Question: What does the future look like for women in computing?
It’s so hard to decide what topic to write about when you are asked to be a guest columnist. I’ve had so many ideas that each time I sat down in front of the computer, my document remained blank, even while my head raced.
Initially, I wanted to write a column about the importance of integrity and leadership, and while I still believe that’s an incredibly important and timely topic, I decided instead to write about why I think today is one of the most exciting and pivotal moments in technology, and specifically, for women and technology. I wanted to write an article about hope and the future, an article befitting of Spring, and an article to get us all (women and men alike!) fired up about what’s next. Because there is so much possibility in front of us!
We spend a lot of time facing negativity – in our field, in our countries, in our world. We see reports about the state of women in the professional world (still not so good). We see reports about the state of women in technology (less good). We see reports of women in leadership, technical or otherwise (downright depressing!). While it is important to pay attention to those trends, and to invest time and energy in correcting biases that create homogenous work environments and leadership teams and ultimately lead to, at best, lopsided or limited businesses and technologies, it’s also important to approach things from a different perspective.
So let me push all that to the side for a moment, and talk about what’s POSSIBLE, and why, after a tough year for me personally and a tough year for the world in general, I am more fired up than ever about technology, and the role of women in technology.
Technology is a broad term; it can be applied to many fields with long, rich histories. But computing technology, specifically personal computing technology, is relatively young. PCs of yore took their flavor from the people that created them, and those people were greatly influenced by the way computers were used at the time: as incredible calculation machines, focused on efficiency and speed of calculations, often having to do with military operations, large scale scientific calculations, etc. Men had disproportional access to the careers that came in contact with computers; men, therefore, had a lot to do with the initial personal computers. Early PCs focused on gaming and programming. Then spreadsheets and document authoring tools showed up, along with rudimentary communication tools (early email and chat tools). Over time, PCs have gotten more “user friendly,” as Microsoft, Apple, and others have focused on appealing to a broader user base and on inserting themselves into more “real life” scenarios, first in the workplace, then in the home and beyond. With the popularization of the Internet, other big players have moved into the personal computing space (Google, Cisco, Facebook, others). Personal computing now extends beyond the traditional PC and into phones, netbooks, digital tablets, our cars, and more. And with Cloud Computing, we have entered a time where we can access our digital lives from all over the place, from all different devices. Imagine the possibilities in this space!
Make no mistake: women have always been a part of the computing world. When personal computing was in its infancy, there were certainly women who participated in making the PC possible. As PCs gained a foothold, more women participating in creating the PC itself, as well as the software that made PCs more usable and useful (I count myself in this wave!). As personal computing has exploded into every corner of our lives, more women have become involved in all aspects of personal technology. And certainly, we are prolific users of personal technology to manage our work, our lives, our families; to entertain or present or tell stories to clients, customers, family members, friends, even strangers; to bridge gaps between people, business, technology, life, in ways that would not have been possible even ten years ago.
At the same time, more women are making it through university (in North America, this seems like an asinine thing to say, but really, a lot of our grandmothers probably didn’t go to university, and in many places in the world, women are just starting to get through higher levels of education). More women are entering science fields. Many young women today are going for dual majors or combined degrees, creating new fields and new ways of viewing the world and our issues that will – slowly – revolutionize the way we move forward as a global society. When I graduated from Boston University, Computer Science was in the College of Liberal Arts, so I got a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science. At the time, I got a lot of grief for the B.A. versus the B.S., but today I believe it was prophetic, and opened my mind in a unique way.
To top things off, Social Computing is now THE thing, THE en vogue topic with technologists. And as much as I loathe generalities, as a group, women are viewed as more social than men. So the very phrase “Social Computing” can and should be viewed as an invitation, or at least an acknowledgement of humans and technology truly intertwining! An opportunity for women to show what we can *really* do with technology and humans, together! My mother and my aunts “Facebook” regularly. They chat, message, and play games (Farmville, anyone?) together, even though they are separated by hundreds of miles from one another. I am an avid (private) twitter user; I use it as a way to stay connected with some of my closest friends, as well as a way to keep abreast of news, new technology, and events. I don’t know how long Twitter keeps tweet history for each person, but I’ve been a Twitter member for over two years, and it says I’ve sent 10,205 tweets. That means I tweet between 10-20 times EVERY DAY. Whoa! Beyond the smaller, personal-style interactions, large scale interactions – e.g. broadcasts for help for Haiti – have become de rigueur: natural (and unnatural) disasters are aided by and communicated about with technology; there’s an entire startup ecosystem in that space! And medical technology! Oh! Where to start! So many places where women already often lead (in one way or another), so many human-related opportunities where computing and technology can provide real benefits! As in “Save the World” benefits! Heck, technology has become so central to our lives in many places that it is regularly featured on TV shows and in movies, with tech companies (hardware, software, services, mobile, etc!) vying for “spots” with real cash! Even the entertainment industry, then, gets the importance of personal technology!
So, ladies – are you ready????? Because I am READY!
Look at the ingredients I’ve laid out before us! Technology and humans, colliding on all fronts! What a fantastic time for a revolution, or an evolution, depending on your perspective! What opportunity lies before us! NOW is the time where we can truly be creative about the join of technology and humanity. NOW is the time for us, women and girls of all ages, to show the world what is truly possible with technology, to truly leap ahead of gaming and programming, productivity tools, entertainment, and even today’s social computing technology. NOW is the time for us to look into the distance and decide what technology can do for us, for the world. There has never been a better time, a time more ripe for women to leap into the world of technology and lead it towards what the world really needs, than RIGHT NOW! Bring your combined degrees, your varied interests, your understanding of humanity, your desire to teach, to save the world, to create a green planet, to establish global communities, your love of games, your “COO of the Home” skills, your love of games, of connections, and of course, of technology – BRING IT TOGETHER! Because, with this awesome, true collision of technology and humanity, we are uniquely positioned to lead technology, personal and otherwise, forward.
It will not be easy all of the time. Diversity of people in technology will not happen overnight. We must make it happen. We must embrace our roles as pioneers, and run, LEAP, together into the frontier. Oh! The possibilities!
As I contemplate what must happen next, and how powerful we can be as leaders in this space, I keep thinking that I must gird my loins. That *we* must gird our loins and run forward into the frontier of possibility and opportunity! Before your eyebrows shoot off the top of your head, or a frown wrinkles your brow, understand that the origin of “gird your loins” came from a period of time when people (men) would tuck their tunics (skirts, really) through their legs and around their waists, therefore making their tunics into shorts so that they were more able to run effectively into the challenge (usually war) that faced them. It was an expression that meant “Get comfortable; hard work lies ahead and you don’t want to be distracted.”
So, ladies (and gentlemen!), gird your loins. I’ve already leapt – come with me, join the adventure of our lifetimes! Because the best is yet to come, and I am giddy with excitement.
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Rebecca Norlander has been an active technologist in the computer industry for close to 20 years. She is currently finishing a sabbatical from Microsoft and contemplating her next move. She lives in Seattle with a pair of wild cats and a spouse. Alternative activities to geeking out include snowboarding, cycling, and trail running.