Wanted: Women to Work in Male-Dominated Fields

“Never send a boy to do a woman’s job.”

-Kate Libby, Hackers (1995)

I like this line from the movie, because at the time, she is doing something that was considered at the time a “boy’s job.” Most women didn’t think about going into the Information Technology or Information Security industry in 1995. It was mostly thought to be the role of a guy who was anti-social and wanted to stay in the basement of the office building only to cast his shadow when a catastrophic failure had occurred. You didn’t hear about women taking on the job. We were the ones sitting behind the computers typing away, calling the IT guy when it didn’t work properly.

We were using the very equipment that they were there to help repair, but we didn’t know what made it work or for that matter fail. That was a man’s job. Why? Science and technology have always been male-dominated fields. Throughout history, we hear of one female accomplishment to every one hundred male. Young girls aren’t encouraged to tinker – we’re encouraged to become caregivers. Let me be clear, caregivers are important, and generally one goes to a woman for comfort, but that doesn’t mean that we’re only built for one thing.

Read the original post at Fort Alice Solutions

Thanks, Alexis and Geben Communications for providing us the opportunity to promote awareness.