Remembering - 25 Years After the Montreal Massacre

One day, fourteen lives lost.

If you have walked through the University Centre at some point this week, you may have seen the names of 14 different women as you climbed the stairs to the atrium. You may also have seen their pictures and names on the wall; you may even have stopped to read a little about who they were.

Those blurry photographs show the faces of the 14 women killed in the Montreal Massacre twenty-five years ago. On December 6, 1989, Marc Lépine shot and killed thirteen female students and one female faculty member at École Polytechnique de Montreal, home to Canada’s largest engineering program. In the engineering classroom where his rampage started, Lépine separated the men from the women and declared that he hated feminists before he shot nine female students, six of whom were killed. In forty-five minutes, Lépine covered three floors, and entered several classrooms. In addition to the women killed, thirteen people were injured before Lépine took his own life. This event sparked outrage and a national debate about gun control and violence against women.

In the 2000 block of the Mackenzie Building, there is a bulletin memorial dedicated to remembering the Massacre. I had seen it many times coming down the stairs after tutorials, but I have to be honest and say that I hadn't given the event itself much thought. I felt that it was a horrific and tragic act, but I knew essentially nothing about the particulars of the event itself. This year, I decided to learn more about it and I was surprised by how much I was affected by what I learned. I couldn't help but associate myself with those women. They were female engineering students. I am a female engineering student. I really could not wrap my head around such a thing happening.

There are many events on campus dedicated to remembering the fourteen women who had their lives cut short, and to honoring the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (Dec. 6). On Tuesday of this week, a commemorative gathering was held by the Faculty of Engineering. On Thursday December 4, the Womyn’s Centre will be holding a candle light vigil in the Minto/Mackenzie quad (4:30pm), after which they will be showing the film “Polytechnique,” a documentary about the Massacre, at BECAMPS. On Saturday December 6, there will be a community gathering in Minto Park (Elgin and Gilmour) to honor the women killed. The Womyn Centre will have a table on the 3rd floor of the University Centre throughout the week providing information about the commemorative events, the Montreal Massacre itself, and the women who lost their lives as a result.

If you can, I would highly recommend that you take a moment to research a little about the Montreal Massacre or the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. These are not pleasant things to think about, but they are important nevertheless.

This post is dedicated to the women who lost their lives so tragically twenty-five years ago, to women who have suffered violence because of their gender, and to those working to end violence against women everywhere.

- Lauren

The Montreal Massacre victims:

Anne St-Arneault, 23; Geneviève Bergeron, 21; Hélène Colgan, 23; Nathalie Croteau, 23; Barbara Daigneault, 22; Anne-Marie Edward, 21; Maud Haviernick, 29; Barbara Klueznick, 31; Maryse Laganière, 25; Maryse Leclair, 23; Anne-Marie Lemay, 22; Sonia Pelletier, 23; Michèle Richard, 21; and Annie Turcotte, 21.

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Lauren is a second year Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering student. (Quite the title, she knows.) She is a big fan of good food, good friends and good conversation. Her collection of scarves and tea is matched only by the list of places she wants to visit and books she wants to read. She loves ballroom and Latin dancing, and can often be found dancing in the atrium or wherever salsa music is played. She is passionate about improving the lives of women and girls around the world and about encouraging girls to pursue studies and careers in STEM.



The Path of Science and Engineering!

When I was a kid, I was in Girl Guides. One unforgettable thing I learned at Girl Guide camp when I was ten was a lesson from my leader about why we stay on the path during a hike. She told us that it only takes ten people to walk on a patch of the forest before the foliage there starts to thin out. Now, my leader meant this in a forest-conservation kind of way; but a recent experience  made me think of this lesson in a whole new light...

During my reading week this fall, I volunteered with the Carleton Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) at a career convention for eighth graders in the city. The convention was meant to give these students an opportunity to learn about different career paths and meet professionals in these fields. At this convention, I was manning (ironic word choice, I know) an info table on EWB with another girl from our Carleton Chapter. Our table happened to be located next to one on masonry, which had an interactive area where students could try their hand at building part of a wall with some bricks and mortar. The girl I was with is an engineering student, but she always loved the trades and working with her hands. She enthusiastically went over to the next table and joined the brick-laying lesson. What happened next made me smile! The masonry booth had been occupied mostly by groups of boys all day. But, as my fellow EWBer scraped around mortar and laid bricks, a few eighth grade girls came over and joined her, and then a few more. These girls seemed much less timid and self-conscious, and more engaged in the lesson than any of the previous solitary girls who had tried the booth earlier that day. All it took was one other girl there, one other person like them to make the girls realize that they could do masonry too, that working with your hands isn't just for boys!

I know masonry isn't STEM, but the trades are male-dominated fields, just like Science and Engineering. And here is where the forest lesson comes in: Each one of you, a woman in Science and Engineering, can play the same role for young women interested in STEM as my EWBer friend! You would be taking a step off the path into the forest and treading into the foliage! With every woman who does what she loves and pursues a career in STEM, the foliage thins out just a little bit more. With time, the new path becomes easier to find and follow for the next girl. You are one more female face in an engineering class that stops the next girl from thinking "I'm not a boy. I don't belong here". You are the successful older student or prominent figure in your field that reminds those girls in the initial struggles of Science and Engineering that "I can do this!"

     

 In my Psychology class last year, I learned about how stereotype threat (the fear that if you fail, other people will say you failed because you are part of some minority or social group) can actually make people perform worse and fail more often. It has been said for years that women are not as smart as men and worse at math. This is not true, of course, but it can still trigger stereotype threat in girls and women in STEM; they worry that their failure will be attributed to them being a "dumb girl". Yet, every example they have that contradicts the stereotype, makes the stereotype threat diminish more and more. Every one of you is making that girl less and less afraid of being herself, and less scared of failing.

That's part of the reason I love Science! It lets me be a role model and encourage tones of young girls to pursue their love for STEM. And this is simply achieved by doing what I love and find SO interesting.

