

Women from different ages and backgrounds, representing different publications and websites, and we had actual conversations.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that it the success of your event has everything to do with who you've invited, how the people putting on the event treat their guests, and how they integrate their corporate agenda into the evening.

I learned more about the gadget and the company behind it, as well as making some cool connections with other women in my industry. The evening was about women meeting other techy women, and a gadget. The tea, champagne and cakes were just sweet little additions.

The true agenda and point to the evening were clear. It wasn't distracted by pink nonsense lost in feminine BS. We were women, drinking tea and eating cake while we discussed technology.

And it was pretty damn fabulous.

At events where the only point is to meet people and get drunk - you don't need a lot of forethought. The right venue, and maybe a free drink or two, and you're good.

But at these events for women where people are meant to be "inspiring us" or we're meant to learn more about a brand - to the extent that the organizers are hoping we'll give coverage or use these products in our every day lives - your event needs meat.

It needs forethought.

Women all have different opinions and expectations when it comes to events, it's your job to try to find the balance.

London's Girl Geek Dinners - 4th anniversary

2009-08-27T14:15:01Z

Last night saw the fourth anniversary event for London's Girl Geek Dinners. It was the first Girl Geek event I had been to and I found it more friendly, interesting and lively than just about any other tech event I've attended.

The best thing about Girl Geek Dinners is that it doesn't want to be negative. It's not about complaining about the diversity problems in technology - we all know they're there, and we all know it's in everyone's interests to make them go. It actually tries to move the debate forward, come up with ideas for how to change things, and be constructive rather than just critical.

It also provides women with a chance to be in the majority, which makes a nice change for most of them.

Maggie Philbin, science and technology broadcaster and former Tomorrow's World presenter, summed it up by saying, "It's not about moaning about the negative side of things - tonight is about flagging up the things that really are making a difference for women, and looking at what we can change to make a difference. We are anxious to move forward."

Sarah Blow set up the Girl Geek Dinners network four years ago, thinking it would be "few girls based in London having some nice food and a few drinks talking about what they have been up to with their work." Since then it has mushroomed into a global network of groups, and things are slowly beginning to look up for women in technology.

She said, "When I first started Girl Geek Dinners the IT industry felt isolating and lonely for many women in the industry, not just in the work place but whenever you attended technical events.

"You tended to feel out of place and were often challenged on why you were at events. Since the Girl Geek Dinners, Women in Technology and BCS Women have come about we've seen the number of women at events increase, not by huge amounts but just a little."

Not only this but men, as a result, are a lot less surprised to see female technologists, and more friendly and welcoming. There are more women going to technical user groups, and the emergence of some very strong female technical role models.

So things are improving, which is great, but there's still a way to go. There's still some sexism in the technology industry (although it tends to be more "underground" than it used to be), and women only make up around 15% of it. This needs tackling.

And as for the natural differences between men and women, the reasons why girls don't choose technology, the nature versus nurture question - the debate about possible causes for the gender divide can only get us so far. What matters is what we are going to do to change it.

Margaret Robertson is a writer and consultant on gaming and education. She said last night, "The lack of women in IT could be down to marketing, to upbringing, or to natural differences between the sexes. In 50 years, maybe we'll have an answer to this question, but at the moment we just don't know.

"We can get a little bit worried about the complexity of the problem, but we just need to back the projects that have been shown to work."

Don't just worry about why the problem exists, and instead make the decision to change it. Another article will follow with some of the practical tips that came out of the debate, but that was the main message I took away from the evening.

