Monday, September 15, 2014

Interesting Features at PWN for 9.15.14


News from the PWN Pipeline: 


'Women are given constructive suggestions-- and told to pipe down.'

Fortune's Kieran Snyder has penned a very illuminating column on how the perception of female "abrasiveness" or assertiveness plays a role in undermining women's careers in technology sector positions. Dr. Snyder assessed performance reviews gathered from men and women in tech positions, and found that women are often given negative feedback or are primarily given feedback with criticism. In contrast, men are overwhelmingly likely to receive only constructive feedback in their performance review. Furthermore, women are seldom given feedback without criticism, whereas men are far more likely to receive feedback without criticism. Overall, the findings of the review show a stark contrast between the evaluations of men and women in tech and merit a reexamination of systematic bias in review language.


'We can't 'ban bossy' if women in tech are being told to know their role.'

In reaction to Kieran Snyder's informal investigation, Jess Zimmerman from The Guardian has posted a response calling for the rise of more women in leadership roles in tech. Ms. Zimmerman rightly points out that encouraging women in early stages of STEM education to focus on their career goals and then exposing them to workplace gendered criticism, bigotry, and retrogressive attitudes regarding work performance and ability is completely counterproductive.




No comments:

Post a Comment