So stay inspiring ladies and keep treading that widening path through the forest!!!

-Sarah

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Sarah is in her second year of Neuroscience combined honors at Carleton. She loves introducing young minds to the mind-blowing amazingness of science and encouraging girls and women to be whatever they want to be.

Celebrate Yourself - A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform!

International Women’s Day is celebrated all over the world on March 8th. This year, the official theme is “Inspiring Change”. March is also the National Engineering Month and the theme of National Engineering Month Ontario 2014 is ‘Make a World of Difference’! [I bet you guessed where I’m going with this! And yes, I’m very excited about being a woman AND in engineering!]

I absolutely love that there is a day dedicated to women, and I couldn't help but write a post. As women, we can make a world of difference by inspiring change for more women in science, engineering, and technology. Every time, I hear girls afraid to embrace STEM careers because they might not be good at it [See myths about girls and science], or because it’s a man’s world [but again as the song says “it would be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl”], my heart breaks a little. It’s important to close the STEM gender gap [Check out why here]. Here are few 'natural' reasons that show that women have what it takes:

• Diane MarieChild once said that “A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform”. This is not only valid in the “Carrying babies” context. It also applies to a plethora of domains. Engineering is about creating, designing, transforming what was before into greater things for the humanity welfare. So, ladies … Engineering might turn out to be more natural to us than we think.
• Engineering is about using scientific knowledge to solve problems. I find it fantastic to solve problems on a regular basis in a way that might change people's lives [It’s almost like being a superhero]. Again, women also have problem solving skills and love to help others.
• Women’s brains do not freeze when they encounter equations or complex mathematical tables and formulas. Here are graphs that refute the idea that women are bad at Math.
• I could go on and on with arguments but today is about celebrating Women in Science and Engineering! 

Why is it essential to do so? Because as Women in Science and Engineering, we are going against the stereotypes. We are also the ones responsible of changing implicit biases [Read Natalie’s blog post and this chapter]. Recent studies indicate that people don’t think implicitly of females being associated with STEM related careers when compared to other careers such as teacher, secretary, etc. These unconscious beliefs or implicit biases may be more powerful than explicitly held beliefs and values simply because we are not aware of them. We need to remind ourselves [yes, sometimes we hold ourselves back!] and the society that women have a lot to offer and their potential can't be reduced to just sitting and being pretty. As Nancy Rathburn said “A strong woman understands that the gifts such as logic, decisiveness, and strength are just as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all of her gifts.”

CU-WISE is celebrating you!

Being present, leaning in and talking about our experiences as Women in STEM are ways to change these biases and have more girls embrace STEM! We are creating, nurturing and transforming the image of Women in STEM.
So Celebrate Yourself!!! You are inspiring change and making a world of difference!

Stay great,

Daniella

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Daniella is a Master's student in Electrical and Computer Engineering. One of her dreams is to inspire more women to embrace STEM careers and unleash their full potential. Although she is hardworking and can be very serious, she enjoys comedy and dancing, has a big sense of humour, and believes that a little kindness goes a long way!

Women-Led Start Ups Have Fewer Failures, What Does that Actually Mean?

Local developer and entrepreneur Alicia Liu recently reflected on recent research that said women-run startups are generally more successful:

So these women, on top of an already gruelling process of pitching and due diligence, had to overcome additional obstacles, including investor bias. So wouldn’t it make sense that this additional selection, though unfair, means that only the very best women are able to get funding and grow their businesses to successful exits? Viewed like this, the study results are not surprising.

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To me, the additional selection imposed on women through overt and subtle stereotypes, biases, and differential treatment contributes to fewer women in male-dominated fields, like running a tech start up, but it also results in higher quality. This is analogous to survival of the fittest.

What do you think? Do the women running these startups just happen to be better than average because they were the ones tough enough (or smart enough, or whatever quality you want to insert here) to make it? Is the same true of women in highly male-dominated fields like computer science and engineering in general?

What I love about being a software developer

A developer I met on twitter told me to check out this article a while ago on the benefits of being a female software engineer. I enjoyed it, but had a few varying opinions so I thought I’d first give my personal list of the things I love about being a developer, and then also some positives about being a woman in the field.

Things I Love About Being a Developer

Feeling like I have the power to build anything

We’re so bombarded with new technology all the time that I think we sometimes take for granted the magic of it. As a programmer, almost ironically, I feel like I get to live in constant awe of this magic. I’ve always been a creative person. I started writing songs and poetry in grade 2 and still do, got pretty good at drawing in middle/HS, and even thought for a while that I might try taking up woodworking in post secondary. The spirit of creation is the midnight oil that keeps programmers glued to their monitors into the wee hours. Having the ability to create programs you can use as tools just blows my mind. If you think it looks boring sitting behind a computer, just remember that’s exactly where you’d be if you were editing that music video in Final Cut Pro, or writing your famous blog that’ll be made into a TV series, or putting together parts for a song with GarageBand, but you wouldn’t be able to do any of those things on that computer without programmers! MAGIC!! :O

Seeing my creations work/do something I wanted to accomplish

Building a program is fun, but using it after or seeing people use and appreciate it is even more rewarding. If you’ve created a piece of software that works well and looks nice, just seeing the fruits of your labor on your own screen is enough to make you do a happy dance, if that is you’re nerdy/cool enough to do something like that *brushes shoulder off*

