The web makes it easier than ever to test and execute on your ideas, at least for those who know how to code: Mark, Aaron, Ev and Biz – you know, the ones running the show. These guys along with other young lads are defining, controlling and programming your life.
“Only an elite gains the ability to fully exploit the new medium on offer,” writes Douglas Rushkoff in Program or Be Programmed. “The rest learn to be satisfied with gaining the ability offered by the last new medium. The people hear while the rabbis read; the people read while those with access to the printing press write; today we write, while our techno-elite programs. As a result, most of society remains one full dimensional leap of awareness and capability behind the few who manage to monopolize access to the real power of any media age.”
Young white males are still in charge just as they have always been. If you want real equality, everyone needs to build the revolution. Women need to learn how to code.
“Female users are the unsung heroines behind the most engaging, fastest growing, and most valuable consumer internet and e-commerce companies. Especially when it comes to social and shopping, women rule the Internet,” argues Aileen Lee on Tech Crunch. She goes on to reveal that 77% of Groupon’s customers are female and that women oversee over 80% of consumer spending, or about $5 trillion dollars annually.
All well and good, but women do not rule the Internet. We are not deciding how these experiences are being developed, built or regulated. We are not deciding how products are displayed, inventoried, or marketed. We are not creating the user interfaces or user experience.
While more than 50% of the US population are female, 92% of founders are male and 87% of founding teams are all-male, report several studies. Not to mention computer science is one of the last disciplines where there is a gender imbalance in the US: about 80% male, 20% female.
Arguing that women control the Internet because we love to shop only panders to and reinforces the social construct that will truly bring equality: being part of the revolution as it happens.
No longer is it enough to know how to put together a slide deck or write and publish a blog post. Instead of learning how to build the software, we learn how to use the software. And when you use programs that are made for us without understanding how they work, you allow the technology to teach you. But you can teach the technology. Programming decides the limitations, the possibilities. It’s all within the variables and commands behind the curtain.
Maybe you don’t mind all this. If you want to be directed by technology and those who have mastered it, that’s fine. But don’t expect any semblance of equality any time soon. If you want to direct technology however, if you want to be at the forefront of this revolution and define what life will look like, you need to code.
“Gender imbalance materially impacts innovation,” VC Brad Feld told me in a recent interview. “Over the next twenty years, the only way we’ll have enough software engineers working on hard problems is to get more women involved. In addition, I believe that mixed gender teams are more effective at driving innovation and, especially when you consider many of the products being created impact our every day lives, it’s clearly a major inhibitor not to have women involved in the creation of these products.”
No kidding. Why is innovation, that which influences everything else, still ruled by young white males? If the new literacy is programming, women are just as behind as ever. “We lose sight of the fact that the programming—the code itself—is the place from which the most significant innovations emerge,” argues Rushkoff.
Feminism has run stagnant with modern young women, but I have its rallying cry for the new century: program your life. Don’t let others do it for you. Women will not find equality by giving themselves credit or solving workplace flexibility. Even when we do everything right, we still fail women. But today, the web allows such low barriers to entry that anyone can control our future. Let’s hope anyone includes more than a few women.
13 replies on “Women Struggle With New Literacy: Programming Your Life”
I enjoyed the post! A subject that doesn’t get addressed often enough I think. Perhaps at the college level women (and everyone for that matter) aren’t exposed to the power in coding. At my startup we have a female coder/designer, she has an amazing eye for design and has had to learn more robust coding skills for integration and brings welcomed diversity in the tech perspective, and at meetings. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, I do think many more people should learn how to code, not just women, but women are at a particular disadvantage right now. And it definitely happens far before college. It would be great to see a required class in middle or high school that teaches you the basics just as we learn to read and write in English class. That’s great to hear you have a female developer!
I do agree. One of my bosses often says that in his schooldays the form master would insist they all learnt how to type properly with ten fingers, saying they’d thank him later – the present-day equivalent would be learning how to write HTML at the very least.
I taught myself basic HTML and XML, and this very rudimentary knowledge has helped me in ways I would never have imagined. Present-day equivalent of typing indeed.
That’s awesome to hear, Jules. I can’t imagine not being able to type quickly (and remember even when I was young that typing skills were still though of secretarial work!). It will be interesting to see how today’s generation grows up with code and what the implications are. Thanks for sharing!
For me, when I jumped over the “doer” stage in marketing (web design, graphic design, layout) into strategic planning, I was going off the cuff for program management. I knew the basics, but the estimated time it takes someone to do one thing vs. the actual time is dependent on a lot of variables…and knowing the ins and outs of the doing would help. I’m fortunate because I currently have access to training for all kinds of software for free. My goal this summer is to get some of those training courses out of the way because even if I’m not always the doer, it’s a lot easier to plan, innovate, and change things if you know what they are and how they work to begin with. Good thoughts Rebecca!
Your comment brings up a piece of this post that I cut out – that is, we all think we’re idea people, but it’s difficult to execute. I think it’s less that we don’t have the motivation, but don’t have the skills. If you’re able to code, you can throw something together quickly and not have to wait, immediately test it. Going back to your point though, my department and the development team constantly butt heads in that it always takes longer than we think and the capabilities we want aren’t there, etc. Speaking different languages like this will only increase inefficiencies in your organization.
I think this is definitely true in our office, too. I wish I knew more about programming, because it would save the programmers time trying to explain both their possibilities and limitations to me, and allow me to describe my vision more easily and thoroughly to them. I’m planning on taking a course in graphic design this Fall because I want more control over the creative side, and after reading this I think that I’d really like to take a course in programming, too.
That’s great Harriet. Perhaps because I come from a design background and philosophy, I think it’s really important to know how things work. Even if you don’t do it on a regular basis, having that knowledge in your pocket will be crucial. I’ll be interested to know which you like more, graphic design or programming!
Reading this post made me smile – as I’m in the midst of coding the demo of a social venture I’m starting coming out of AC4D. I started learning Ruby on Rails near end of Feb, and is presenting this coming Sat at our graduation night. I’m far from saying I know how to code, but I definitely think it’s a step into the right direction. Learning how to code made me a better designer and a better entrepreneur, as I can now see things from the point of view of a developer. It’s also extremely humbling to be able to build things from scratch instead of handing over pixel screens. It has been really, really hard, especially the part when I feel like I’m constantly throwing myself out there and asking very basic questions. But it can be done, and it’s totally worth doing.
I’ll bet you know more than you think :) It’s great to hear others’ stories of taking on this learning opportunity. I think it’s so important to at least have that basic understanding of how things work, and am excited to hear that you are putting your programming skills to work; I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in your projects!
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