Wearing separates: The stripper & the hacker

If the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle. ~ Rita Mae Brown

Last year the FastCompany nominated (a mere) 'TOP eleven' women as the 'most influential in Web 2.0'. Immediately causing outcry about the chosen and the not chosen. In the UK, it is estimated of the near 460,000 strong IT workforce those who are 'ICT Professionals', less than 15% are women.

The technology industry has a history of overlooking or missing out altogether the female counterpart to the traditional male Geek. Nowhere was this distinction more sharply drawn than in the visibility of the girls at the Yahoo! hosted TwOpenHack09 yesterday.

Still today (that's a long time in digital circles) the event is continuing to cause controversy.

I thought that we were a long time from the days when the sight of a 'mere' woman at a commercially led (thanks Yahoo!) and 'professionally' run event would send in the lap dancers. Once in the States at an afterparty for one of the tech industries now most recognised companies (they shall remain anon) they sent in the fat-ogram. Another example of the perspex ceiling designed to be tread only by those in sensible flat shoes. Whilst there continues minimal opportunity for highheeled marks to be scratched into that ceiling, this IS happening.

It is not clear exactly how many female workers are 'in IT'. Certainly not enough. And not enough at the highest levels. But then the same could be said of Banking. I am, however, struck by the irony of the TwOpenHack09 event. Once led to believe that hacking as a subtext was to break through various walls, fire and otherwise, to infiltrate - and from a leftist ideal - reveal possible exploitation and conspiracy, as a young girl I was highly influenced by this most romanticised image of the hacker subculture. In my eyes this was a level playing field where it was talent that mattered not that if you were 'too delicate' to play on the pitch. So thanks to Yahoo! and TwOpenHack09 for bringing home the ultimate levelling message that what you wear, or rather take off, your booty matters. This separates the stripper from the hacker afterall. Women know your place!

Before I get too locked into just a M/F debate, as my handsome friend Ian Forrester will remind me, overall you have to wonder how much things have changed in Tech land. Following Ian's post 'Are you a self-described geek' as faaaaar back in time as 2005, there are cultural and race dimensions too. And the issues are worldwide.

Worldwide or not, closer to home and over in Leeds tonight is a gathering of some of the potential leaders of the tech industry. Leeds Girl Geeks we salute you. Especially with your booty's covered.

And, yes I am struck by the irony of using an image entitled 'sexy robot'. This is as a deliberate device all you commentators.

Wired. You're Fired!

When not 'here' I also write for another blog GirlyGeekdom. Not usually one to cross-post (that's for a more lazy journo approach), this piece is interesting and worthy enough to 'double up'.

The just lauched UK edition of Wired Magaine. This week I am struck by the obvious; With more technology for our geeky pleasure, are the GirlGeeks being overlooked? I ask: Where are the women writers?... For the front page byline 'Your Life in the Future' - 'your' must refer to the men only...

A particularly pertinent piece is the article 'The People Who Really Run Britain' (PWRRB) (p.136). Thankfully not Bob Quick as Senior Counter Terrorist Officer, but a portfolio of ardent workers who for Philip Sinden 'operate in the shadows'. Individuals who range from the 'nation's memory keeper' - guarding official documentations in an underground 'safe house'; 'the time setter' responsible for keeping the nations clocks to time; to the a 'Channel tunnel guardian' who 'keeps air flowing through the Eurotunnel'.

Only one of the PWRRB's Top Ten is a woman. I do not want to labour the point too much, but it seems appropriate to point out (with the support of GirlyGeekdom) that women are not only the minority in terms of written content in Wired, but the same is also true in terms of subject and article presence. The (only) Woman Who Really Runs Britain is Caroline Porter, 29, a business manager at London Metal exchange. Her role is to control the feeds of metal prices - 'the global reference prices' - that are delivered to the global economy. Without her there would meltdown, literally.

Skip to the front of Wired (P.15) and the 05.09 Contributors Page, of the six main contributors, one, Susan Greeenfield (Baroness no less), is the pioneer of content contributed by women. I am not suggesting that Wired is all male-to-male content. Far from it. UK Wired is, in my opinion, far better than its US counterpart in the publication of balanced, interesting and satisfyingly technology divulgent coverage. But then I flick back again through the magazine and the if the masculine led written word doesn't hit you, the masculine emphasis of marketing and advertisement will. TagHeur watch here, Sony Bravia with football coverage there, Jaguar where 'the thrill lasts much longer' and Tom Ford 'for men' (just to re-assert the masculine message) set the tone for the First Edition.

The 'How to...' contribution from Kevin Braddock and Jack Dyson (a relation?) is a revelation in its inventiveness for instructions for everday living. From 'eating for free', to 'making your own lipstick'. The boys may fail to explain how to raise the profile of women within a wired culture... but maybe they are building to that in the next edition...

Oh and FYI, type 'Susan Greenfield' into the search engine of Wired to reveal...

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Yes. Well I think that says it all really.

Time to create my own Wired.