In Part 1 of this blog detailed an experience that an African-American colleague and friend encountered at a technology trade show. In today's rant I'll give my thoughts on her treatment and my take on the condition of race/gender issues in technology.
If you have ever attended a trade show, especially a large technology trade show like COMDEX (yeah, I'm a dinosaur) or CES, you know that it can be a zoo. Thousands if not tens of thousands of people are trying to get to the coolest freebie or most expensive give-away and don't mind stepping over or on you just to get it. Add to that an atmosphere that still caters to men almost to the exclusion of women, no matter how many women enter the technology industry. It doesn't matter that the perceived notion is that we've come a long way! As evidenced in Part 1 of this entry, reality shows that there is still a huge discrepancy in the way women in our industry are treated vs. guys, and how companies court (or don't court) genders and different races in an attempt to get them to purchase product.
Think I'm overreacting? The next time you go to a supposedly gender agnostic trade show in your industry ( I harp on technology because that's where I live), count how many scantily clad, leggy, blonde 'models' representing the manufacturer's 'produit du jour' are slinking around the floor. Watch the many shiny heads turn and feel pulses quicken as 'Candy' approaches some poor stuttering sap and asks if he would like to try the latest widget. Are they really trying to sell product to women with this approach? After you run out of fingers, toes and other appendages on which to count, add up how many buffed guys wearing only loincloths carrying roses and chocolates there are engaging the female constituents. My guess is none.
My personal experiences and experiences of female friends and colleagues have included:
· being physically pushed out of the way at an exhibit where there were few attendees and plenty of room to view the demo
· ignored at exhibitor booths when I clearly needed to ask questions for a client (Haier and Toshiba, that one is for you)
· mistaken for janitorial or food service staff
· listening as a big time executive for a very large tech manufacturer allude in a very thinly veiled comment that women didn’t have what it takes to make it in IT (the 3 women at that conference ripped him a new one immediately after his panel)
· and my personal favorite – mistaken for a secretary or the bookkeeper while my employee is mistaken for the head of the company
· being sexually harassed
Quite frankly, I'm tired of going to technology trade shows and being the only or one of the only five women present. I'm REALLY tired of going to technology trade shows and being one of the only African-Americans there. We need to realize that these shows, with their exhibit halls and giveaways, are not only great silos of information but also great places to network with colleagues and potential vendors. Most importantly they are places that spark creativity, generate new ideas and get us out from under the rock that we've been working under. Plus, can you think of a better place to gather competitive intelligence on your competition and what they're doing?
The way my friend (Excuse you, did you see me standing here? Part 1) was treated is reprehensible. Unfortunately it is not the first time nor is it the last, that a woman will experience this type of treatment. It will continue until we are taken more seriously in the market. But with the mass exodus of women from the technology industry, as recently chronicled is several major publications, we have a serious uphill battle in that regard. I sincerely hope that we can overcome it.
Comments