This was rather a difficult blog to write, mostly because I feel like I have an underdeveloped grasp of women's issues. I'm a fierce proponent of women's rights – people's rights in general – but in my mind I'm still stepping around the sensitive spots in society. If I seem a bit awkward today, you will – I hope – understand why.
Today is International Women's Day, which is one hell of a big coincidence. I didn't know about the national day, but I was thinking hard today about Women in Technology. Did you know there's a SQLPASS WIT virtual chapter? I only heard of it last year. And I have to admit to you, again, that when I first heard about the Women in Technology group, I rolled my eyes. I quickly changed my mind at the WIT Luncheon at PASS09:
"Someone asked me yesterday what the big deal was with women in technology, why do we need our own cause? …at a base level it's largely about this lingering underlying assumption that certain things are men's jobs, not women's." – From my blog on the SQLPASS09 Women in Technology Luncheon
In my PASS recap (that's the eye roll blog, above), I said, "I'm going to get involved when I get back, and be sure to bring my daughter to a meeting or two. …she needs to see that what I do – being a technogeek – is really something cool and worthwhile." Well I went looking around, and as it turns out, we don't have a local chapter of WIT, or anything like it. I'm thinking hard about starting a Dallas chapter of WIT, and I keep circling back to that same question: Why do women in technology need our own group? What can a group for women do for women?
It feels like a strange pond to jump into. On the one hand, gender differences in the workplace really seem like they should be a thing of the past. It seems almost silly, or as if we're trying to play The Woman Card, to say that there's a big enough need for WIT to form a local chapter in Dallas. But when I look at it closer, there are a number of things that speak to the need for a gender-centric group. Like I said, I want to show my daughter – all my kids, really – the reality of equal opportunity, equal ability. And "women in tech" is a subject people love to talk about. There are some specialized issues, and there are specialized attitudes and feelings about it.
The other big thing that has me really interested in starting this chapter is this: At any given SQL user group meeting or conference, men outnumber women 20 to 1 at least. In the workforce, men outnumber women. This tells me that something is bringing more men to the field, or at least to the meetings, than women. Technology is an amazing, enthralling, and well-paying field, and I want to help make tech careers as available as possible. It's not about excluding men – WIT loves involved men in tech. I think it must be about blowing away the last few cobwebs of "that's not for you, little girl".
Happy days,
Jen McCown
http://www.MidnightDBA.com