I don't think anyone can actually answer that, since it's anecdotal.
For the record, I'm a dude (in case there was any confusion given the context of this thread). Obviously, gender discrimination does not apply in my case.
These are unconscious social biases. Men are not evil for not hiring women when they don't understand the style of communication being used. When women are hesitant explaining the gaps in their resumes from childcare, or don't have any confidence answering questions, it's hard to blame men for going with someone they see as confident.
Is anybody against women in tech? Serious question, I'm all for anyone who wants to learn how to program, regardless of gender or age, and I can't imagine anyone not supporting it.
Also: Hey Tarah! Just saw this was you. Great job with LadyCoders, I hope it gets even better.
I think the majority of people are not against women in tech.
Most of the issues are fairly unconscious bias. Some people just assume women aren't as good at tech jobs as men are. Some people assume pretty women are stupid. Some people are simply uncomfortable around women, so don't put themselves into a position where they will be around them.
Issues with actually getting women into tech jobs range from their manner of speech (for example, raising their voices at the end of sentences) to being overly modest about their job skills.
Hmm, that's interesting, I would never have guessed that the manner of speech is something that might need improvement. I guess the points you mentioned apply to any job (and probably gender), though.
To add to this, I know that when I'm nervous I smile a lot and laugh to try to ease my own tension, so I can understand how an interviewer would take that as being naïve or not serious about the role, when it's really just a case of anxiety mixed with imposter syndrome.
The reason I posted this was to show that the people who want and need to come to our seminars are people who already know how to code, but don't know how to get jobs in tech.
I'm happy to answer your questions here in the comments. I am one of the LadyCoders; my name is Tarah Wheeler Van Vlack. LadyCoders is an initiative that puts on seminars and provides mentorship for programmers (often women) who find that they're having problems getting jobs in tech. Women often suffer from Impostor Syndrome. That frequently manifests itself as the inability to be confident about their skills in front of technical interviewers.
Do you guys ever consider getting involved with University Computer Science programs?
I went to this extremely depressing "females in computer science" sort of mentoring meeting today and all of the women holding it essentially conveyed the idea "don't go into industry (got to grad school), they will eat you alive since you're a woman." it was horrid to hear this from other women. I'm glad to see that not everyone agrees with that.
