"Why do ambitious women have flat heads?" by Steve Shirley
It was the title of Dame Stephanie Shirley's 2015 Ted Talk. I watched it for the first time when I was about to begin high school to obtain a baccalaureate degree in science and mathematics. In her talk, she shared the gender inequalities and discrimination she faced in the sixties as a software engineer woman, which motivated her to start her own software company that predominantly hired women. It was Dame Shirley's talk that opened my eyes to what I was getting myself into.
Women have been involved in science far back in history, such as the astronomer and mathematician Hypatia, who was active in science in the 4th-century. For many centuries, various accounts of women being subject to discrimination exist. Most famous are the accounts of the German astronomer Maria Winkelmann and the two times Nobel prize winners Marie Curie who were denied application to scientific academies solely because they were women. Scientific academies such as the Royal Society of London, the Academie des Sciences in Paris, and the Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin excluded women to become members for over 300 years [1].
"Women cannot be part of the Institute of France" by French Academy member Emile Hilaire Amagat.
Accounts of women denied access to higher education, acknowledgement, and opportunity are numerous and, unfortunately, highly dependent on where you live, your socioeconomic standing, and your upbringing. I won't attempt to speak for all women; however, I would like to give a brief account through this blog of my personal experience as a woman studying and working in tech for 17 years.
All around, I have never personally faced in my career any major discrimination demeanour related to my gender; nevertheless, I have always felt that being a woman wasn't an advantage but rather a detriment I had to succeed despite of it.
During high school, I felt out of place. It was made clear to me that I needed to earn my seat while my male classmates had this sense of entitlement. Things slightly changed during my bachelor's studies; there were no clear expectations but a sense of awe that you were able to make it. I will always remember the professors' astonished reactions, probably not intentional, when a female classmate does well in an exam or an assignment. Sometimes the same reaction converted to suspicion if the classmate in question doesn't have the stereotypical appearance of a nerd.
When moving to Germany to study for my master's, I immediately noticed how imbalanced the ratio of women and men at the university was. In the electrical and mechanical departments where I have enrolled, the ratio was too conspicuous to go unnoticed. Besides, most university staff were male. The dominance was unmistakable.
By the time I started my professional career, I sadly became unsensitized by the situation and the stereotypes some people hold. In my mind, I always made the analogy of women's situation with the criminal justice system. I know it is a bit dramatic, but hear me out. Men are under the presumption of innocence meaning they are good at their jobs until proven otherwise. Women, on the other hand, are under the presumption of guilt. They are incompetent or at least not as good as their male counterparts until proven otherwise. Working under these conditions becomes tiring and exhausting over time since you constantly have to prove yourself.
You are probably wondering what can be done; what solutions I offer, sadly, none. I leave this to more qualified people on the topic to answer. However, I have a few thoughts I would like to share. I don't believe in quotas but rather equal opportunities. The problem is that women have been pushed aside for centuries; therefore, it is difficult to truly assure equal opportunities.
I have been lucky because I was given prospects that many women didn't get. That is not to say that it was easy because it wasn't. But sometimes I find myself wondering, maybe it is precisely because it is challenging that I want it even more. To conclude, I think that the least that can all do is to positively support and encourage young women in their tech careers and to speak openly about gender discrimination in the tech world to anyone who will listen.