Silicon Alley Women Encouraged to Remind Men of Their Existence
Today Silicon Alley Insider published a list called "The Silicon Alley 100: New York's Coolest Tech People in 2010," and, well, you know what I'm about to say: there are barely any women on the list.
As the Observer notes, the criteria to make the list are "pretty thin." Dammit, they sound like they were developed by teenagers: "We've put together our annual list of 100 people in the New York tech community who did really cool stuff this year," SAI says. Anyway, you can be sure the whole thing didn't go unnoticed. The Wall Street Journal's Katie Rosman tweeted, "That's a lotta white boys." SAI's Henry Blodget responded that there were "plenty of girls too!" "Girls"! Well maybe Rosman asked for that. But "Plenty"! Here's the whole awesome exchange:
Hahahahaha. I don't know, Henry. Yours? Later, Rosman observed:
Maybe! Later, Blodget sort of tried to backpedal with this:
Neato! Except they've always been there. You just haven't been looking for them. [Via]
Ok, I have a serious question. Why is it ok to refer to men as “boys,” but generally frowned-upon to use the corollary “girls”? In this context, at least – where the informal mode had already been initialized by the use of \"boys.\"
I see your point. Noted!
Oh, hey, I’m not trying to make a point wrt your post – or, like, I’m not trying to argue about it… It’s just that this is something I wonder about sometimes, and the post triggered the Q!
I’m sure someone can explain it better than me, but it has to do with positions of entrenched power. Liz was being a little snide because this is an example of women being marginalized in a community where women have traditionally been marginalized. Basically, a man referring to a woman as a “girl” in a professional often carries an implicit threat and the reverse isn’t true, since women are not usually in a position to be biased against men, even unconsciously, based on their gender.
That\'s how I perceive it anyway.
"Pretty thin" < "Pretty, thin"
"Silcon Alley Women" < "Silicone, Alley Women"
The latter is the criteria for the "hottest tech people" list
And don't forget the lack of Black Tech People. Jean Lauer of Swee10, Corvida Raven, Lynne D. Johnson, Ron J. Williams of Snapgoods, Bonin Bough of PepsiCo, Amos Winbush of CyberSynchs should have made the cut or at least considered.
Ugh, Blodget. If you ever read the Silicon Valley Insider on a regular basis it's like TechCrunch meets Access Hollywood meets Fox News. In other words, mostly trash.
"Coolest."
I think part of the problem is that girls are told not refer to themselves as "in tech" unless they have a PHD in computer science and/or Engineering or can program in three languages, are shell access wizards and can take apart and put a machine back together in under 5 mins.
Meanwhile boys are allowed to be "in tech" if they can CHMOD a file >.>
Unfortunately it's the supporters of girls in tech who are enforcing this double standard. They're looking for role models to prove girls can be technical geniuses too, but this doesn't say to girls 'tech could be for you too!' … it says 'this is the level you need to join us' which for many looks unattainable, they get discouraged and give up before they've even started.
What people should be doing is pointing out accessible examples, not the super genius. After all few of the shining stars of tech built their products completely by themselves. Instead they banged their heads against the wall until they had hacked out something good enough to attract other more experienced and savvy developers. That's the way this stuff works.
Well said! But thankfully, even on the SAI's list, tech can mean more "accessible" things, like … fashion sites.