Making an algorithm that’s just that much better than the other guy’s

Now if you’re not competitive you can still enjoy programing for a lot of other reasons, and just because you don’t have the fastest most elegant solution for something does not mean you won’t be a successful programmer (not at all!), but for myself, I can get competitive sometimes . Especially when it comes to challenging projects or assignments. I’m not proud of this one but I know I’m not the only one who enjoys this. When the guys are talking about their solutions for an assignment like “Oh yeah I used a priority queue, and my algorithm does this. Runs faster than most of the other programs apparently. What’d you use?” I love when I can respond with something like. “Oh yeah that’s cool. I used one too but my recursive function cuts off early and uses a shortcut if the player isn’t being blocked, to score faster, which happens most of the time if it’s running against random players, so it ended up working in like half the time after I did that ” If you’re a good sport a little friendly competition can be fun I don’t want to make programing look harder than it is right now though, so for anyone reading this who isn’t sure if they’d be good at programing just try it and if you don’t like a language try another one. Some of the terminology used to describe it can make it look difficult but, it’s way easier than it seems, and not everyone who is good at programing likes the more challenging problems, but they’re still every bit as good of a programmer, and they end up being every bit as successful. So many opportunities are there for you if you have this special skill so I want to encourage everyone to try it. Especially more GIRLS! Still, if you’re bright and enjoy a challenge there are career paths you can take and courses you can take that can give you a lot of that Feeling kick-ass for solving a difficult problem is just a job perk worth mentioning. If you enjoy solving puzzle games and things like that, or you enjoy math or physics, you might want to check out programing, you’ll probably fall in love with it.

Salary

Computer science students, make on average anywhere from 16 to 18 bucks an hour for their first summer jobs during school, and then it can get up to 23 an hour by the time you graduate. Now this varies greatly depending on a lot of things and these are only my estimates based on what I’ve gathered from friends and acquaintances, so if you’re a student reading this, and it’s not your story, don’t worry! Even if you graduate with no work experience you still have a very marketable skill, and probably a great career ahead of you. I just had my first computer science job at the start of this school year (4th year) and now continuing into the summer my salary has gone up. I started late, I never really went after an IT job until last summer when I was coming out of third year, and I started late for the summer so I ended up giving up and waitressing, but I’m making more now than I was waitressing, I have a steady job 5 days a week, and I pinch myself because although I did enjoy my service job, getting paid more than I was hustling tables to do what I love already in my first job is a dream come true. If you give up on finding a summer job, just don’t give up on the career. It can feel daunting if people around you have jobs in the field and you’re late for the party(how I felt with my guy friends who almost all had IT jobs since 1st or 2nd year), but even working for free for a startup can be one of the most enriching experiences, and can be worth much more to you in the end than getting paid anything if you want to even try that. It’s not all about the money, but the money is there to be made. Again LADIES! There need to more ladies in my field getting in on this!

Being an expert/ respect

I have limited experience in the field, but from what I can tell there is a lot of respect in the work force amongst developers for each-other, especially if they all bring something different to the table, it’s all “Oh well you’re the expert on the databases”, or “Well I don’t know as much about that area of the product but this is what I think, what do you think?” and “Let me know how you feel about my ideas! ” or “Let me know if you have suggestions for how else we can go about this! ” Everyone values each-others input and there’s a real feeling of comradeship, teamwork, and respect. It’s great to feel like you really have something to contribute if you have special knowledge, and it’s great to be respected for what you can bring to a project at work, or for an expertise, which you’ll almost certainly end up developing over time in development, especially if there’s a certain language or type of project that really gets you passionate at the start.

Can always grow/ go new places/ go anywhere

There are so many options in a developer’s career. As an indecisive person it can make my head spin sometimes when I try to think exactly what direction I want my career to take, but as someone with a lot of interests it also makes me glad to know I can always explore new dimensions of the industry. From government jobs, to startups, to contract work, to open source, to future managerial possibilities, to starting your own business, or going to grad school. There are just a whole world of possibilities for career options in computer science/ computer engineering, and you can always learn more if you’re ever bored with where you are. There’s always more to learn and new exciting technology to explore

Entrepreneurial spirit of the industry

Since my second year at Carleton when I was exposed to a few startup companies in Ottawa I’ve thought that starting my own company was something I wanted to do eventually. I’ve seen other Carleton graduates succeed at it and after working on a 48 hour coding competition to make a game for Windows phone 7 (the Great Canadian Appathon), I know that when I’m working with friends on something we designed and came together to create, I can work tirelessly for days and it doesn’t ever feel like work. I know I’m not alone in catching the startup bug either. It’s something that comes from being a part of an industry where the product is completely digital (so no building materials or shipping or packaging costs to worry about), the industry can change so quickly that being a small and agile company has major advantages, you can be personally involved in all aspects of the creation of your product from start to finish (entrepreneurs like to have control), and the impact your service could have on society seems only limited by your imagination. I say seems because a lot of developers feel like once they build an amazing product people will just come use it, and aren’t used to the marketing/customer service side of the industry. As someone who has always been fascinated with human behavior and motivation, with a minor in psychology, who’s a big people person, I’m also passionate about how people are going to use and react to software so I love all sides of the process of getting an idea from someone’s head, on to people’s computers, and into their lives.

Things I Love About/ Advantages of Being A Woman in The Industry

You are well liked because you bring an energy that’s missing

Before I came to University to study computer science in a program with a girl guy ratio of 1 to 9 (not even: women make up 7% of my program a percentage that’s gone down since the 80′s when the percentage was closer to around 45%) I was in an arts HS with a girl guy ratio of 7 to 1, and I notice now that the guys in our school were very well liked, whereas in computer science the girls are more well liked, and I’m not just talking about crushes here, there’s just an energy that’s missing when a population is heavily dominated by one sex, the dynamic is out of balance, and people are drawn to the energy that’s missing. In HS I couldn’t wait to get to university because I wanted to have tons of guy friends, I wanted buddies to joke around with, I’d had enough of talking with girlfriends about feelings, of shopping and sleepovers, after a couple of years of comp sci, I got sick of having so many guy friends (not that I got sick of the friends I had ) and started trying to make more girlfriends outside my program to balance my life. That’s just how it is. Whether by nature or nurture, male and female friendships have a different quality to them and we need both in our life. I’m very grateful for all the wonderful friendships I’ve made in my program and in my industry

Men compete more agressively with other men they work with

If you’re a woman this means less butting heads or trying to show each-other up on teams who’s members should be co-operating, and smooth sailing in general. Generally once people get older I think they’re more mature and secure so everyone is more supportive and less competitive with each-other in general, but they’ll still compete more with each-other which makes co-operation easier for women in the field. This isn’t because they don’t think you can hold your own. They’re not going easy on you. It’s evolutionary for men and women to compete more with members of the same sex.

