Speaking about tech conferences:

I do some public speaking from time to time. Hopefully I haven’t been casually sexist in those appearances, but posts like Brittany’s are a useful reminder that when you’re on stage, it’s easy to incorrectly assume that everyone in the room agrees with you. More to the point though, women are sadly underrepresented in the tech industry, and bad experiences like these aren’t going to help that situation. I’m not just talking about it from a bleeding heart liberal perspective, either. I fully believe we’re under-performing in innovation because we don’t have sufficiently diverse voices involved in the products we’re building.

It’s not just about ideals. If I were an angel investor I’d be interviewing women 7 days a week. If I were a politician I’d be arguing for the healthiest possible environment for female entrepreneurs. If I were a globocorp with a community fund I’d focus on women and take the heat for it. If I were a woman I’d be frustrated trying to express these ideas, because pushing things forward is frequently perceived as militant by both women and men.

Framing the problem as a lost opportunity helps the discussion and creates empathy towards the arguments, where otherwise you’d meet frustration, even anger. If you are a product creator, I encourage you to think hard about the other half. Working in advertising I have seen the success first hand. Proactively pushing feminism and women’s ideas into the discussion can start to sound condescending, especially in marketing. But you must trust me this is precisely not the case with established pretext.