all blog posts about women in science/tech/engineering/math :: stemming (.org)

• The NCWIT award for aspirations in computing, targeted at high school. girls, is accepting applications soon! There are local awards in a number of areas, and winners get sponsored to an awards event where they can meet other bright, ambitious girls interested in technology.

• The Systers Pass-it-On Awards are now accepting applications — small cash awards intended to support women in technology who will, in turn, “pass it on” by supporting other women.

• The ACM-W is providing scholarships for women graduate students or undergraduates to attend technical conferences.

In addition to blogs and other public online resources, one of the great ways the internet can support women in technology is through mailing lists. Lists have the advantage that your message asking for advice or suggesting a meetup goes directly into people’s inboxes — but even more importantly, lists and the messages on them can be private, so you can complain about a co-worker or ask about a delicate situation on a private mailing list and feel safe saying things you wouldn’t want to share on a public blog. Women-only or women-primarily lists are also great places to ask technical questions with less fear of embarrassment for asking something that might be obvious to someone with more experience (most of these lists have policies explicitly supporting “newbie” questions and requiring a polite, friendly attitude from anyone who responds).

Here are some of the lists I’m on:

• Systers — this list has been around since it was founded by Anita Borg in 1987(!). It’s a big list with a lot of members. People on the list share job offers, ask for advice, or just rant about their experiences. Systers is part of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, and in addition to running the mailing list, sponsors the Pass-It-On Awards (which are funded by donations from members).

• Linuxchix — this organization for women interested in Linux/free/open-source software (motto: “Be polite. Be helpful.”) has several lists with different purposes. Grrls-only is a private, non-archived list only for women (which makes it particularly suitable for discussing sensitive issues); to join the list you have to confirm that you are a woman and interested in Linux. Part of the point of this list is to provide a resource for women trying to learn more about Linux to ask questions without encountering the condescension or sexism that Linux-using men in other fora are sometimes prone to. Men are welcome in the other LinuxChix lists, like Programming or Techtalk, but the lists will still be more women-dominated than your average technical mailing list.

• Devchix — this list is specifically for women who are programmers (while the other lists above are broader in scope, encompassing fields like system administration or simply using Linux). There are a lot of vocal members who are Ruby programmers, but the list isn’t Ruby-exclusive and you can probably

My original discussion was about differences with men in the workplace.

Early in my career I spent my vacation deciding whether or not to quit my sexist workplace. As I walked to my computer to write my letter of resignation, I found a copy of the book “Games Your Mother Never Taught You” on my chair. A senior (female) manager had left it for me. I figured, ’I’m quitting anyway’, and spent the day reading the book. It changed my perspective entirely on what work represents to men, and how I could work within that structure. I worked for another 20 years.

What I got out of it was that generally, men perceived work as, basically, a game of one-upmanship (“Whoever has the most toys when he dies, wins’ Substitute friends, money, children, admiration, sexual conquest, etc and you’ll get the picture.). However, at the same time, it is a game, and there’s a varying amount of attachment to the outcome. Mostly it’s fun, relaxed and neutral. At the same time, team is everything. There’s a sort of camaraderie that makes joshing about personal things ok. (I’m reminded of the time a male team member walked into a meeting, took one look at another’s tie and said ’Is that really the tie or did you throw up on it this morning?”) Yeah rude, but it’s called “team building”. I actually began to watch football for pleasure (got hooked on the 49ers) after I saw that each team member has a role and range of action, and became especially enchanted by how they seemed to be able to think and communicate on their feet. The joshing and testing in the office is the means used to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the members of the team. I’ve always found it primitive and not that well thought out. More on that topic later.

When I was a manger, I always gave a copy of the book to all my female employees. I think it’s still in print, or perhaps you can find it used.

I have dell laptop-inspiron, of recent, DVD-CD ROM drive does nt read CD/DVDs and the webcam does not connect too, i am perplexed, i tried updating the driver software for the dvd ROM still it was not correct. the status of the driver shows the message below: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39) I need your help STEM !!!! Many thanx,

• I just discovered Riot Nrrd — an awesome webcomic about geeky teens where most of the main characters are female (and the cast also features characters who are trans, queer, people of color, etc…). Plus their links page includes the sections “Feminist/Womanist Nerd Stuff”, “Nerds of Color Stuff”, “Disabled Nerd Stuff”, and “Queer Nerd Stuff”.

• Another comic, this time a one-off by Lucy Knisely, about the experience of women in nerd culture.

• Joe Clark posts a misguided response to Stubornella’s post (linked earlier this week) about women in technology — Elaine Nelson posts a sensible reply.

• At Tiger Beatdown, Garland Grey posts about his experience of queer nerd identity.

• Mashable posts a list of developer/hacker women to follow on Twitter. The list itself is great; some of these women I’m familiar with, and some are new to me. But something about the way the list is framed (it opens with “Everyone should know at least one woman who can code her way out of a wet paper bag”) rubs me the wrong way. Thoughts?