I love that I have an unexpected occupation

I get some surprised looks when I tell people I’m a software developer and I know what you’re saying, “Lana maybe they’d be surprised if you were a guy too!”, and yes maybe they would have, it doesn’t always have to do with gender, but it may have something to do with it considering the very low number of women in the industry. When someone says “Wow!…wow good for you!” I’d never be upset by it. They didn’t expect me to be a programmer because people use mental heuristics to try and guess my profession, mental shortcuts, which usually work well. I’m a woman and so chances are you’d be better off not guessing that I’m a programmer if you want to have the best chances of winning the guessing game, but to see someone ask me if I work at the mall, while I put my makeup on on the buss and then get to see their face as they question their assumption, is just a lot of fun for me, especially as a feminist. Never make assumptions about people Not even yourself

Compliments/ not hard to find a date

A guy friend of mine, in computer science, gave me this one: “Computer Science: the odds are good but the goods are odd” While this is pretty funny, to be blunt, you’d find just as odd goods in any of the other more gender balanced sciences, like chemistry or bio, but in comp sci you don’t have other women to compete with. Seriously though the guys in my program are some of my favorite people in the world, there are a lot more cool down to earth computer nerds out there than you’d think, and if you’re intimidated by the gender ratio, just remember, a lot of them are more afraid of you than you are of them, so extend an olive branch to one or two and you’ll have at worst a guy who stalks you but also makes you feel good about that freshman 15 you put on, or a douche who you quickly get over because all the guys around you are asking you why you’re dating his douche ass, or at best a lifelong friend, or a lifelong partner, maybe even a business partner if you’ve caught the startup bug. Either way most of the guys in my program are wonderful intelligent fun and creative people, so this is just a bonus worth mentioning.

Being able to act like a total dork and get praised for it

I’ve always been nerd at heart. You wouldn’t know it if you passed me on the street or saw me out with my girls but if you could see how I am on the inside I’d probably look like a skinny teenage boy with braces and really thick glasses, and it shows when I’m with my guy friends in computer science. I’m a music nerd, I’m a comic book nerd, I’m a psychology nerd, I’m a Youtube nerd, I’m a video-game nerd, I’m a book nerd, and a very proud computer science nerd, and I let out quite a snort sometimes when I laugh, and I snort a lot around the guys in my program. I feel like we’re all one big nerdy family. I love it! I've never laughed harder or spoke more freely, candidly, or passionately with any other group of people. These guys are my soul-mates :P Why is this under the advantages of being a woman in computer science? Why not stick it with things I love in general? Because I think it’s really good for me, as a woman, to be around guys who couldn't care less if I was wearing any makeup, around guys who wouldn't notice the difference if you died your hair red, blonde, lost 20 pounds, or gained 20, guys who don’t care about social graces or which other crowd you’re friends with, around guys who make you feel like you can be yourself, even if that means you feel like swearing like a sailor, not doing your hair that day, and snorting really REALLY loud when you laugh just cuz you feel like acting a little crazy, because I think us girls need to learn to love ourselves more unconditionally, and worry less about our image/appearance and more about what we can do with our lives, and what we can experience. These guys want to hear if I’m working on a software project or learning to play ukulele, because that’s cool and fun, they don’t care if I buy new clothes or get new makeup, or start wearing my hair differently, they’ll just compliment you whether you have makeup on or not. They’re chicken soup for the female soul. :)

My ambitions are not just for myself. I want to succeed for other women/girls

I think I’m naturally a very ambitious person, not in a power hungry or status hungry sort of way, just in that everything I’ve wanted to do in my life I’ve wanted to be the best at it, I’ve wanted to do something great with it, even if no one but my family is going to see it, I want it to have an impact. I want whatever I do to create something awesome that makes a difference and moves people. I also have a deeply rooted sense of fairness and justice and if I see something that runs up against that, it upsets me a great deal. I won’t ever become upset to the point where I let it invade my life in a negative way, and I’m a very balanced and grounded person, but as Martin Luther King said “True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice.” I think that there are a lot of leftover outdated attitudes in our society from the women’s movement and before it, that go unnoticed and effect women and men for the worse. When men and women are offered a salary, men will reject it and ask for more 8 times more often than women. In fields like nursing that are dominated by women people are underpaid, and men avoid them, in fields like computer science and engineering we’re paid more and women avoid them, and I know that these things won’t just naturally balance out without effort, because when you act unconsciously in life as an individual, imbalances don’t just go away, they’re self perpetuating, and it’s the same thing with society as a whole.

Salary is a big deal. How much we think we can/should make is about how much we think we’re worth to the world, and it’s a sensitive topic, which is why people don’t like to talk about it, but I’m someone who craves real conversations with strangers, I want to talk about things like this because it matters so much, which is why I’m writing so much in this post .

If you’re a woman and you make a conscious effort to keep yourself aware that the guy next to you is asking for a higher salary 8 times as often, and that you’re worth just as much, and you make a conscious effort to do the same thing, which is not easy at all for most women, then the difference in money you’ll have made over your lifetime by the time you retire is in the millions, but even better than that if you can think about the difference it would make if you end up being the first woman to start a tech company that makes such a significant impact on the industry that your face is on the cover of Time and all the IT and business magazines and that gives little girls something to stick on their walls instead of the fashion models on all the covers of all the magazines they’re used to seeing women on, that’s not just an ambitious goal that’s revolutionary, that’s an Obama moment just waiting to happen that some woman is going to get to have. Don’t you want to be the woman to make that moment possible? You can be. If you pursue a career in computer science or engineering haha obvious plug right there, but that’s why I’m so passionate about my industry, all the opportunity and all the frontiers out there just waiting for whoever is brave enough to take them.

