Women in IT (Aug 3). Online freedom of speech (Aug 5th)

[Madison Kelly]

>> Likewise, some of the women I e-mailed do human resources functions 
>> for the IT field. Of the 10 women I e-mailed, I would only consider 4 
>> to be hard core geeks (women who have been at one or more TLUG and/or 
>> Unix Unanimous meetings).
>>  
>>
> That's going from one extreme to another.
> 
> On one hand, I wouldn't consider someone in an HR department of an IT 
> company to have an "IT job", considering that person could easily switch 
> to a similar job at a non-IT company. On the other, not everyone working 
> in IT is a hardcore geek. What about documentation, analysis, customer 
> support, etc.?
> 
> - Evan

If I could add to this thread...

Another problem, that has very nearly driven me out of IT (and may do 
yet), is the ingrained, nearly subconscious idea that women "just don't 
get IT". An example that really surprised/saddened me:

TechData, who many of you know is a big tech supplier, has occasional 
vendor get-togethers where vendors can show off new products to 
potential VARs. I went to one recently looking for some VoIP and 
wireless tech (specifically looking for info wrt Linux support).

At one company I was happy to see a woman rep so I started asking her 
what I thought were technical questions. Without hesitation she handed 
me a print out and said "Here, take this to your IT guy, it will tell 
him everything.".

Even women in this industry don't take other women seriously.

Madison
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