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> I'd like to ask people about something Sharon Burton-Hardin
> mentioned. I've
> often wondered if there is a difference in the way male and female tech
> writers are treated by engineers, developers, and others who consider
> themselves "actually" part of the development of a product. "Duh, of
> course!" isn't an answer. ;)
Oh dear... I'm afraid you're opening up a big can of worms with this one,
Andy. :^)
After 3+ years managing tech support helpdesks and 3+ years doing tech
support and network administration, in addition to 2+ years of tech writing,
I'd say the gender bias in tech fields isn't any more (or less) blatant than
in other fields. I've encountered sexism in almost every job I've had in my
15 years on the workforce. The vast majority of it isn't what I'd call
sexual harassment, but there's simply a pervasive, institutionalized
attitude that women just don't 'get' high technology or aren't interested in
it. Which means we generally have to work twice as hard to prove our
capabilities in very technical jobs.
However, with all the tech guys I've worked with over the years, I *have*
found that they've been extremely accepting once you've proven yourself,
more so than guys in other fields. Tech guys respect technical ability above
all else, and once you prove that you can work at their level or higher,
they respect you for what you can *do*, not for who you are or what you look
like (most likely because they're used to being shunned for years as "geeks"
or "nerds" themselves).
The BBS scene I was into when I was a teenager (mid-1980s) was the same sort
of thing - guys would see your female name and try to hit on you sexually in
the message areas, but once you kicked their butt badly in TradeWars or
proved you could code or hack better than them, they would always treat you
like "one of the guys" after that and not mess with you.
Anyways, once I started managing tech support departments, I had to prove
myself not only to the higher-ups (that a woman could effectively manage a
group of tech guys), but also to the tech guys (that I really understood
technology and wasn't just a clueless Pointy-Haired Boss). My second day on
the job, I had to handle my first "escalated" support incident - a laptop
device-conflict problem that the senior tech had already spent several hours
on in vain. I had the thing working perfectly in 10 minutes flat and was
instantly conferred the title of "Tech Mistress" (all dominatrix inferences
intentional <grin>). I never had any problems working with them after that.
--
*TsR
*Tanja Rosteck
Tanjerine Communications
web www.tsr-writing.com
email tsr -at- videotron -dot- ca
phone 514.935.0463
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