While attending the seminar that was arranged by the department (and made compulsory to attend for the faculty), I was hardly paying attention to what the representative of the software company was going on for the last 45 minutes. I was checking my mobile for all social media updates. There was no charisma in his (speaker) character or presentation that would appeal or keep me engaged in his talk all this time. Every now and then I glanced over the hall, which was packed with all female undergraduate students from three batches of software engineering. I could see my female colleagues gazing into nothingness as well, due to the monotonic and extremely boring rant from the only male in the room i.e. the speaker. I noticed the end of his presentation due to the applause in the hall. Gradually those who were enjoying wild mental excursions into the world of their imaginations, were brought back to the reality and they started applauding and trying to look as if they were paying rapt attention.
After the applause faded, the speaker continued “This was mostly about programming and code development. You are all girls, you should be heading for a career path either as a tester or go for quality assurance”. And then with a smile on his face he looked around the hall and said “as girls are only good for finding faults”. After a 45 minutes of boring, unintelligent and low quality presentation he had the audacity to tell all the girls that they are not intelligent enough for innovative thinking, logic and problem solving; and they are naturally born to criticize, whinge or whine (“good for finding faults“). Whether he was conscious of his misogyny or or not, we never confirmed. But we were left puzzled over this generalization.
The ignorance of such level from a senior IT specialist was beyond shock.
In 1840s, Ada Lovelace was the world’s first computer programmer. “She was the first to recognize that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and created the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first to recognize the full potential of a “computing machine” and the first computer programmer.” [Ada Lovelace – Wikipedia]
“Grace Hopper was the first person to create a compiler for a programming language and one of the first programmers of the Mark I computer, an electro-mechanical computer based on Analytical Engine. The regularly working programmers of the ENIAC computer in 1944, were six female mathematicians; Marlyn Meltzer, Betty Holberton, Kathleen Antonelli, Ruth Teitelbaum, Jean Bartik, and Frances Spence. Adele Goldstine was one of the teachers and trainers of the six original programmers of the ENIAC computer. Adele Goldberg was one of the seven programmers that developed Smalltalk in the 1970s, one of the first object-oriented programming languages, the base of the current graphic user interface, that has its roots in the 1968 The Mother of All Demos by Douglas Engelbart. Smalltalk was later used by Apple to launch Apple Lisa in 1983, the first personal computer with a GUI, and one year later its Macintosh. Windows 1.0, based on the same principles, was launched a few months later in 1985“. [Women in Computing – Wikipedia]
Without these brilliant female brains, the world of computing would not have reached where it is today!
In everyday words and gestures, sometimes meant as harmless humor, a lot of things that go unnoticed can create profound impact on the surroundings. “you are too pretty, why did you choose science”, “no one will like you if you are good at math”, “the person ahead of me is a terrible driver, must be a woman”, “are you sure you are an engineer”. These are just some examples. And if confronted the reply is always the same; this wasn’t meant to be an insult and there is no need for over reaction (the classic “calm down dear“). But what about the fact that these simple, unconscious and “apparently” harmless thoughts do find a way to manifest themselves into actions (which again would not be consciously misogynist) and contribute to impede the empowerment, equality and prosperity of girls and women.
Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits. Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character. Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny. — Chinese proverb, author unknown
Stop with the misogynist thoughts today and break the stereotypes, which are built on ignorance!
Thoughts from illuminated Lady 