Tech must improve diversity, or it'll end up like the City

2009-08-24T16:21:43Z

The technology sector needs to improve its performance on diversity, or it will end up as starkly male dominated as the City, according to a senior female technologist.
London's financial district is notoriously bereft of - and can be hostile towards - women and ethnic minorities, and Nora Nanayakkara says the digital sector could go the same way.
Nora is a non-executive director at Nominet and director of business development at domain name marketplace Sedo. She says the UK's digital economy is set to grow exponentially in importance, but that the opportunities it holds don't seem to trickle down to women.
"Digital is the big new thing. It presents huge opportunities for the UK and the economy, and unless women begin to be involved and get engaged, the digital space could look like the City in a few years' time.
"We can see some of the indicators already. Technology is male dominated; to set up an online business you need programming skills, which females often lack; men are more likely to set up businesses anyway; and at the moment it's hard to get financial backing so you are more likely to have to rely on your own capital. Finding this might be more of an issue for women who are caring for families than single men or women."
She added that at board level, technology companies have similar working hours and culture to the long days and competitive attitudes associated with the City.
"There is a boys' club mentality with IT," she added. "At trade shows a lot of the after-show events are held in gentlemen's clubs, or other less female-friendly environments. As a woman you can still network and achieve what you wanted to, but you feel a little bit out of place."
Nora said the government needs to come up with a clear sense of direction and targets for getting more women into the industry. Efforts to improve diversity in the sector at the moment are too piecemeal. "If the country's leaders are not clear on which direction to go in to include more women, it's very difficult for women themselves to imagine having a place in that changing landscape."
But she says positive discrimination is not the way forward. It undermines women's real achievements by making people think they're in the job to fill a quota, not because of their abilities. Instead, more role models like Martha Lane Fox are needed go to show women how it is possible to carve out a niche for themselves in the technology sector.

Ten times more boys than girls took Computing A-level - why this matters for the IT industry

2009-08-21T09:31:44Z

Yesterday's A-level results saw the number of young people taking IT-related subjects fall again. But the numbers that really stood out were the figures showing how many girls and boys took the exams.
In England, ten times as many boys as girls took Computing A-level: 3,697 compared to 302. This trend continued across the UK. There were 4,256 boys on the course across the country, and 454 girls.
The ICT A-level was less stark, but there were 7,339 boys on the ICT course, compared to 4,609 girls so the difference is still pretty huge.
The figures are a good illustration of how gender stereotyping and its consequences are impacting on IT. A recent report from the Women and Work Commission found gender stereotyping at schools is still too prevalent, and suggested that the schools inspection body Ofsted started to examine schools on the work they do to combat the tendency to subtly present technical subjects as things that boys do.
While the women in technology debate rages on, the number of young people in the UK that are actually interested in technology keeps falling. It's an increasingly crucial part of our economy, and we need more of them to play a role - if we don't have enough bright young things entering the profession, the sector and the UK economy will suffer. Getting girls involved will be an important part of ensuring we have a large enough tech workforce to meet our needs. We need them purely because of numbers - to fill the jobs - and because we need exciting, innovative new ideas.
These figures are not the only part of the story. Lots of today's entrepreneurs and chief information officers didn't take A-levels, or go to university. But they give an indication of the disparity in technology. It might be that you don't think this disparity matters - there are certainly lots of people who think it doesn't matter that girls don't like IT, that's just the way it is and it will never change. I happen to think that argument is totally misguided, but what matters is that the tech industry needs more people, and women are a largely untapped resource for it. Persuading girls that it is relevant to them, and that it's something they can do, is going to be a crucial part of guaranteeing the sector's continuing success. The UK technology sector just won't stay competitive without them.
How the sector actually goes about getting more girls on to IT courses and into IT jobs is another question, and will probably take decades. It's a little worrying that early indications on the new, vocational IT diploma show that it too is still male-dominated. What matters is that the sector recognises that it needs to do something, and makes the effort to recruit the staff we're going to rely on.

Tips for getting female speakers at tech events

2009-08-14T11:44:41Z

One of the most common issues for women in technology is the feeling of turning up to a networking event or conference and seeing a sea of white, male faces. It can be intimidating, and it means that the viewpoint of only one social group is represented in any discussions held. This is despite the fact that the products these people produce, and the services they provide via technology, will be aimed at and used by people from every possible class, background, gender and colour. Technology's consumers are made up of a wide range of people, and its producers and decision makers should be too.
The organisers of the Tomorrow's Web conference have recently been singled out over this issue. The conference was aimed at under-21s and showcased some of the innovative work the UK's teens are doing with technology, but the speaker page was almost exclusively male. It's not really their fault - finding younger women to speak proved difficult, and they were commendably open-minded when it came to addressing the problem and doing their bit. It's an attitude that a lot of older men would do well to learn from.
I was disappointed not to be able to make the conference, but I hear it was great so I'm assuming they're planning to hold another next year. With that in mind, and because I just love to be helpful, I've plundered a blog post from someone who's eminently more qualified than me to advise on how to get more women speaking at your conference. Allyson Kapin runs the Women Who Tech website, and wrote this piece on why there are so few women speaking at tech and social media events. She gives some pointers at the end of her post.
Her advice includes:
-Contact groups that might be able to help. In the UK that might involve e-skills, which probably has a spectacular list of contacts - both with girls who are into technology and with high flying tech women. The BCS Women's Forum would have great contacts, as will Intellect, the IT trade association.
-Think about the issue right from the start. Is your organising committee diverse, or at least agreed on the notion that diversity is important? Kapin suggests having a committee member or two devoted solely to recruiting a wide range of people.
-Take on a 50/50 keynote challenge
-It's possible that you'll approach people who aren't keen to speak - make sure you get the message across that this is an important issue that needs tackling, and that it won't change until the few girls and women who are involved in technology are keen to stand up and speak about it. Kaplin suggests "editing panel acceptance notices to include a section on the importance of having panels filled with diverse panellists".
-Follow more women in technology and social media on Twitter.
-Read ten more tips from Kirrily Roberts on her Geek Feminism blog