Hope that you enjoyed the reasons I love software development, and I also hope that you’re a young girl and this got you to thinking about where you want your post secondary education to take you, and maybe that you’ll pick computer science or engineering as a career :)

If I’ve left an advantage out or if you disagree with anything I’ve said let me know I always love a good discussion about these things

Shalom!

Happy Women's International Day

Today is a very special day, it's the 100th International Women's Day and it's up to each country to pick their theme. There are 246 events in Canada alone, with Ottawa having their own version. Companies are reaching out to women and Google created a special doodle for the occasion.



The Washington Post did a brief mention of women in tech.

"The top tech women named in the list are Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz (recognized in the "Business & Trade Unions section), lastminute.com founder and philanthropist Martha Lane Fox and Ushadi.com blogger Juliana Rotich. The list also includes seven scientists and doctors: Hawa Abdi, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Athene Donald, Fabiola Gianotti, Jane Goodall, Molly Stevens and Susan Wicklund."

There is a lot of focus on some very serious issues facing women however it is very hard to find info. on women in tech. Do any women in tech come to mind? If so can you share your story about them.

Till then, Happy International Women's Day.

"Image Enhancing" Has Nothing to do with Photoshop

After listening to Gail's informative presentation on 'Unlocking the Clubhouse', I began thinking about the issue of image in computer science. Many disciplines have their own Hollywood representations, glamorous (though unrealistic) portrayals of their field. Archaeology and anthropology have the Indiana Jones films. The English department has The Dead Poets Society. Even physics has a photogenic ambassador thanks to Professor Brian Cox (on whom People magazine bestowed the title of "World’s Sexiest Quantum Physicist.") In fact, the only area I can think of without such a superstar is accounting... sorry, accountants.

But I digress. While some may find "image" to be a trivial matter, the importance of public perception shouldn't be so easily dismissed. A positive image of computer science is important for recruiting diverse talent to the field. There are many capable, intelligent people who may pass over CS as a career because of misconceptions about the job of computer scientists. Dilbert-esque scenarios of cubicle rows and "code monkey" work may spring to mind. I think that a key part of recruiting more women to CS involves breaking down stereotypes of the field. In that respect, I think the media can have a role in reshaping people's perception of computer scientists. One of my favourite recent examples is Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy, featuring the grey-hat hacker Lisbeth Salander (pictured). Another favourite of mine is the television show Numb3rs, a crime drama that follows two dramatically different groups of people - a team of FBI agents and a group of academics - who collaborate to solve crimes using the power of applied mathematics. And as tacky and cliché as the 1995 movie Hackers seems today, to my ten year-old self it was the coolest thing ever.

Is the use of technology in such media unrealistic? For the purpose of entertainment, there's bound to be some exaggerations for dramatic effect - but that's missing the point. The point is to break down preconceptions of what "kind of person" uses computers, and what they use them for.

(Have any favourite fictional scientists of your own (female or not)? The comments section is wide open!)

Quick hit: Women = Men when it comes to math skills

Females Are Equal to Males in Math Skills, Large Study Shows

These studies, all published in English between 1990 and 2007, looked at people from grade school to college and beyond. A second portion of the new study examined the results of several large, long-term scientific studies, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In both cases, Hyde says, the difference between the two sexes was so close as to be meaningless.

But despite these findings, we still may be a ways away from the day when I can quit doing back of the napkin demonstrations about gender and math ability:

The idea that both genders have equal math abilities is widely accepted among social scientists, Hyde adds, but word has been slow to reach teachers and parents, who can play a negative role by guiding girls away from math-heavy sciences and engineering. "One reason I am still spending time on this is because parents and teachers continue to hold stereotypes that boys are better in math, and that can have a tremendous impact on individual girls who are told to stay away from engineering or the physical sciences because 'Girls can't do the math.'"

(Read the rest of the article here.)

CompSci Woman: Technology is Women's Work

This is cross-posted from my personal blog, The Female Perspective of Computer Science.

Have you seen the new CompSci Woman blog yet? No? Well get over there and check it out! And better yet, if you happen to be female and have any kind of computer science background, consider contributing to the blog as well.

I just wrote up my piece for this month's theme on "how I got into computer science." It's called Behind the Screen:

I once considered attending a local specialized high school called Canterbury. It’s an arts school, and I wanted to attend for creative writing. After all, I had won a writing contest or two in my day, so I thought I was pretty good at it.

Unfortunately, the bus ride was far too long from my rural home, so I never went. Fortunately, I never let go of my creative side, which also included a love for drama, music, and now photography.

You'll have to read the rest of the story over at the blog.

Cate Huston is one of the two creators of CompSci Woman (Maggie Zhou is the other). Cate shared some of the "why" behind it all:

What brought it home so strongly, how hard it had been to be a minority, is that at the time I wasn’t. Extreme Blue Canada had an amazing number of women in the program this year. There was a girl on every team - two on some, including the team I was on. It was noticeable compared to the US teams at expo - Canada had exceeded the magic ratio, at which the women were not minorities, but normal.

It was different for Maggie, who was one of two women in her building. We talked about this - we had very different coping strategies. Towards the end of the summer, I floated the idea of a blog to her - the natural next step from the many conversations we had that summer. We thought that whilst you might not want to brand yourself as a woman in CS (every woman in CS I know is so much more than that, perhaps it’s like evolution, only the most awesome/stubborn/motivated/interesting survive), you could brand a platform, provide a forum for women who don’t have the time, or inclination to run their own blog. Maggie was excited by the idea as well, and we started to sketch out a vision and pitch (EB gave us a lot of practise in that) our idea to people. They were interested. They promised to blog for us. CompSci Woman was born, although unnamed.

With your help, we can build a platform, and a community. Because more people means more mentors, and more role models, and more inspiration. And that - well, I hope it’s just the start.

Inspired? I hope so! Now get out there and write your piece! I'll look out for it in the next few weeks. ;)

Building Self Confidence II - Tips from CRA-W Grad Cohort 2010

Further to my previous post about the 2010 CRA-W Grad Cohort, here is a summary of an excellent session on building self confidence led by Prof. Mary Jane Irwin.

