Perhaps you noticed that the racism and sexism discussion flared up again, thanks to Build, Mike Monteiro, and a handful of bigots. Faruk Ateş has a good take on it.
The most reasonable argument I’ve heard about why women are discriminated against within the web design community comes from two women. Leah Culver, who is quoted with saying that “women just don’t pimp their shit,” (MP3 — 11 minutes in) and Nicole Sullivan on The Big Web Show (7 minutes in).
“I honestly think there are a lot of women in the field and women just tend to be quieter about it, which is unfortunate that women just don’t get out and speak.”
Essentially, they both argue that women don’t get as respected as men because women don’t speak up for themselves enough.
However, it would seem from this article on Slate that women may not speak up for themselves because they’re conditioned not to because of social biases that influence them from a very young age. If so, I take that to mean that women are discriminated against because women are discriminated against. It’s a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. It has to stop sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?1
Leah states that she overcomes her anxiety by building things, which is one argument the Slate article mentions to explain why boys are less anxious, they’re encouraged to confront their anxieties from a young age. By building, Leah confronts her anxieties. Nicole states that she worked as a carpenter for a while and said that the discrimination in the web community isn’t nearly as bad as that field which, in a way, I think, has helped her to confront her anxiety, or at least given her a wider perspective on the whole issue. I’ve never spoken to either of these women though so I certainly don’t know for sure. But they’re inarguably two women who stand out from the crowd and speak frequently throughout the community.
So perhaps there is something to the argument that women should be encouraged to build more, and to speak more about it. But if that truly is the case, then it’s an argument for positive discrimination and celebrating women all over the place. By consistently encouraging women to stand up and speak we’ll be encouraging all women to stand up and speak thus creating a positive feedback loop where we all win. Any man who’s got a problem with that is likely to be insecure, if not downright scared.
Oh, and women? I’m sorry if no one told you before, but you rock.