Let us know if you have any other tips, or know of any other articles that provide good advice.

What Do Women Want From Tech Advertisers?

2009-08-14T11:40:09Z

What do women want from tech advertisers?

We complain about pink gadgets, lame marketing campaigns, and being patronized. Don't talk down to us, we say, don't just dumb down your products, color it fuscia, and say it's for girls.

We complain when they try, we complain when they don't try.

Whether it's Della or Playboy Bunny mobile phone accessories, advertisers just can't seem to get it right.

The obvious reason for this, is that women are incredibly diverse beings, and that we refuse to be pigeonholed or generalized, patrionized or any of the other bad things that end in "ed".

However, this new generation of web savvy, Geek-proud Techettes is incredibly sensitive to how things, especially things that were traditionally "for the boys" are marketed to us. You don't hear men going, "God! I can't believe this advert! They don't get men at all."

Why this is, I'm not sure. Maybe in advertising and marketing, men are just easier specimens to please. (And maybe just in general?)

So - how do we want them to approach us? Do we want brands to continue to produce gadgets in pink? When is pink OK? When is brands wanting to do a campaign aimed at women OK? Or do we want something gender neutral, and for those big bad advertisers to just treat us like everybody else?

I'd be quick to say that I would like to be treated like "everybody else" - but then again, "everybody else" seems to be a 35-year-old single man with an liking for models nonchalantly holding gadgets at their side as if it's a piece of fruit they forget they were eating. And that doesn't really work for us, does it?

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't do any harm if companies want to produce a pink gadget, in addition to other colors. If black, and baby pink are the only options - I get annoyed. But if I can choose from yellow, neon green, bright blue and candy apple red - I'm a happy camper. I love colorful gadgets, and I'm pleased that tech companies are on to that.

And, despite their Della F-Up, I'm loving their new advertisting campaign they have for Mini Netbooks.

It's colorful, clean, and is pretty gender neutral without insulting women.

Samsung have a similar campaign going on at the moment for their N310 Netbooks, which you've no doubt seen on the escalators at Tottenham Court Road tube station.

I'm less pleased with Samsung's adverts than Dell's as they push the bloody "oOoOOo FASHION!" concept a little too much by having models in high fashion-esque black body suits, striking poses with the colorful N310s as if they were in the pages of Vogue instead of a sweat and Swine infested train station, hundreds of feet underground.

(Plus, they've completely ripped off Target's logo.)

Despite their obvious "we need to reach the female consumer" efforts by attempting to give the N310 a bit of catwalk-worthy edge, it still isn't horrible. It still isn't disgusting and pink and Hello Kitty-tastic.

And speaking of Hello Kitty and pink, despite those of us in tech - there seem to be a large amount of women out there who love pink gadgetry. They love Hello Kitty. And they love it when phone companies want to sell them a phone AND Benefit cosmetics at the same time!

Are those of us who want things a bit more balanced and neutral (albeit perhaps a bit more colorful) in the minority? Are we fighting a losing cause?

Perhaps tech companies and advertisers will never get it right. Maybe it's too hard to advertise to women when we are so diverse, and so polarized in what we want.

But, in my opinion, it shouldn't stop them from trying.

Cate Sevilla is the founding editor of BitchBuzz.com. You can follow her on Twitter as @CupCate.

Images via Dell & CBS Outdoor

Are Women In Tech Their Own Worst Enemy?

2009-08-06T14:15:56Z

Oh, women in tech.

