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Being a female Developer(medium.com)

almost 7 years ago from John Leschinski, Front End Developer

  • Daniel GoldenDaniel Golden, almost 7 years ago

    Your skills speak louder then your gender

    Edit: Your skills should speak louder than your gender

    The same applies to height, weight, race, etc. These things shouldn't matter, but they do. Even if only subconsciously.

    "In the U.S. population, about 14.5 percent of all men are six feet or over. Among CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that number is 58 percent. Even more strikingly, in the general American population, 3.9 percent of adult men are 6’2″ or taller. Among my CEO sample, 30 percent were 6’2″ or taller."

    "Is this a deliberate prejudice? Of course not. No one ever says, dismissively, of a potential CEO candidate that ‘he’s too short.’ This is quite clearly the kind of unconscious prejudice that the IAT picks up. Most of us, in ways that we are not entirely aware of, automatically associate leadership ability with imposing physical stature. We have a sense, in our minds, of what a leader is supposed to look like, and that stereotype is so powerful that when someone fits it, we simply become blind to other considerations. And this isn’t confined to the corporate suite. Not long ago, researchers went back and analyzed the data from four large research studies, that had followed thousands of people from birth to adulthood, and calculated that when corrected for variables like age and gender and weight, an inch of height is worth $789 a year in salary. That means that a person who is six feet tall, but who is otherwise identical to someone who is five foot five, will make on average $5,525 more per year."

    An excerpt from Blink, by Malcom Gladwell.

    11 points
    • Shaun Webberly, almost 7 years ago

      Oh, Malcolm Gladwell? The author from the definitely not politically motivated New York Times? The expert in selective data sampling? Well I guess that's the end of this discussion. I'll just pack up my things now...

      4 points
    • Thomas Michael SemmlerThomas Michael Semmler, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

      Can't say I disagree. I am gay and do know very well, what it means to get treated differently sometimes violently. I am very fortunate to not have been discriminated in my professional environment, at least not that I know of. But, at some point you have to come out of the victim role, because it gives those people might over you, that put you there. So I decide not to let those facts determine my life but instead live mine as best as I can and teach the people around be as good as I can. If there is one thing that people should do in this discussion, it is to educate the newer generation and show that what differentiates you matters because it makes you yourself, but it is not crippling you to be different.

      I have said this very often and I will continue to do so: We as an industry and the people behind it have to be inclusive, not exclusive. You should not get a job because you are a man, you should also not get a job because you are a woman. You should get a job because you are the right person to do so. The job will not define what matters to you as a person and what not, and your gender, sexuality, spiritual beliefs, race or weight should not be a stepping stone.

      2 points