Technically Women

Where to begin?

I suppose a good first step would be to proffer .02 as to why I joined this posse. It’s not as though this was an arduous decision-making process (I mean, have you checked out this amazing list? I’m honored to be counted among them!), but at the same I’ve generally eschewed participating too deeply in women-centric … things. It’s not that I don’t care about the advancement of women in business and technology it’s just that … well … you know that quote from Groucho Marx about not wanting to belong to a club that would have him as a member? It’s kind of like that.

I entered the tech sector in the early 90’s. It was a time when I was often the only skirt – literally or otherwise – in the room. When I did cross the path of another woman I found it went one of two ways – we bonded immediately and began looking for ways to support each other … or the air was sucked from the room as eyes narrowed and claws began to unsheath.

Though it might seem to be the more repellent of the two, the latter scenario is not the reason I’ve stayed away from engaging specifically with women’s groups. Those viper-ish women are generally pretty easy to spot and so easy enough to avoid. They’re also, thankfully, the rare exception to the rule. No, my issue – and I may be excoriated for saying this – is that my experience of women’s gatherings has been an all-too-frequent emphasis on the obstacles we face … because we’re women. Yes, the glass ceiling exists, but I sometimes feel that in waving the female flag in an overly enthusiastic manner we oftentimes discredit our own efforts.

And that’s precisely what I said in the Dennis Howlett article that brought me into direct orbit with the Technically Women gang. (In the “shameless plug” field, you can find my commentary for that article directly here.). Our virtual conversation about the article, sharing our thoughts and perspectives, was conducted by email yet had a distinct feeling of a late night hangout by a fire pit drinking great wine. So when a post article discussion began about our teaming up for a blog, it took all of a nanosecond to decide.

I’ve always held that the best way to cut through that translucent blockade are to pretend it’s not there. Focus. Do your work. Be accountable. Always push the envelope. Over the years I’ve participated in a few different variations of women’s groups – almost all of which focused more on giving women a place to commiserate and support each other than they did in providing any sort of professional support. There is value to that, certainly, but it wasn’t enough of the picture for me. I found organizations like Women in Technology and the Anita Borg Institute, that were helping foster connection and development among women, but still there was something lacking. More recently the emergence and solid growth of organizations like Girls in Tech and Women 2.0 have continued down the path, bringing a new generation’s perspective on what it means to be a dame with some moxie in business.

With the emerging support network, came my increased interest to exercise my voice as a woman in the industry. I had my own blog, along with my real-time thoughts on Twitter, but I sought something more substantive. In the summer of last year, a new site out of the UK BitchBuzz launched with a tagline calling it the site “for feisty women with their knickers in a twist”, and invited me to contribute. Though it’s targeted to and written by women, as far as my writing for BitchBuzz goes, it skews less to female focus and more to tongue-welded firmly in cheek views of technology’s impact on society. What better to add to the mix than a place like this that’s designed to address women’s issues and topics, from a place of strength, empowerment and resolution.

Technically Women is the perfect complement to my evolving membership in this club and I look forward to the conversations we get started!