It's certainly a subject that makes people uncomfortable. It makes other women in tech uncomfortable, techy men go on the defensive, and people who aren't even in tech go squirmy.

Why? Well because it's all angry feminist talk, isn't it?

Feminists! They're angry, they're ranty, they make you think about things! And they fight. For their right to party. (Oh, and for equal pay and all that.) And some feminists even like to fight with each other.

Feminist infighting is nothing new, and it should come as no shock that there's a bit of feminist-style infighting going on in the tech industry.

You'll be quick to point out that this happens in every industry, feminist, tech or otherwise, and I am, of course, aware of this. However, let's just talk about tech today. That's a big enough problem in itself.

When we talk about this "women in tech" problem to other techy men, it doesn't always go so well. We argue. We fight. We write very long angry blog posts about it. All of this is good, even though we're fighting, because at least people are talking about it, right?

However, when women start talking about why we need more women in tech, things get sort of... awkward.

There are some women who don't think that we need more women in tech because, hey, they've never been treated differently because of their gender. And if more women wanted to be in tech, then they would be.

There are other women who think the polar opposite, and say the reason there aren't more women in the tech industry is because of a depressing cocktail that consists of:

The lack of education and awareness that you can do things in tech other than code.

The unhelpful sexist attitude of the CEOs and "big men" in the tech industry.

Add a dash of sexual harassment and an array of baby-pink, sparkly gadgets and you have the infuriating combination of reasons why most of us believe the male to female ratio in tech is ridiculously unbalanced.

But I also have another little ingredient to add to the recipe of female-tech-doom: petty, ridiculous cattiness amongst other women in tech.

No one likes to talk about this because we're all guilty of it. And no one likes to bring to light the fact that maybe, just maybe women are also responsible for why there are so few of us in this industry.

In fact, when I brought this up on Twitter, I was told the concept of women in tech being their own worst enemy was a "disempowering statement".

Disempowering, or reflective?

I'm not saying women are 100% to blame. I'm simply asking why women shouldn't take a little bit of responsibility in this matter.

Have each of us done all we can (within reason) to help and encourage our female peers in tech? Or are we fiercely and unnecessarily competitive? If there's a younger women that's asking for what tech events you go to to meet new contacts, do you tell her? Bring her along? Or at least point her in the right direction?

If we're constantly stabbing each other in the back and behaving as if we're in a horrible episode of The Hills with twice the amount of drama and added Twitter Gossip Fun - no wonder more women don't want to work with us.

And those of us who acknowledge that there is a need for more women in tech - why don't we be a little nit nicer to each other, too? Isn't it hard enough without - in no particular order - the tech journos looking down on the bloggers, the bloggers looking down on the PR girls, the PR girls looking down on the female developers and the female developers looking down on the mobile geeks and the mobile geeks sneering at the girl gamers?

It's bad enough in this industry without some chick judging your Geek credentials.

I'm not saying that the London female tech scene is necessarily that horrific, but I'm not that far off, am I? And yes, you can argue that men are just as gossipy as the ladies are, but men are not the minority, are they? We are. There are fewer of us.

If you're ever stuck in a situation where you need a bit of help - whether it be searching for a contact, someone who speaks the same language as you, or just a friendly face - we all know how grateful we feel when someone smiles at us and goes, "Hey do you need help?" or "You look just as lost as I am, let's stick together."

Being a woman standing in a sea of men at a tech conference can feel like that.

So why so often do we turn our backs and walk the other way? Why do we refuse the connection? Is it really that scary? Are we so competitive and eager to smash the glass ceiling that you can't even give a fellow geek gal a, "Hi, how are you?"

We don't need to pretend that there's some merry little sisterhood and that we all need to be BFF and share a bottle of rosé after being friendly to another woman at an event.

You don't need to be like, "Oh hey! Another set of ovaries in the room, let's talk about boys and Animal Crossing!"

But a general sense of common courtesy would be nice. Female cattiness is a problem in all industries, this we know. But particularly in this male dominated industry where a woman in a bikini on the cover of T3 is more familiar than woman on the cover of Wired is - can't we just get over ourselves?

Retract your claws, hand her your Moo card, and maybe even 5 minutes of your life.

At the very least, you may just get another follower on Twitter.

Cate Sevilla is the founding editor of BitchBuzz.com. You can follow her on Twitter as @cupcate.