Prof. Irwin states that self confidence can be learned and built on. She offers 10 tips on how to do this:

1) Admit the problem
- Take stock
- Realise that noone is perfect
- Have faith in yourself

2) Find support
- Find someone "safe"
This preferably should be some person who you can talk to freely and who will not judge you in the future based on some momentary lapses of confidence
- Surround yourself with nurturing friends
If these friends are outside the tech. area, then it's even better. This allows you to maintain the right perspective on your problems.
- Be sure to be there to support others

3) Establish reachable goals
- Make a list of things that will get you moving
- Identify the first small step needed to accomplish each item and have a plan for making that first step

4) RECOGNISE your successes

5) Take a break
- Exercise regularly, have a nice meal, go shopping, pamper yourself - make time to refresh yourself and reflect

6) Beware of the "triple low"
- Be prepared to recognise the times when you're faced with a triple whammy i.e. challenges coming from multiple areas of life. Don't let yourself get too down.

7) Fake it till you make it
Fake self confidence by:
- Speaking slowly and clearly
- Standing tall, making eye contact
- Accepting greetings and compliments gracefully
By performing confident actions, you will feel more positive and confident internally.

8) Be extra prepared
- Study hard
- Prepare slides for that important meeting
Go above and beyond the requirements of the task - preparation will help your confidence.

9) Take a risk a day
Don't be afraid to push yourself. Pushing your boundaries will make you better prepared for and more receptive to the surprises thrown your way.

10) Stick to your principles
- Live the Golden Rule
- Live your passion
- Pay it forward

Remember to beware the Imposter Syndrome, where you convince yourself that you do not deserve something.

For some self-assessment tools on building confidence, you can visit http://mindtools.com/selfconf.html

I would love to hear feedback on which of these strategies you have used and how, as well as any other tips that have worked for you.

Building Self Confidence I - Experiences at CRA-W Grad Cohort 2010

As Gail wrote in her post last month, she, Svetlana and I were fortunate to be able to attend the 2010 CRA-W Grad Cohort held in Seattle. Read her post for a great summary of the sessions that were available to us, ranging from find a research topic to just being a woman in technology.

While I found these sessions excellent, my epiphany was a feeling of greater belonging and confidence in being a woman in the science and technology community. It helped me experience first hand how critical support organizations such as WISE can be.

To tell you the absolute truth, even as a member of CU-WISE, I had been a little skeptical of the need for women-only organizations within science and engineering. Coming from an Engineering background, at some point, I had let myself become used to the fact that there were just few other women in the area.

So imagine what it was like for me to walk into a room full of 200-300 women, who not only shared similar academic and career aspirations but also had to operate as a minority in their respective worlds? For the first time in a long time in my life, gender was the great leveler instead of the great divider, and that really made all the difference! It was a refreshing and exhilarating feeling and the instant camaraderie that I felt with those women in that instant is indescribable.

The next three days were, at their core, a reaffirmation and celebration (there's a reason why they call Grace Hopper a Celebration of Women in Computing) of WISE women, what they have and can achieve. It was a unique confidence building experience because it reminded me that
i) I don't need to fit in - I have much to offer just as I am
ii) We can be each other's best supporters, being there when someone needs that extra confidence booster

This event drove home for me the difference that having female mentors, peers, role models and supporters makes for those in the science and engineering field. It has shown me that, although the female-minority situation that I work and study in is not normal, groups such as CU-WISE can provide the sense of empowerment, belonging and support that can help me achieve better equilibrium.

I came away from the conference having a better appreciation for the gaps that organizations such as CU-WISE fill in their local university communities and hope to do my part to support my fellow WISE women.

Blog inciting hatred against women ruled legal

It turns out that Canadian laws against incitement of hatred were written to protect minorities, and do not include women: Blog inciting hatred against women ruled legal.

Ada Lovelace Day: Perspective from a Guy

This guest post was written by Jamie Madill, a Masters student in Carleton's School of Computer Science, to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day. Thanks for taking the time to give your perspective Jamie! :D

I wish there were more women in computer science. It's not that there aren't any, it's just that working in an environment of different ages, backgrounds, tastes and personalities is more fulfilling. That said, I happen to notice that my supervisor's grad students are numbered 3 women and one man, myself. It's quite lucky then, that I work in one of the few such labs, and even more so to be around such smart, hard working and skilled scientists. Oh, and the kicker: they're all Ph.D and I'm the only Masters. Hopefully that would give ol' Ada a smile.

International Women's Day 2010

Happy International Women's Day!!

Today, March 8th, is observed as the International Women's day in a lot of countries all over the world to celebrate respect, appreciation, love towards women and economic, political and social achievements of women. This year, it is all the more special, as the world celebrates its 99th International Women Day. The first occurrence of women's day was on 28th February, 1909 in the US, and was called the National Women's day. The UN has always been a strong supporter of equality between men and women, and in 1977, also adopted a resolution proclaiming a UN Day for Women's Rights. A lot goes on all around the world to commemorate the International Women's Day.

Women smoothly transition from one role to another in their lifetime - from a girl to a woman to a girlfriend to a wife to a mother. Each of the roles require immense dedication and love. Women somehow have it in them to be able to be patient, supportive and always giving. Although a very rewarding experience, being a woman also has its challenges.

Women often have to deal with issues like gender differences and sexual abuse. In developed countries, differences between men and women are still visible, although it is still not bad as in developing countries. In developing countries, women are denied to right to education amongst other rights. In some countries in extensively poor families, the girl's education is given up for the sake of the boy's, on the pretext of the girl only having to manage the household chores. However, when given an opportunity, women have shown they are no less than their male counterparts in any way. Providing education is one of the best gifts that one can shower on a girl. It makes the girl capable of thinking what is right and what is not, thus making her more confident about herself and more capable of helping others in need. Women today are going to colleges and universities, contributing to research, and holding high positions in companies. They should continue the trend, thus making the gender difference bleaker.

