diversity

When we’re polite, we use the term “diversity” to say that the expected level of bigotry is absent. It’s a positive trait for an organization, right behind “does not induce psychosis”. It’s a selling point in software engineering, because it’s closer to the exception than the rule. It’s also good business, because mixed-gender businesses are more successful. The same trend shows up when looking at mixed-gender engineering teams.

Historically, gender inequality in software development has been due to a series of filters at every stage of education and career. It starts in childhood education, with a bias skewed in favor of men on SAT scores, regardless of ability. Fewer women take the advanced math courses in college that are required for a CS degree. Fewer of those major in CS, and then again fewer of that graduate with a computer science degree, and then fewer of the remainder continue on to careers in software development. Even with careers in software development, women are more frequently in supporting fields like documentation and tech support. Those positions typically pay less, as well.

In college, my CS classes typically had 20 students, and half were entirely men. About 5% of my class was female, at a university with more women than men (60%).

Most of my coworkers have looked like me. When I was a worker bee, my 2nd-level manager was a woman twice, as well as one direct manager. Out of roughly a dozen managers. Half of the engineering teams I’ve been on (typically 5-10 people) were entirely men. But the details varied, telling me that individual employers and managers can improve. I’ve heard HR reps brag that 10% of an engineering team was female, as if that showed diversity.

Fewer women work for many startups. That’s not surprising to me, as quite often startups have younger employees… who may be at child-bearing age when the required absences may not be tolerated as well by peers. They might already known each other, perhaps also have been classmates, and my experience says men band together and consider women a special minority who stick out. There’s a bias in venture capital firms, with success showing no gender difference when venture capitalists are women. Small businesses (startups) are also excused from the strictest employment and hiring laws. As a company grows, people hire others who are like themselves. This can be fixed partly by improving a startup’s environment. Staff adequately, allow time off, allow working from home, provide 12 weeks paid maternity and paternity leave.

Some guys think it’s ok to be a bit sexist on the job. I’ve asked why women generally avoid the field at past employers, and the women think those guys are the most obvious reason. Seriously, if someone’s a jerk in that regard, you should consider firing them for it. Quit excusing or defending their disruptive behavior.

The bias doesn’t exist everywhere. When I worked for NASA half my peers were women, more than at any other point in my career. That was also the highest-performing organization I’ve seen. As a tech writer, most of my coworkers were women. I attended meetings where I was the only guy. Even then, my management chain all the way to the top was entirely men. In development teams with colleagues in other parts of the world, the gender ratio was closer to 50/50.

The entire software development field can improve. When venture capital firms are run by women, there’s no gender gap in the performance of the startups they fund. However, the current trend is for fewer women in the field each year.