Comments on: Where are all the women? http://www.techcentral.co.za/where-are-all-the-women/12150/ South Africa's technology news leader Tue, 22 May 2012 09:19:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: ILJ http://www.techcentral.co.za/where-are-all-the-women/12150/comment-page-1/#comment-2504 ILJ Tue, 12 Jan 2010 07:56:37 +0000 http://www.techcentral.co.za/?p=12150#comment-2504 I'm a woman in IT - have been for the last 10 years. When I went to Tech in the late 90's we were 8 girls in a class of 50. And we were referred to as, "The Girls", Of which 3 ended in the top 5. Last year I enrolled at uni for further studies. in a class of 26 we were 6 women, of which 3 (again!) ended top 5. In both scenarios the # 1 spot was occupied by a female. In my current team of 12, there are 5 positions filled by females. Whether that reflects employment equity of our large corporation, I'm not sure. Our project office is entirely female driven! I have never felt that my male collegues saw themselves superior because of their gender, it could be because I'm from a different generation, but my "wiser" female colleagues who have been around a lot longer have different stories to tell. I've always been seen as one of the guys and worked just as hard as they did. I'm not so sure that I agree with your comment that men are more "aggressive". I have found quite the contrary: Female managers are far harder to work for, where as their male counterparts are more empathetic and get less "worked up". I can even say that of myself where I have been in leadership situations, I were less forgiving than that of my male colleagues in similiar positions. Speaking to some of the professors at the uni, they say that they struggle to fill IT courses on the whole. There are two theories: One is that learners accept IT as part of their lives and don't consider it as a career choice. The second one is the reality of great disparity in backgrounds in our country. Learners comming from rural communities that are not exposed to technology, can not really choose that as a career path. I have wondered why there are not more women in IT. I can't really answer that. May be it is the way that we are brought up - boys play with cars and other mechanical what not and girls are raised to play doll and dress up. My 5 cents are that equity should be dropped in technology as a whole. It is hard enough to find a decent techie to fill a job, to now have to make that position equitable often leaves us up to 12 months to fill a position. I’m a woman in IT – have been for the last 10 years. When I went to Tech in the late 90′s we were 8 girls in a class of 50. And we were referred to as, “The Girls”, Of which 3 ended in the top 5. Last year I enrolled at uni for further studies. in a class of 26 we were 6 women, of which 3 (again!) ended top 5. In both scenarios the # 1 spot was occupied by a female. In my current team of 12, there are 5 positions filled by females. Whether that reflects employment equity of our large corporation, I’m not sure. Our project office is entirely female driven!

I have never felt that my male collegues saw themselves superior because of their gender, it could be because I’m from a different generation, but my “wiser” female colleagues who have been around a lot longer have different stories to tell. I’ve always been seen as one of the guys and worked just as hard as they did.

I’m not so sure that I agree with your comment that men are more “aggressive”. I have found quite the contrary: Female managers are far harder to work for, where as their male counterparts are more empathetic and get less “worked up”. I can even say that of myself where I have been in leadership situations, I were less forgiving than that of my male colleagues in similiar positions.

Speaking to some of the professors at the uni, they say that they struggle to fill IT courses on the whole. There are two theories: One is that learners accept IT as part of their lives and don’t consider it as a career choice. The second one is the reality of great disparity in backgrounds in our country. Learners comming from rural communities that are not exposed to technology, can not really choose that as a career path.

I have wondered why there are not more women in IT. I can’t really answer that. May be it is the way that we are brought up – boys play with cars and other mechanical what not and girls are raised to play doll and dress up.

My 5 cents are that equity should be dropped in technology as a whole. It is hard enough to find a decent techie to fill a job, to now have to make that position equitable often leaves us up to 12 months to fill a position.

]]>