The other major issue I feel in women's lives is sexual abuse. According to statistics, one in five women are victims of sexual abuse in their lifetime. This certainly is not a very encouraging statistic when we are living in what we like to call the modern society. Awareness needs to be raised on this issue and women need to be treated with as much respect as men.

Women have come a long way, and have had to fight for their rights in a lot of situations. But persistence and determination has remained their strongest asset always. Much still needs to be done in terms of women rights, and it has to be done by women, being supportively beside each other, and making their voice heard. The Women's day is one such opportunity that celebrates the achievements of women, and sheds a light on the issues and concerns that need to be worked on.

Kudos to all the women out there! Celebrate your day!

For more information on what's going on in your part of the world on this day to celebrate women, please see the website International Women's Day.

How does biology explain the low numbers of women in computer science? Hint: it doesn't.

We all know there's a huge gender gap in science and engineering. There are lots of theories that purport to explain this, but one I hear frustratingly often is that women score slightly lower on math tests. "Oh, it's statistically proven that women are worse in math than men, so that's why there aren't more women in computer science." Or engineering. Or technology. Or open source software.

It sounds like a compelling reason, and it gets a lot of play. Except, you know what? It’s a lie.

My first degree is in mathematics. So I looked up the studies. I did the math. And it just didn't add up. The research into biologically-linked ability is fascinating, but it simply isn't significant enough to explain the huge gender gap we see in the real world. I used to do this presentation on the back of a napkin for people who tried to spout this misconception to my face, and I finally put it online:

How does biology explain the low numbers of women in computer science? Hint: it doesn't.

View more presentations from Terri Oda.

Love it? Hate it? Learn something? Catch the Mathnet reference? Let me know.

These slides have also been posted at my personal blog, geekfeminism.org, and GHCBloggers. They've been impressively popular on facebook and twitter too, and even got used recently in Kirrily Robert's keynote at ApacheCon. Please feel free to keep passing them on, and I'm sorry I didn't think to post them here sooner!

Girl Effect Phenomenon

A long time interested in women's issues especially when it comes to education, I would always hear from non-profit organizations and charities working in the developing world that an investment in women usually brings better results in sustaining development. Let me illustrate. A woman in the developing world has usually a family to take care of. If this woman happens to gain an income, she invests 90 percent of it back into her family compare to a man who would only invest between 30 to 40 percent. 1

Also, stats prove that education in girls increase their potential wages by 10 to 20 percent (with one extra year in primary school) and 15 to 25 percent (with one extra year in secondary school). 2

I didn't know the details in these figures but having been in the midst of non-profit organizations and charities (either by working or volunteering for them), I was aware of this fact.

However I was recently reminded by this fact through my renewed interest in this issue (although never gone but a little faded over the past 5 years or so) by my involvement with CU-WISE. I was also listening to one of my favourite radio programs on Radio-Canada called Christiane Charette en direct which usually talks about news of the day ( both quirky and serious), when a topic that was discussed caught immediately my attention: The Girl Effect. I have done a bit of research and was able to trace this phenomenon to a website which I would recommend you to visit: www.girleffect.org. Founded by the Nike Foundation in partnership with the Novo Foundation, United Nations Foundation, and the Coalition for Adolescent Girls (to name a few), this movement is designed to consolidate all efforts towards empowering women in order to bring sustaining development in third world countries.

But what I found most interesting was the link made by this organization. Girls in the developing world especially when they reach adolescence have two possibilities. One, they generally get married, do not get any education, get pregnant and have kids very early on and are extremely vulnerable to HIV (either by their husband, or rape if we are dealing with a warring state). Now if we change the situation and offer them the means to get an education, then the whole picture is completely different. Getting an education furthers the possibility to get an income which the families will benefit from. Furthermore, as bringer of income, the status of these women are then better respected which allows them to influence decisions affecting women; this in turn increases and encourages a better living environment for other women and girls, including better opportunities for them to get educated. This contributes to thriving communities, more money for sanitation and as more educated women have families, they are better equipped to prevent the spreading of HIV/AIDS. The end result: healthier, peaceful, stable and economically thriving communities.

And all of this because an investment was made on girls and women. What fascinated me was that I was aware of all of the potential results in investing in girls and women. However, I always failed to make this easy and logic connection.

Now imagine if this simple solution was applied to the following stats:

• Approximately one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school.
(Cynthia B. Lloyd, ed., Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries [Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005].)

• Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls.
(Human Rights Watch, “Promises Broken: An Assessment of Children’s Rights on the 10th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/promises/education.html [December 1999].)

Below you will find all of the partners part of this Coalition:

Nike Foundation: www.nikefoundation.org

Novo Foundation: www.novofoundation.org

United Nations Foundation: www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/women-and-population/investing-adolescent-girls.html

Coalition for Adolescent Girls: www.coalitionforadolescentgirls.org

International Center for Research on Women: www.icrw.org

Population Council: www.popcouncil.org

CARE & CARE Canada: www.care.org & www.care.ca

White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood: www.whiteribbonalliance.org

Center for Global Development: www.cgdev.org

Plan: www.plan-uk.org/becauseiamagirl & www.becauseiamagirl.ca

Global Business Coalition: www.gbcimpact.org

BRAC: www.brac.net

These groups offer many ways to get involved and I for one will try to see how I can support this wonderful initiation.

Hibo

1 Phil Borges, with foreword by Madeleine Albright, Women Empowered: Inspiring Change in the Emerging World [New York: Rizzoli, 2007], 13.
2 George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, “Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update,” Policy Research Working Paper 2881[Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002].

The “F word”: The Uneasy Relationship Between Feminism and Technology

The following is a blog I posted on the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing blog found here.

In my experience, this session started a day early. You see, the day before this session I presented a BoF about support groups for women in STEM with my fellow executives of CU-WISE (Ottawa, Canada). My group presented in conjunction with MENTE (Mexico) and WICS (Vancouver, Canada). During the question period, someone asked a question I always dread to answer. It was about feminism and how it affects student groups. What surprised me next was that the first thing that one of my fellow executive members, Gail, did was pass the microphone to me. "Oh boy" I thought, and started getting nervous because I had so much to say and I didn't know where to start.

