50:50 by 2020? Why do I care?

Dr. Anita Borg, was an American scientist who strove to increase the representation of women in technical fields and also founded the Institute for Women in Technology and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. In addition, she also founded Systers — the first email network for women in technology.

Borg proposed “50/50 by 2020” initiative, aimed at having 50% representation of women in computer science by 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nImg8vPUe4

In 2016, I received the honorable Google Anita Borg Scholarship now known as “Women Techmakers Scholars” which is awarded to women in computing and technology to encourage them to become active leaders and role models and thus further the vision of Dr. Anita Borg.

2016 is when I first came to know about Dr. Anita Borg’s vision for women in technology. I thought to myself, I am an APAC scholar and I must care about encouraging more women into tech thus furthering Borg’s vision.

For a couple of months I tried spreading word about applying for the scholarship, because I know it changed my life in ways I cannot imagine. Provided me the opportunities a young girl in tech cannot fathom. And then the enthusiasm slowly started to die. I know Borg’s vision, I know it sounds good. But did I find it convincing enough, and why should I care?

I’m a couple of months into my first job as an Application Developer at this amazingly cool company called ThoughtWorks. I’ve spent about 3 months in a client project. My team per se consists of a 50:50 ratio of men and women. This being my first project, I have faced a lot of ups and downs and also learned a lot in this process. Since we have hit the 50:50 ratio as a team, I wanted to understand how this affects me, how I feel the team is affected and the one important question to answer: Why should I care?

I’d like to divide my observations into two parts, the first being team dynamics and the second from the perspective of software excellence. As a woman, I tend to overthink and always have this thought that someone might be judging me. Since there are other women on the team, it helps me feel empowered, assures me that someone on the team might understand my perspective, also because I’m expressing my opinions to a much diverse audience now it makes me worry a little less about others’ judgements. It’s amazing the kind of effect that having women role models on the same team as mine has. It inspires me to be better, aim for higher, and I also get the opportunity to be their mentee. I might be wrong(biased if you might like to call it) but I feel there is a lot more organization of work, cleaner management of tasks when we have more females on the team. Besides, another perk for me is when my mum asks me if there are girls for late night team outings and I answer yes, I am allowed — So yay!

As far as software goes, following software practices strictly, detailed discussions and opposing viewpoints during tech huddles, looking at the bigger picture, coming up with multitude of edge cases in our stories, works out a lot better with a diversified group of women and men.

Just the other day, we celebrated International Women’s Day in office, wherein a lead consultant from ThoughtWorks Pune, while appreciating a fellow female colleague mentioned what women bring to the table — eye for detail and the need for perfection.

In addition to my personal experience, I also sent out a survey to teams in ThoughtWorks Pune to understand how the diversity in their teams affects them. The following is a glimpse of their views:

‘I think diversity is important to bring to the table different views and ideas with regard to gender, experience etc’

‘diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance’

‘need for diversity/inclusion: improves organization culture’

‘Incidents include sexist comments, and clear misogynist behavior from the product owner (telling women on the team to “calm down”, or “not get emotional”)’

One question, if the software that we build is to be used by persons of all genders, then why shouldn’t a group that is representative of all genders develop this?

I’ve got my answer and am going to continue to further Borg’s vision, and this time consciously.

Why do you care?