I worked for a woman, intelligent, dedicated, and while in the computer biz she came from an industrial background; She made blueprints, and methods for the shop to correctly build the item.
So, we're in the computer biz, I was consulting, she was freshly graduated in CS. She was struggling about getting recognized, I (sad to admit today) told her to look around. She dresses like the admins (still secretaries at that time). Who are never recognized for their efforts. Next day, jeans and a white tee, which made me nearly laugh out loud for real. Amazing. She wound up drawing the mechanical drawings for their custom chassis.
Years later, I am working for her again. Then afterwards once again on a widely optimistic project (same corp). That department was massively patriarch in management. They finally pushed her out. As I was leaving, the big boss (one up from mine) asks the required question: What do you think we are doing wrong? They were having trouble shipping the actual project.
I laughed, won't do any good to tell you because you would never do it. Hire her back. Give her free reign to do whatever it takes to SHIP YOUR PROJECT. Among the hundreds of people I have worked with, you fired the one person that could solve this.
Their project tanked, the big boss wound up never heading a major project again, and my boss was delegated to support projects that were of zero consequence to the bottom line, to the biz itself, and barely warranted any acknowledgement in the industry as a whole. As expected.
Powerful, well argued article. Did you see the Apple series, Lessons in Chemistry, starring Brie Larsen? It’s A noble, and entertaining attempt to wrestle with the many sexist obstacles to women’s recognition.
THANK YOU for this excellent piece. It kills me that it's so common to get the old "well name 10 women who x,y,z", which misses this point exactly. We can't all name then because we weren't taught about them. They aren't discussed widely. They don't have busts & portraits and building named after them. Most of them were likely never credited in the first place!
From now on I'm naming the women AND the men who stole their designs...
It's startling how long this patriarchal head-space continues to persist - including its current flavour in "TradWife" in the US. Even more startling (in my view) is how some women support this idea! It seems to be embedded in religion of all flavours. No matter the science, humans seem to gravitate to 'stories' and the more fantastic the more enthralling?
Last year, during a cab ride in LA, my driver—a Black man in his 30s or 40s—said to me, "You would know this better since you're Indian, and most Indian women stay at home. Don't you think that's a better arrangement than women trying to work like men and failing squarely?" It took me a second to absorb this, and I asked, "Why?". (He's not wrong about India, unfortunately.)
He claimed that women have never done anything of consequence in history and challenged me to name any woman who invented something. Struggling to recall an example that he could relate to, I mentioned Grace Hopper and how her work powers the radio, Uber, and more. He was taken aback and said, "Okay, tell me more than one example."
I spoke of Ada Lovelace, Madame Curie and my brilliant mentor during my internship, but couldn't recall many more examples. I thought to myself, "I'm sure there are a lot more women innovators. How do I not remember more?"
Interestingly, he was somewhat of a minor celebrity among women and shared his YouTube channel with me. He conducted live calls with women seeking dating advice, during which he basically berated them. What a world!
I worked for a woman, intelligent, dedicated, and while in the computer biz she came from an industrial background; She made blueprints, and methods for the shop to correctly build the item.
So, we're in the computer biz, I was consulting, she was freshly graduated in CS. She was struggling about getting recognized, I (sad to admit today) told her to look around. She dresses like the admins (still secretaries at that time). Who are never recognized for their efforts. Next day, jeans and a white tee, which made me nearly laugh out loud for real. Amazing. She wound up drawing the mechanical drawings for their custom chassis.
Years later, I am working for her again. Then afterwards once again on a widely optimistic project (same corp). That department was massively patriarch in management. They finally pushed her out. As I was leaving, the big boss (one up from mine) asks the required question: What do you think we are doing wrong? They were having trouble shipping the actual project.
I laughed, won't do any good to tell you because you would never do it. Hire her back. Give her free reign to do whatever it takes to SHIP YOUR PROJECT. Among the hundreds of people I have worked with, you fired the one person that could solve this.
Their project tanked, the big boss wound up never heading a major project again, and my boss was delegated to support projects that were of zero consequence to the bottom line, to the biz itself, and barely warranted any acknowledgement in the industry as a whole. As expected.
She excelled in her new job. As expected.
Ooh! Thank you for this knowledge. I’m gonna do a show on this and will ABSOLUTELY credit you!
Powerful, well argued article. Did you see the Apple series, Lessons in Chemistry, starring Brie Larsen? It’s A noble, and entertaining attempt to wrestle with the many sexist obstacles to women’s recognition.
THANK YOU for this excellent piece. It kills me that it's so common to get the old "well name 10 women who x,y,z", which misses this point exactly. We can't all name then because we weren't taught about them. They aren't discussed widely. They don't have busts & portraits and building named after them. Most of them were likely never credited in the first place!
From now on I'm naming the women AND the men who stole their designs...
Thanks for writing this account of history.
It's startling how long this patriarchal head-space continues to persist - including its current flavour in "TradWife" in the US. Even more startling (in my view) is how some women support this idea! It seems to be embedded in religion of all flavours. No matter the science, humans seem to gravitate to 'stories' and the more fantastic the more enthralling?
For your history books and records files:
https://time.com/3445010/ruth-bader-ginsburg-citizens-united/
The worst Supreme Court decision in her lifetime.
Last year, during a cab ride in LA, my driver—a Black man in his 30s or 40s—said to me, "You would know this better since you're Indian, and most Indian women stay at home. Don't you think that's a better arrangement than women trying to work like men and failing squarely?" It took me a second to absorb this, and I asked, "Why?". (He's not wrong about India, unfortunately.)
He claimed that women have never done anything of consequence in history and challenged me to name any woman who invented something. Struggling to recall an example that he could relate to, I mentioned Grace Hopper and how her work powers the radio, Uber, and more. He was taken aback and said, "Okay, tell me more than one example."
I spoke of Ada Lovelace, Madame Curie and my brilliant mentor during my internship, but couldn't recall many more examples. I thought to myself, "I'm sure there are a lot more women innovators. How do I not remember more?"
Interestingly, he was somewhat of a minor celebrity among women and shared his YouTube channel with me. He conducted live calls with women seeking dating advice, during which he basically berated them. What a world!