Tech Problems

The lack of diversity in the growing field of tech is something I've grown to become extremely passionate about. As a young woman of colour myself, I actually wrote my thesis on this topic; the following is an excerpt from my thesis:

The world of computer science and technology undoubtedly underrepresents women of colour. By the year 2020, there is expected to be 1.4-million computer specialist job openings with only 30% U.S. computing graduates who can fulfill these jobs. The national Center for Women and Informational Technology reports that although women constitute 25% of the computing work force in 2011, only 3% of those women were African-American, 4% were Asian, and only 1% of women who working in IT in the USA in 2011 were Hispanic (“Women and Information Technology by the Numbers,” 2012). Although the lucrative field of computer science continues to grow at a rapid pace, the marginal statistics of minority groups of women within this field unfortunately, are not surprising. Regardless of the high demand for computer specialists, female students of colour are disproportionally disadvantaged within the current power structure that exists in the United States. Women of colour are the minority within the minority. Many factors contribute to this inequity within the computer science realm, including: sexism, historical dispositions, minority cultural expectations, societal gender roles, education levels, and a lack of strong role models within the technology community. The systemic oppression disguised as gender meritocracy subjugates female students to outdated and backwards gender roles and societal expectations. Women’s underrepresentation in the booming field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics strongly correlates to underexposure of these fields in K-12 education.

Now, I could continue to rant about how women are still making a fraction of the dollar men are making, and in the tech field specifically when asking for a raise or even equal pay as their male counterpart, woman are considered bossy, aggressive, and "unlikeable", whereas men are seen as strong and assertive. However I'll take a moment to highlight that currently there is a push for more awareness and more attention to be brought to this subject. Since major companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook etc. are now openly admitting that the majority of their employees are Caucasian males, people are starting to become more proactive. Just as recently as this month NPR has released a #RaceonTech hashtag to acknowledge diverse innovators.

The issue of lack of diversity in tech is still very prevalent, but I am hopeful for change. We live in an age of acceptance and celebration of differences and hopefully this trend continues to make way in the tech industry. The misconception that computers and the entire STEM field is masculine and "not sexy" needs to be diminished and we need to start educating our young girls at an early age that technology is the future, regardless of race or gender.