TOW #5 - What Really Keeps Women out of Tech

     I often think of myself as a "nerd" (which is true) and have loved math since I was little. I've also been extremely curious as a young girl til now, but quite honestly, I hated the idea of becoming an engineer until just a couple of years ago and got dizzy even thinking about computer science. Why was that? This article by Eileen Pollack seemed to answer this for me. As a woman who used to work in the science and technology field, Pollack explains in her text "What Really Keeps Women out of Tech" that for women to be included in this field, certain restrictive engineering gender stereotypes must be removed through her use of personal anecdotes and referencing common settings of a technology work area.
     Eileen Pollack worked as a programmer at a lab in Tennessee, and she explains, "I felt out of place among my mostly male colleagues because I hated drinking beer and din't like being mocked for reading novels. Not to mention that the men who controlled access to the computer made me listen to a barrage of sexist teasing if I wanted to be given that day's code to run my program." Because of her mostly female-associated traits of not liking beer as much and reading novels, she was treated as a social outcast among her colleagues and wasn't as welcome. These gender roles and traits restricted people like her and other people with female-associated traits like hers.
     She also references the common setting and image associated with technology and engineering fields. She quotes a psychology professor from the University of Washington, "Dr. Cheryan theorizes that this decline might be partly attributable to the rise of pop-culture protrayls of scientists as white or Asian male geeks in movies and TV shows like 'Revenge of the Nerds' and 'The Big Bang Theory.'" This is a common setting and stereotype of a group of engineers, which shows a possible reason why girls may feel unwelcome in such a community.
     Certain gender roles that may seem irrelevant in such a seemingly open-minded generation may actually be the outdated factors that prevent an open-minded generation from thriving. Through her use of personal anecdote and explaining the common sight that people know and relate to, Pollack illustrates the need for an innovative change in such an innovative field.