#TBT to the viral WIRED Video where Silicon Valley’s women engineers talk about all the unbelievable S*@T they put up with.
While this video is Circa 2017, it is hard to imagine that much has changed.
These Silicon Valley engineers women shared their personal experiences with sexism and representation in their field and explained why greater diversity and inclusion will lead to better products (And maybe even a better world!) for everyone.
“It just makes me feel like the Other, it makes me feel I don’t belong,” Kathleen Vignos, Senior Engineering Manager at Twitter, says, “It just makes me feel like the Other, it makes me feel I don’t belong.”
African American engineer and outspoken diversity advocate, Erica Baker, at that time Build and Release Engineer at Slack, shared that there is just the assumption that women of color can’t be technical. Baker says, “People sort of assumed that I am not technical.”
Nidhi Swami, Software Engineer at Capital One touches upon openness and collaboration, building things, and making sure that we help the community and the world. Swami says, “Without females, so much of the great work which has been done would not be possible … (sic women) can really change the world.”
According to the American Association of University Women (via Wired), between 2006 and 2011 women represented only 12 percent of the engineering workforce in the United States.
Companies in Silicon Valley also struggle to retain female engineers and that’s why 32% of women that come from science, technology, and math leave the tech industries as compared to 22% of men that come from similar backgrounds and leave tech.
Gender disproportion and disparity are seen in every industry but it is time to stand up and take notice when 88% of the industry is different from you.