WOMEN IN TECH

I’ve always been in female-dominated fields. In my journalism class in University, you could count the number of boys in the 200+ class on both hands, and many of the professors were women. Then when I graduated, I moved into public relations, a field that is dominated by women and female-run agencies (look at Maverick PR for an example). And it wasn’t just in the lower ranks – many of the VP and Senior VP positions were held by extremely smart and savvy women.

Even when I moved into the technology sphere I was still in a female-dominated workplace – Sprouter’s founder Sarah Prevette and myself made up two-thirds of the company. When we had business cards made for our three-person team we decided our developer’s title would be “token guy” (we now have two male developers to balance us out). And Sarah sets a great example in terms of a strong female mentor – she speaks at conferences around North America about entrepreneurship, and often talks about other amazing female entrepreneurs who are at the helm of some of the world’s hottest startups.

So it was odd to me when I started reading and hearing about the lack of women in technology. Whether during an impromptu session at Podcamp Boston last summer or in a New York Times article, it seemed that everyone was lamenting the lack of women in tech, and at tech conferences.

I’ll definitely agree on some of the points raised. Yes, there are an overwhelming number of guys at most tech conferences compared to girls. Sure, males hold the majority of developer and other high-tech positions. And yes, sometimes I notice a lack of adequate female representation on conference schedules. But I’ve always held the opinion that you make your own opportunities.

If you’re a woman in technology and you want to see more women in technology, then spread the word. I try to reach out to as many female entrepreneurs as I can to help them get exposure for their companies – recent speakers at our events have included Catharine MacIntosh of Zerobaggage and Hailey Coleman of Damn Heels. And whenever possible I try to speak about Community Management at local events – I don’t wait to be invited, I apply. And I also try to get involved with local organizations like Girl Geek Dinners, where all the event speakers and attendees are women in tech.  

In Canada, we’re fortunate to have amazing women in technology. We have entrepreneurs like Maggie Fox of Social Media Group and Leila Boujnane of TinEye. We have technology reporters like Jennifer Kavur of ITWorldCanada and Amber MacArthur of WebNation. We have events like Podcamp Toronto that are run by women (Eden Spodek and Connie Crosby.) We have ladies working in high tech like information security consultant Leigh Honeywell of HackLabTO.

And usually when I go to technology and social media events around the country I see great female representation – just look at the recent Mesh conference for an example. Maggie and Eden were both speakers, along with many others in the technology space, including Adele McAlear and Janice Diner. There may have been more men, but everywhere you looked there were women in the digital marketing, startup, and technology space. My only complaint is that all the keynote speakers were male – but my highlight from last year’s conference was the keynote from Kiva’s Jessica Jackley.

I wanted to find out if I’m alone in believing that women have strong representation in the technology industry as a whole and at technology events. Read on for some insights from my peers and fellow Mesh attendees:

“I think it’s a great experience. Firstly, being a woman in the tech sector is a huge advantage – people really stop and take notice when people are actually involved in technology. They expect men to really understand the space, not women. I think you really get listened to, you get heard when you have something to say.”
Jodi Echakowitz, founder of Echo Communications

“I don’t really feel that there’s a huge disparity looking around the room. It may not be even, but it’s not a huge difference, and I certainly don’t feel that there’s any type of inequality going on.”
Heather Morrison, Client Services Manager at Sequentia Environics

“As a woman I feel kind of overwhelmed but I’m learning a lot.”
Sunta Sem, Online and Community Manager at Orange Rhino Media

“Honestly, I can’t say that I really think about the woman part of it. I find that there’s such a vibrant tech community in Canada, so many engaging, interesting people – I don’t really find that gender tends to be a part of the conversation. It’s really about the ideas, and the sharing of those ideas, and the thought behind what’s going on here.”
Alyssa Schwartz, Senior Editor, MSN.ca

“I find that everyone tends to be really friendly. It’s a group where people connect online and you recognize a lot of people’s names from their nametags, and you can start a conversation that’s beyond just ‘Hi, how are you’.”
Jenn Godbout, Marketing Manager at the Drake Hotel

“I do think that there are more women at technology conferences that seem to be changing the face of technology. That’s always interesting to me because I find that I’ll be in a crowd with a group of mixed men and women and I’m always surprised to hear what the women are doing, whether they’re editors, salespeople, developing – everybody seems to be bringing a new face to technology and it’s not the technology that we used to think it was.”
Verna Kulish, Solutions Sales Executive at MSN.ca

“I don’t feel being a woman in tech is anything but the norm.”
Amanda Laird, Communications Specialist at CNW Group

It seems that most of the women I spoke with felt the same as me – that being a woman in technology is an advantage, not a detriment. We should definitely work to encourage more female speakers and entrepreneurs, and more women to choose careers in high tech industries. But I always try to remember: Just because you’re the minority doesn’t mean you’re at a disadvantage or can’t make a lasting impact – just ask all the guys who were in my journalism class way back when.

Image courtesy Erin Bury.