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0 pointsRIMR10y ago0 comments

If they said "Bryana, you're a great speaker and can really hold a crowd. We want you to attend conferences and represent our company. You're really the best at it!", then it would be wonderful. There is no need to treat every employee equally when they clearly have differing skills and strengths.

This isn't what is happening here though.

This comes off much more as "Bryana, you're our only female programmer, and we want to look more progressive and diverse than our competitors. We are sending you to conferences to speak for us so we can show you off as our token female."

It works out in her favor, so she'll never complain, but it is sexism nonetheless. Special treatment doesn't lead to equality. Equal treatment leads to equality.

0 comments

JoeAltmaier10y ago

Sure it does. Inequality can be fought with quotas, biased hiring etc. Until the culture starts to change; then you need to change tactics. Are we so rich in diverse developers, that we can stop trying? I don't think so.

programmernews310y ago

The irony of the left - they want to treat people differently based on their gender and skin colour.

In the UK, white British make up 40% of medical doctors.

Would you support quotas and biased hiring to increase the number of white British doctors? It would make it more representative of the population.

What about primary school teachers? If 9 females and 1 male go for a job, should the male always get preference?

JoeAltmaier10y ago

Yes straw men can always be found. But for the other 100 high-paying jobs and industries, there's a lot to be done.

1 more reply

RIMROP10y ago

Let's be honest. Are Bryana's employers trying to make the workplace more diverse? It doesn't seem so given that they have a 20:1 male:female ratio.

It seems much more likely that they have chosen Bryana to represent them at conferences so that they can APPEAR to be more diverse. She's a token female in a majority-male environment. If they cared about equality, they would participate in programs targeting younger girls to get them more interested in STEM jobs.

The issue isn't in staffing, it's in education. If you want to change the culture of the STEM world, look to the schools, not to the tech conferences...

JoeAltmaier10y ago

My local Engineering college is 25% women. The education part has begun already, and is picking up steam.

We can do both. No good reason remains to delay corrective pressure in staffing processes.

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0 pointsRIMR10y ago0 comments

This isn't what is happening here though.

It works out in her favor, so she'll never complain, but it is sexism nonetheless. Special treatment doesn't lead to equality. Equal treatment leads to equality.

0 comments

JoeAltmaier10y ago

programmernews310y ago

The irony of the left - they want to treat people differently based on their gender and skin colour.

In the UK, white British make up 40% of medical doctors.

Would you support quotas and biased hiring to increase the number of white British doctors? It would make it more representative of the population.

What about primary school teachers? If 9 females and 1 male go for a job, should the male always get preference?

JoeAltmaier10y ago

Yes straw men can always be found. But for the other 100 high-paying jobs and industries, there's a lot to be done.

1 more reply

RIMROP10y ago

Let's be honest. Are Bryana's employers trying to make the workplace more diverse? It doesn't seem so given that they have a 20:1 male:female ratio.

The issue isn't in staffing, it's in education. If you want to change the culture of the STEM world, look to the schools, not to the tech conferences...

JoeAltmaier10y ago

My local Engineering college is 25% women. The education part has begun already, and is picking up steam.

We can do both. No good reason remains to delay corrective pressure in staffing processes.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse