Tag Archives: women

imagry representing the concept of programmer

Australian tech sexism – the job interveiw

Code, Rant, , , , , , ,

*gets up on soap box*
Are women under represented in tech.. lets play a little game in google to see
*apologizes  feels shes an imposter, feels she has no right to speak mumbles incoherently*
I’m trying to connect the dots but they are all to far and wide, seemingly random I can’t see how the nodes interrelate and therefore can not make a coherent or logical argument .

I started to write about open source sexism,  sexism in tech /it industry – And realized I cant speak for the masses  I can only vent my own frustrations.  I am currently what we call in the industry  a  “freelancer”  that is  I have no permanent job, to some degree this suits me down to a tee. I’m to much of a psychopathic bitch to ” work in a team”.  I like working my own hours  but  I’ve been  applying for   “real jobs”  lately and there are a few things that really bother me.

The look
So for guys its perfectly appropriate to wear a suit to a job interview easy expected  for women not so much we fall here into some black hole of what is fashion and the expectations of  “power” females  : high heels  tight skirt. Neither of which are necessary to do a decent job of coding .  The expectation is that one will be  above all corporate looking.
for the employer  there expectation of  “hot shot programmer” and my physical reality don’t mesh.
*inevitable failure is imminent*

  • If I don a pin strip suit I may come across like a cross dressing mafia  pimp
  • if I look to slutty then I wont be taken seriously
  • if I look to  unsexy  my femininity will be questioned then I face the clear discrimination of is she a dyke ? of course she is… this reduces the likly hood of any given job offer by about 25 % (min)
  • No matter what I wear  I will not fit the cultural expectation

Reasons : cultural expectation lets have a closer look at that shall we
lets do a visual sampling of the imagery we use to represent programmers
Method : go to google type programmer look at images..
OK , here’s my result :
imagry representing the concept of programmerso some basic math ?

out of 47 or so images  there are :
3  or 4 which are “gender nuetral” sorta.. (I’ll count stick figures as that to be fair)
7 which have pictures of actual females..
3 of which (*) I’m going to not count cause a the female is not programming shes playing an x box , the female is not programming shes in bed with a guy with a bunch of computers and worse number 1 which is all about how programmers see a girl…
a) assuming all programmers are male.. that is  and the girl is like the sleek code of google unobtainable but beautiful.. (fell free to wretch..)

that leaves us with  4 !  so  4 out of 47 ?  I ‘m 11.75% represented!

We should probably do better than this don’t you think ?

 

Fiona hall - big game hunting

5 most subversive contemporary women artists of Australia

Adore, , , ,

The guerrilla girls told me that women are poorly represented in art history back in 2001 . Things haven’t changed that much and being the arse end of the universe (strayla mate ) really doesn’t help.  However, I Object to this article because most of its women were not born this century, nor are they australian  have  kind of tripe that passes for art criticism in some news …(should I call them vendors ? ) snail news?  whatever.
*the list is not remotely ordered 

Offending article: Some dude telling me who’s a subversive female artist..right.

  • 1) Fiona Hall  – Its hard to find words but she’s always shifting mediums,  from her early soap carvings to her installations she never fails to delight me. Always contemporary, always questioning .

    Fiona hall - big game hunting

    Fiona hall – big game hunting

  • 2) Tracey Moffatt – brave ,she takes no prisoners from her early works which cause Australian critics to  ask questions about authorship which are still relevant today eg : “If she didn’t press the button is she really the photographer ?”
    To these beautiful mashups  like “other” that question identity culture and otherness in ways that make me laugh and cry simultaneously .

    OTHER by Tracey Moffatt from Momentum Worldwide on Vimeo.
  • 3) Emily Kame Kngwarreye – “I did batik at first, and then after doing that I learned more and more and then I changed over to painting for good…Then it was canvas. I gave up on…fabric to avoid all the boiling to get the wax out. I got a bit lazy – I gave it up because it was too much hard work. I finally got sick of it…I didn’t want to continue with the hard work batik required – boiling the fabric over and over, lighting fires, and using up all the soap powder, over and over. That’s why I gave up batik and changed over to canvas – it was easier. My eyesight deteriorated as I got older, and because of that I gave up batik on silk – it was better for me to just paint.” 
  • 4)Patricia Piccinini – It’s hard for me to include her I never saw her as a maker and in that, she challenges the very assumptions of craftsmanship in art. She is  more of an art producer than an artisan. However the recent controversy over the  “sky whale” really won me over. I’m not sure if I can think of a more subversive act than a massive floating whale with pendulous breasts hanging over the nations capital.
  • 5) Linda Dement  –cyberflesh girl monster need I say more?  I had the luck to be present at one of her performances at  Canberra School of the Art where she hung upside down in goggles and a swimming cap and told all the lecturers and senior academics art history is bullshit.  Her middle name is subversive . Not to mention theres no wiki page for her.