So here's my chance, but I'll keep it short. My notes on the session on the uneasy relationship between feminism and technology are included in the ghc wiki and in this blog I am including my personal perspectives.

Let me start with a definition of feminism. It is defined as "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men". It is not defined as hating on men, trying to gain more power than men, or anything inventive anyone may think. So let's clear the air. Feminism is what gave you a better life: gave you the right to vote, protected you from sexual harassment, and gave you more equal pay. And women suffered and fought to give you those rights. This is how I see feminism. To me it is a gift that was given to me before I was born and it is my responsibility to appreciate it and to continue attaining those equal rights. By the way, when I say "equal" I don't mean the "same". Women and men are different, they're just not quite equal yet.

It looks like I've already written a lot so let me finish off with something I don't usually talk about because I'm so busy defending feminism. I would like to talk about what I think feminists can do to shed a brighter light on the "f word":

1. Join a local support group like WISE, MENTE, and WICS. I don't know what I would do without my awesome support group here in Ottawa.
2. When you are ready, pass it on. Recruit and mentor others. Make your voice heard. Make sure their voices are heard too. Don't judge other women, support them.
3. Help men understand feminism. Men are part of the solution and we need their support too. Marry a supportive husband. Talk to you brother or father. I know I talk about feminism with my brother's friends who are all in their 20's and in engineering. Right now they're busy going to class, reading textbooks, and writing tests, but they'll be in much closer contact with us in the workplace.
4. Consider the possibility of scrapping the word and adopting a new one. It is much too difficult to change how people perceive it and I would rather if we spent our energy somewhere else.

There it is folks. Those are my brief thoughts and I encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences on this blog. The room for this session was completely filled so I can imagine that there are a lot of women who would appreciate talking some more about it.

From the WISE Guy: Light Bulb Moment

This is a guest post from one of the biggest WISE supporters from the male half of the population, Jeff Gordon.

I recently found myself part of a brief, yet intriguing conversation about the relationships between the types of men and women that often find themselves in the field of science and engineering. Now being a guy, I've always tried to distance myself from the typical computer science male image. Sure, we're intelligent but often the attractive qualities end there. So I just tell people I moonlight as a male model. Image problem solved! But yet, there are still a majority of guys in the field whose "S" skills are doggin on my rep. By "S", I mean social. How am I supposed to fulfil my goal as the ultimate and smooth computer science playa? haha...I kid of course!

Now, most women in the field's "S" skills are quite normal. So being a minority, they really have no choice but to interact with the uninteractable. I'm told this is especially difficult when meeting someone new (arguably a slightly awkward experience already). Typically new introductions are a task of tuning frequencies to find the right wavelength for communication between two people. (In layperson's terms, you try crap out until something works.) When dealing with a person whose transmitter is broken, this can be especially challenging. By the way, where are the engineers to fix this problem?

A few of the women of WISE shared a few techniques with me for anecdotal purposes. Do they work? Well I don't know. But they're definitely interesting. My personal favourite is the hug approach. Hug a new computer science guy you meet. That definitely breaks the ice! Maybe I should try this on some of the WISE women at the next event? I can't think of anything that could POSSIBLY go wrong doing that... No? Oh well, I guess it's different for women. Still I realized how challenging this can sometimes be. I mean sure, I deal with these personality types too. But I likely have a better understanding of the male mind and so I have a bit of an upper edge in these situations.

I guess my point is that I had a little bit of a light bulb moment. For the record, I like light bulb moments. Naturally, I never really thought about these kinds of interactions from a women's point of view. But I felt it was an interesting discovery in every man's endless quest to understand the female mind :-).

Either way, us guys try our best to communicate (social skills or not). And women try their best to communicate. And somehow, we get the job done. Often with very interesting chemistry!

“Anonymous was a woman”-unknown

This was a quote I found last year and wrote down just because it amused me at the time. Initially I thought it was referring to inventions and ideas from back when a woman’s place was in the home. But Barb and I were running a trivia game for the engineering frosh this week and one of our questions was about men and women being equally skilled in math except that girls had less confidence in their abilities. This got me thinking that a lot of times anonymous is still a woman because a lot of girls are still hesitant about their abilities and don’t step up and share their ideas. Girls still sit in class and try not to get noticed, maybe mutter the answer under their breath or scribble it on their page without raising their hand or shouting out the answer. I’ve even caught myself doing this and I’d say a have a fairly healthy self esteem.

CuWISE has always advertised as offering mentoring and support for current students, any time I hear this my gut reaction is to expect some upper year or grad student genius sitting at a desk with a scared first year or myself trying to get up the courage to ask for help with past experiences causing them to expect to be made to feel inferior. This is by no means always the case or even mostly the case with these types of programs. But I think it’s at least as important if not more so to have a support network including groups of people who don’t set out to be the teacher or mentor but are just there. The groups of students who you can relate to that have gone through and are still going through the same things you are.

I’ve always been shy and if I didn’t really know anyone in class I would go out of my way to have to ask a stranger for help because I always seemed to think that everyone else just got it, that no one else was struggling with material or time management or anything else. It was joining groups like WISE that made me realise that other students were struggling too. It’s the offhand remarks made after events when people are just hanging about that made me realise that I wasn’t alone in my struggles and that it is possible to get through them.

So my advice to all the first year students and everyone else too, is to get involved. Even if WISE is not the group for you, it is your involvement in those not for credit clubs and activities that will make your stay at university memorable and likely play a big role in helping you get through it as well.

Women outnumber men in Canadian workforce

For the first time in history there are more women than men in Canada's workforce. A recently issued labour force survey found that about 7.1 million women were in paid employment during the first half of 2009, compared to 6.9 million men.

That means that about 50.7% of the Canadian workforce is female! Read more on CTV.ca here. The article also mentions that women are still paid less than men, about 71 cents on the dollar.