Women in many areas of IT get an earful when they<br>put forth expert opinion. They speak up and then get <br>pounded down by a few death-eater trolls whom <br>nobody has the guts to tell to shut up. <br><br>It makes it hard to become an entrepreneur or manager<br>
or CIO, when your credibility and even your personality<br>is immediately questioned by some troll at every level <br>of your career, yet nobody calls the troll into account,<br> and the troll's arguments are considered legitimate.<br>
Questions about a woman's personality, motives, <br>and even family planning decisions are considered to <br>be appropriate subjects for discussion.<br>If a woman speaks out about this unethical treatment,<br>she's considered to have caused the problem herself,<br>
and therefore she doesn't have management <br>potential, isn't a team player, and should consider a <br>different career path, maybe in desktop/customer support.<br><br>Why would women put themselves forth as experts on <br>
Wikipedia, in *writing*, when they get smacked down when <br>they speak up as experts at work?<br><br>An IT man puts himself forward as an expert when he does good<br>work, very few people give him a hard time, it's usually accepted on<br>
its own merits. An IT woman puts herself forward as an expert <br>when she does good work, and a few insecure guys on the <br>team will stand up and challenge her publicly and discredit <br>whether her work was actually all that good. And they'll insult <br>
her personality while they're at it. I've seen this happen. A lot.<br><br>Not many guys are insecure death eaters, probably less than <br>1 in 20, but this is enough to cast suspicion on women who <br>are doing well. And the men who listen to the insecure guys <br>
and their 'locker room bravado' should know better, <br>and tell the insecure guys to grow up or shut up. Kind of like <br>telling gay bashers to shut up, but they'd be telling <br>women bashers to shut up, no difference.<br>
<br>So the question becomes why would women want to put <br>themselves down in print as experts, when at work they get<br>verbally, emotionally and physically intimidated, and at the<br>very least are frequently technically ostracized to the work <br>
that the guys aren't interested in doing, and usually only get <br>assigned to the interesting work as an "assistant" to help a guy <br>that isn't able to do his work himself, even though she's a<br>
'programmer' with experience, not an 'assistant programmer.'<br>These are not experiences that create the confidence to <br>put one's neck on the line by contributing to Wikipedia,<br>which is read by everyone in the world. Imagine the<br>
number of trolls that would suddenly appear in your life!<br><br>Men aren't usually subjected to this treatment, so it <br>makes no sense for them to say that this doesn't happen.<br>I've seen it, experienced it, and heard men over <br>
and over give weird reasons why unethical treatment of<br>women in the workplace is acceptable and reasonable,<br>and is usually the woman's fault anyway.<br><br>Notice this is not called 'sexual harassment'. This is <br>
unethical treatment of women in the workplace. Some<br>companies (CSC, SAIC) have unofficially defined this <br>behavior as 'hazing' like it's some sort of fraternity and <br>if you don't pass then you don't belong at that company.<br>
<br>Of course, when you're old like I am, I'm not afraid to<br>tell the trolls to just shut up and stop treating women <br>as if they were too psychologically confused to<br>vote, own land or hold a job, do great work and<br>
get recognized, paid, and promoted for it.<br>And I'm not afraid to say what I've seen, I'm <br>prepared for the people who don't want to <br>hear unpleasant realities to object and attack<br>me personally. I'm speaking of real events that<br>
happen frequently and of a decades-old culture that <br>looks the other way when women are treated in <br>humiliating and unethical ways.<br><br>Somebody is probably going to post that I'm old and <br>frustrated. My answer is "No - I'm older, wiser, more<br>
experienced, and unafraid of trolls."<br><br>My suggestion: We should have a women's "Post to Wiki"<br>month and see what happens. As a measure of support<br>by the IT world out there, any whiners or complainers <br>
will immediately be asked by their management and <br>peers whether they are contemplating leaving work <br>to get married and have children. <br><br>- Susan Spencer Conklin<br><br>