Being a non-male developer

Meetups for women developers: Women Who Code - http://www.meetup.com/Women-Who-Code-SF/ Devchix - https://www.facebook.com/devchix; www.devchix.com

Co-ops have done a good job of allowing women/historically underrepresented techies to bring their full selves to their workplaces. Examples: mirabot, Quilted,Palante, Design Action Collective.

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WORKSHOP SESSION, being a non-male developer

Introductions name, gender identity/pronooun preference & one thing you would like to speak about

themes

-being an ally

-grappling with "developer" ID

-connecting and training with women in tech

-share stories of discomfort

-make IT/engineering more accessible or comfortable

-intersection of gender/race/class identities

-better allies amongst the left, friends, other spaces

-embracing full human-ness and multiple identities

-broader diversity, success stories of integration and whose doing it

-creating safe spaces, diverse and anti-oppression, and a better workplace

definitions

cys gender: pertains to gender assigned at birth, based on ones biological sex

trans gender: non-normative gender that is NOT based on ones biological sex

gender queer: no gender

gender binary: the social construct of there only being man and women as genders

discussion

Difficulty finding your voice around issues of gender

What spaces facilitate spaces where one can bring themselves fully? as a woman? person of color?

The coops responded by stating that they started to do exactly that:

-they're a space that challenges power and allows you to fully own your work

-the people you work with are like a family, they function differently from trad corporate models. they tend to be spaces with people being wiling to dig into issues that may cause tension in order to prevent problems

-INTENTION! building a workplace that supports activists/organizers that are non-white male and are learning tech and development. it becomes a space to fight oppression in your everyday life and also in the world.

-creating a space that does not only look at people through factionalized identities

Where can we go to get support if we do not have healthy working space?

Bay Area meetup group: Women Who Code

Black Girls Code

Gender Changers [based in Amsterdam?]

Confronting the discomfort of addressing issues in the workplace?

As a woman, how does having a degree help? does it?

Women tend to be looked down on in the industry, and often having an extra piece of paper does make a difference

It also depends on the workplace–a coop commented that their programmer does not and it hasn't helped her, but it hasn't made a difference in their space because they value her on a personal level, not a degree.

Male Culture in the tech world, a traditionally dudish-aggro attitude

WE'RE REALLY GOOD A IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM, but not implementing solutions

Computer Science Degrees, the notion of women having a inclination towards that is bullshit

Bringing in many of the tech skills into the non-profit realm is also bringing in a lot of white-male dominance and the culture that comes with it

Tech Spaces/Hacker spaces tend to not be safe spaces for women

One thing you can do to be a safe space is NOT HIT ON WOMEN

We also bring a lot of our own gender baggage and patriarchal into every space with inhabit, it's important to have a space to call things out an discuss them Hackmeet was suprisingly more diverse this year than years prior

closing & solutions

Coops should figure out a way to infiltrate white-male dominated tech spaces in order to help them advance and be more inclusive

open communication, facilitating safe spaces allows us to do better work! better ideas! and not oppressive!

STEP UP! STEP BACK!

don't hit on me at conferences

efforts should be made to make better management and leadership