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Although combating gender bias can be achieved only through structural changes, becoming aware of it in everyday situations and talking about it openly is an irreplaceable part of the solution. This article deals with the personal experience of being a woman in the IT industry and sheds some light on what we can do to start changing things for the better for the women in tech.

Today’s technical gadgets are mostly built in one size - the size that fits men’s hands. It is nearly impossible for women to take a smartphone picture one-handed, which for men is an easy task. A 2016 research paper on Google’s speech recognition software found that it was 70% more likely to recognize male speech compared to females. Cars are also not designed for women. When a woman is involved in a car accident (which, by the way, is less likely compared to men), she is 71% more likely to be moderately injured, 47% more likely to be seriously injured, and 17% more likely to die.

Seatbelts are less safe for women, medicine is less safe for women, technology is less likely to work for women. All those biases are here to stay for a while longer because there is a lack of women in testing, designing, and working on those products. And all this while we still pay the same price for the same products. All these seemingly small differences have a negative impact on equality of opportunities which by extent gets us to unequal outcomes. So, to say that we live in a world designed by men for men is not an overstatement but merely a fact.

Over time these structures have solidified and quietly guided our perception and behavior. Moreover, people are not used to adopting another person‘s perspective, and instead, we rely on the assumption that we all share the same frame of mind, meaning difficulties arise for men empathizing with a woman’s day-to-day obstacles. I have encountered this lack of mutual understanding most strikingly in the workplace. Companies tell us career success depends only on skill, however, reality often looks different. Disregarding this issue only makes things worse. When we take a closer look at the structures from different areas of working life, we find that the conditions are not tailored to people but rather to men. The lack of gender diversity is still present at top decision making positions. For me, as a woman with a couple of years of experience in IT, it is impossible to not be confronted with these unjust structures on a daily basis. Therefore, I decided to write this article in order to enhance our understanding of each other and encourage empathetic behavior at work.

The term sexism is defined as prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex or gender. When asking myself, if that is also my truth, I have no choice but to accept that it is; especially having hands-on experience in fields dominated by men, like the tech industry. Our society has been patriarchally oriented for most of history and only recently has it started to change. It is evident that the world is still established as sexist since societal change always progresses slowly and with challenges. Therefore, the path to achieving gender equality will also take time. To me, the word sexist does not have a good or bad connotation, nor does it say anything about the meaning or intent behind the sexism itself. Instead, it is solely descriptive of behavior. However, quite often, and increasingly so, people get offended by even remotely being linked to sexism.

For many, calling someone sexist is strongly associated with calling them a bad person or even worse, implying a serious offense or malicious intent. This is not and should not be the meaning of the word. Because being sexist is generalized onto a personality trait instead of being an indicator of behavior, it ultimately makes people get defensive before a conversation even starts. As a consequence, it is increasingly difficult to talk about sexism openly and reasonably, including sexism in the workplace - a place that has a most dire need for such conversations. Since nobody wants to be sexist, we are too afraid to critically reflect on our behavior and admit that we might think or act sexist. We are scared of it. Hence, we try to defend and excuse our behavior. We are quick to distance ourselves from sexism. Considering this, a person called out for sexist behavior feels unjustly treated rather than inspired to reflect on their own behavior. But in fact, accepting the possibility of acting sexist and not being afraid of it is the key to open up a conversation that offers the opportunity for positive long-term change.

I found most men want to treat women equally and respectfully, but they do not know how to. Their intents are rarely bad, but they still have conscious and unconscious biases. Making people aware of their biases offers them the opportunity to reflect on them instead and alter their behavior. With this in mind, we should take the criticism as a chance to grow and to better understand the inequality within this world. Even though men are the ones who are privileged and in positions of power and women are being discriminated against, it is my belief that change has to come from both sides. We can sometimes even be sexist towards ourselves. So we should try to also recognize this kind of sexism and act to change without undermining the impact of sexism directed towards us.

Being a woman in the tech industry

My experience of being a woman in the tech industry can be divided into three sections:

First is prejudice

Everyone is happy to have a female developer, but they do not realize how good you really are. Most coworkers still expect you to be good in general, but not to exceed them.

It starts early when teachers expect you to be smart, but hold the male peers as more competent. Once you prove yourself, they see how good you are and start respecting you. Therefore, a woman's skill is usually seen as less compared to her true expertise. I see incompetent men fiddling their way through situations without any actual knowledge. Men get away with it so much more often than women do, giving me the impression that I have to work harder, look better, and be smarter to achieve the same as men. It sometimes hinders my ability to fulfill my true potential, because it seems to me that I will not be rated objectively.

When I think of coming into new situations, moving teams, projects, new offices, or a new workplace, I know I will have to prove myself against the wall of prejudice against women in tech. Instead, I want women to be treated and valued for their skill set and not for the subjective impression.

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