A resource roundup provided by Women’s Center student staff member, Sydney

Each month the Women’s Center hosts a roundtable discussion where we provide a few chosen panelists with guiding questions and then have a community discussion about a particular topic and how it intersects with women and gender. Roundtables are great opportunities to become involved in discourse and ask questions directly to those involved. On Thursday, September 15th The Women’s Center hosted our September roundtable, Women in Technology. In case you missed it or are interested in revisiting the topics, here is a summary of our discussion. At the end, we include some links to reading materials and additional resources.

We started off the session by discussing some relevant statistics regarding women college students who are pursuing STEM degrees and careers. Women earn 57.3% of all Bachelor’s degrees but only account for 17.9% of the degrees in Computer Science.

Source: careerfoundry.com

When it comes to the workforce, women make up a small percentage of the tech jobs. And even a smaller percentage of those in leadership positions!

Source: statista.com, 2014

And although women only make up a small percentage of tech jobs at these companies, women use these platforms more than men!

After addressing some of the statistics about the discrepancies surrounding women in STEM fields, we heard from our panel about their experiences in academia and the tech industry.

Dr. Danyelle Ireland who is the Associate Director of the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) and Dr. Marie desJardins, the Associate Dean of  College of Engineering and Information Technology here at UMBC, talked about why there is such a small number of women pursuing STEM. They set out to debunk the myth of a “lack of interest” surrounding technology for women and instead pointed out social factors that contribute to the low numbers. These included:

• A lack of awareness of jobs or role models
• The socialization that STEM is for men reaffirmed by video game and tech advertisements. Specifically, Dr. desJardins’ shared that when personal computers first began to be marketed to the general public in the 1980s, advertisements only focused on men as the would-be-users of this new technology.
• Bias and discrimination that women may face in the workforce.
• A hypercritical culture in which women constantly critique their own work.
• The introduction of AP computer science classes in high schools which women students did not think was their space and a discrepancy of life goals between men and women.
• The Innate Brilliance Model
• And performance perception in which women are much harsher on their own performance compared to men’s self-perception.

We then heard from our last panelist, Katie Dillon, who is a UMBC CWIT student majoring in computer science. Katie discussed the importance of seeing women in her classes and how, in her experience, CWIT has created a more women-friendly climate in her tech classes. She then talked about her experiences in the tech industry and the sexism she faces as a woman intern in the tech industry. These instances ranged from being mistaken for a secretary (and not the engineer she in fact was) to being told she only got her position only because she is a woman.

We ended our discussion with each panelist giving participants their advice on how to handle workplace sexism or discrimination. There were two common theme throughout the answers – making connections  and knowing your limits. For women in tech it is important to surround yourself with allies, whether that be a mentor or fellow women employees, in order to have a soundboard if an issue was to arise. Knowing your reporting guidelines is also important (for example, “Can you report an instance of sexism anonymously at your workplace?”). The last piece of advice the panelists gave was to know what you stand for. Dr. Ireland made a point to tell the audience that it is not worth compromising yourself for a degree or a job and Dr. desJardins gave the advice that people respect when you are unapologetically yourself. Katie also made the great point that you are interviewing a company just as much as they are interviewing you – don’t be afraid to find out what they are willing to do for you!

Below are some resources surrounding Women in Tech: 

• CWIT– CWIT has a variety of opportunities surrounding women in tech both academically and professionally. The CWIT affiliates program is a great resource as well. 
• A conference for Women in Computing

For further reading:

• Sexism In Gaming
• #ilooklikeanengineer
• Why are there so few women in tech?
• Women Coders Are More Respected When Peers Don’t Know They’re Women
• Google Diversity Manifesto Reaction

Be sure to follow the Women’s Center on myUMBC to stay tuned for our next round table event in October!

The Women’s Center ended our spring roundtable series on a high note last Thursday with Women in Activism. If you weren’t able to join us for our lively discussion, here’s a short round-up of what you missed!

This semester’s roundtable series focused on the ways that women are made invisible and silenced within certain spaces. For this discussion on activism, we began with a short visual presentation that illustrates how women often go unseen within the very movements they’ve worked to create.

Our three panelists shared their insights on the topic to help launch our discussion: Dr. Beverly Bickel from Language, Literacy and Culture (LLC); Iman Said, a junior Psychology major and Baltimore-based activist; and Jacki Stone, Community Health and Safety Specialist and a graduate student in LLC.

from left to right: Panelists Jackie Stone, Beverly Bickel, and Iman Said

Important points of discussion are as follows: 

• People of various identities carry different forms of knowledge with them; in order to build coalitions and activist movements, we must value and allow space for multiple perspectives, lived experiences, and ways of knowing.
• Women have always been activists, but not always publicly visible—especially those with multiply marginalized identities.
• Stereotypes can often lead to negative perceptions of women who speak up and engage in activism (e.g. “bossy,” “Feminazi,” or “angry Black woman” stereotypes).
• Perfectionism was cited as a common barrier women face. This leads to women doubting their own knowledge and capabilities as activists and as leaders, as seen with imposter syndrome.
• Activism looks different for everyone—it may be artistic expression, critical conversations at home, or part of your profession. Activism is not limited to hitting the streets chanting.
• All activists must make room to learn and grow. It’s important to understand that we don’t know everything, that it’s okay to speak less, listen more, and humble ourselves within the work that we do. This way, we make space for those who we tend not to hear, and alter our perspectives based upon the information others give us.

Overall, we had a very rewarding discussion with our panelists, as well as our community members who shared their own experiences and insights!

For more information on the topics discussed at the event, check out the resources below:

• A short biography of the women behind Black Lives Matter
• The underrepresentation of Indigenous women in mainstream feminism
• Local activist Brittany Oliver on why she didn’t attend the Women’s March on Washington in January