Morten Rand-Hendriksen

Codes of Conduct and Safety/Discrimination Officers are important, but they are primarily after-the-fact tools used to deal with the aftermath of unacceptable behavior. To curb this problem and the problem of the underrepresentation of women in our community in general we need to educate ourselves and the community on the issue at hand: Gender.

The good news is these issues are not new and many communities have faced and dealt with them before. The bad news is in spite of this they keep popping up. When I hear stories of women who are not treated as equals when submitting speaker proposals I realize we have not come as far as we think we have. When people are surprised to hear that some women intentionally hold other women back as was described in an earlier comment I realize the dynamics of gender are not well publicized nor understood. When I read comments stating that we “are not the first self-organized community to be targeted for annihilation by the feminist agitators” I have to stop myself from unplugging the internet and go live in a cave.

We are facing a serious problem on the web when it comes to how women are treated and how the entire discussion is being politicized. This is not about politics. It’s about two simple principles: We are all equals, and we all have the right to be treated fairly and with respect. For women neither of these principles are a reality. From the disappointing stats of the number of female speakers at WordCamps to the horrifying stories of women being driven off the web by stalkers and trolls I can only say I admire any woman who chooses to stand up against the storm to make her voice heard. And I will stand behind her and lend support in any way I can.

Statistics show many things relevant to this discussion:

– On average women have to perform at 10% to 20% higher capacity to be seen as equal to their male counterparts.
– Largely due to societal norms women often suffer from what’s known as the “impostor syndrome” which makes them doubt their own skills and devalue their own worth.
– When women are put in leadership positions in communities or situations dominated by men they often take on the roles and attitudes of men to “blend in”. This often results in devaluing the performance or skills of other women due to a kill-or-be-killed mentality.
– When women are equally represented in leadership positions, the gender balance in lower ranks within the company or organization is dramatically improved because of the simple fact that people hire and promote the people that remind them most of themselves.

The conclusion from all this is we need to bring the discussion of gender politics into our community and educate all its members (women and men) about how this all works. There is no “gender war” in the FOX News sense of the term and those decrying feminism as an evil that must be rooted out are confused about the intent of the movement. There is no evil plan to make men into monsters and women into martyrs. There is however a very real need to balance the books and give the second sex (happy belated Simone) their rightful place as peers in our community.

After all, when 50% of the community is undervalued and underrepresented where it matters the community as a whole is only reaching 50% of it’s potential.

Thought much can be said about the oversimplification and political intent of Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In I still recommend anyone interested in the topic of women in tech to read it as a primer for gender issues. It’s an eye opener even for the seasoned feminist and a great platform to begin a larger discussion.

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