Ada Lovelace Day - women in technology

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Posted by jokergirl@wererabbits

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"Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women's contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised."




This is a sad state of affairs.
Almost all of the bloggers I know are female. All of them know how to use a computer, navigate the web, fiddle with HTML and CSS markups, use a camera (most of them better than me!) set up photography professionally and more - and we do it on a regular basis!
Even better, most of us work or have worked, in one way or another, in the tech sector. (Don't believe it? Read our bios.)
We are not rare. We are not alone! Despite what many of us still think, none of us is, these days, the exception to the rule any more.
Therefore, this post is dedicated to all of you! Celebrate your techyness! You do not have to prove yourself to be good with technology any more. You already are.

So why are we still underrepresented and underacknowledged?
One of the reasons might be that we are still taught, by media and common opinion, that we do not have to be good at technology. It's OK, because we are women. If we are good, it is either exceptional (ooh, look at that brainy girl!) or it is not noticed because we ourselves think it's nothing special.

Well, the bad news first: It isn't. Most people in our generation should (in my opinion) have a base level of understanding of modern technology. We grew up with it, and we're using it daily. Being good at using a computer is not special, nor is it something only men can do. We have all grown up with it and it's time we realized that.

But now the good news: It isn't! That means that even if you think now "Oh, this doesn't apply to me, I never was interested in maths during my school time" it does not mean that you're automatically doomed to tech-unsavvyness.
Nor is it a good excuse. Why are girls not interested in maths? Simply because they see no reason to be. When asked about career options, boys will name about every profession on the planet. Most girls, however, will stick to the "soft" options, the traditionally female-dominated jobs. We don't see the other jobs as an option - something I realized almost too late myself. Now I'm a programmer and scientist and loving it.
Why don't we consider it? Well, because most girls we see around us aren't. Neither are most girls in the media. But that's not true, and you are already proof of it! Come out and make your voice heard. We are the techie girls of today - let's be good examples to the next generation that's growing up now!

All currently registered Ada Lovelace Day posts
The pledge
More about the pledge

And now returning to the regular food blogging...





This post was written by jokergirl from WereRabbits.



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