Warning: This article contains language that some readers may find offensive
TORONTO – All it took was a joke about the male anatomy to send Silicon Valley into an all-out gender war.
Female developer Adria Richards was sitting ten rows back at a Python programming conference when she heard two males sitting directly behind her making sexual jokes. Feeling uncomfortable, Richards turned around, snapped a picture of the men in question, and tweeted it – asking the organizers of the conference to address the issue.
Richards was fired from her job days later – her employer stating in a blog post that her decision to “publicly shame” the men by tweeting the photo was not the appropriate way to handle the situation.
The men in question, one of which was subsequently let go from his job at a mobile gaming company, were making sexual references to “forking” (a term used by developers when someone copies coding) and “dongles” (a device that connects to a computer).
Richards took to her blog defending her decision to call the men out.
“Women in technology need consistent messaging from birth through retirement they are welcome, competent and valued in the industry,” wrote Richards.
Get breaking National news
“What has to change is that everyone must take personal accountability and speak up when they hear something that isn’t ok. It takes three words to make a difference: That’s not cool.”
Unfortunately, Richards’ story is all too familiar to some women in the industry. Last year, Sqoot, a “daily deal” API website, lost multiple sponsors for their API Jam event in Boston after they advertised “women” as a perk of attending the event.
“Women: Need another beer? Let one of our friendly (female) staff get that for you,” read an event document labeled “perks.”
At a Dell summit in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2012 – at which CEO Michael Dell was in attendance – the emcee Mads Christensen was quoting as saying, “There are almost no girls in this room, and I am happy.”
According to a Danish journalist Christiane Vejlo, one of the few females in attendance, Christensen went on to say, “Gender quotas are still fairly healthy in your industry.”
Dell responded to a story written by CNET’s Molly Wood, called, “Why we need to keep talking about women in tech,” stating that the emcee’s humor did not reflect Dell’s values – but did not stop the outrage surrounding Christensen’s comments.
But sexism and derogatory comments are just the beginning – some of the more shocking stories surrounding women in tech include death and rape threats.
Anita Sarkeesian launched an online campaign to raise money in order to examine gaming and female stereotypes in May 2012. Sarkeesian took to YouTube to explain how she would examine the portrayal of female characters in video games – from the damsel in distress, to using women as “background images.”
But Sarkeesian began to receive backlash – from sexist comments, to death threats. Of the most disturbing comments, read, “I hope you get raped tonight.”
“It’s very male dominated – I think with that male domination comes a sense of entitlement, that these games are made for men, by men and that if women are going to participate they need to shut up,” said Sarkeesian in an interview with Global TV’s 16×9.
Sarkeesian’s Wikipedia page was vandalized with pornographic images, and people tried to hack her website. But the abuse came to a peak when a game popped up online called “Beat up Anita Sarkeesian,” made by an Ontario gamer.
The game allowed users to beat Sarkeesian until the screen turned entirely red with blood.
Similarly, female blogger Kathy Sierra was forced to cancel speaking engagements and take her blog offline after receiving death threats and photographs of her pictured next to a noose.
Richards’ message – that women need to stand up for fair treatment for fellow women in tech – is spreading
Since Richards’ story went viral, other female tech bloggers have spoken up about their experiences of sexism in the industry – including a Google software engineer who, in multiple blog posts, details her negative experiences in the tech industry.
But the blogger, who identifies herself as Julie P. through her blog, is careful to note that women shouldn’t be treated “specially” – but just as equals.
“If the message you took from my posts is that we should treat women special, please understand that you got it wrong. We should be making everyone feel welcome in tech,” wrote Julie P.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.