Could Take A Long Time, Working On The Pipeline

As a techie person concerned with social justice, I've always taken an interest in the drive to get more women working in technology. And one thing that's always bothered me about these efforts is the emphasis on changing the circumstances of tech firms. Often I'll see a story about the low number of women in tech, and they'll interview a few of the women who are working in tech, and they'll talk about the lack of acceptance they've received at work or in university.

My problem with this is that the core problem is that few women are choosing to study tech-related fields, particularly computer-related. I don't deny the problems women in tech have had, I'm just thinking that changing the workplace won't help if there are few women entering the field in the first place.

As it happens, a recent presentation by Microsoft made this very point, using the United States' recent victory in the Women's World Cup. Having now won three cups with largely different teams, it's clear their long-term success is not because the team itself is particularly well run, but because of the "pipeline" continually developing new talent. Girls are encouraged to play soccer at a young age, they have an opportunity to continue on high school teams, and thanks to Title IX, college programs are plentiful and well funded. Microsoft wishes there were a similarly strong pathway for women to get education in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields.

But recently, I've been seeing articles from women approaching the problem from the other side: they're sick of hearing people like me trying to fix the problem by getting more women to study tech-related fields, if they're just going to land in an intolerable situation in the workplace that will drive them away. Julie Pagano put it quite vividly, complaining that, "So many 'diversity in tech' efforts are about getting young women into the pipeline; ignore the fact that there's a meat grinder at the end."

It turns out they have a point. Research shows that women leave technology far more often than men, and far more often than women leave other fields.

So I've come to realize that getting more women in technology will take an effort on both fronts. The problem is that they are largely unrelated. One involves changing attitudes in workplaces, the other requires rethinking approaches in high schools or even elementary schools.