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Ask HN: What do I say to a university class about “women-only” opportunities?

2 points by whyrusleeping ↗ HN
My school is being asked to participate in a Women in IT, all expenses paid event hosted by Microsoft. It includes mock interviews and general preparation for interviewing at big tech companies, and as such is a great experience for any student. The event is geared towards women and women get priority registration, men can fill the extra spaces that aren’t taken by women if there are any. I feel like this is a great event to encourage more women to get involved in the largely male dominated field. But after this event was announced to one of our more introductory classes, it blew up on that class’ forum, the men in the class felt that they were being “excluded” from this cool opportunity. We are going to go talk to the class again on monday, but I’m not sure what to say to them. On one hand, it does feel like it’s widening the gender divide by being a “women only” event. But on the other hand, it is rather intimidating for women to get into Computer Science when they walk into a 95% male classroom, and if more women joined, the gender gap would become narrower.

8 comments

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trhtrhth
> felt that they were being “excluded” from this cool opportunity.

That's not opinion, it's fact, regardless of the motives for doing it.

> it is rather intimidating for women to get into Computer Science when they walk into a 95% male classroom

Did you intuit that, or is that the result of a real, repeated study?

Are you offering something similar for the men? That's what would make this fair.

whyrusleeping
I agree that it is exclusionary, And if this event was something that we had planned ourselves, I would try not to exclude anyone. (We put on club events every week that we regularly invite the student body to). The problem is that this event is Microsoft's thing, and we are kind-of at their whim. My comment about women being intimidated in a 95% male classroom comes from actually talking to different women in our program and hearing what they have to say. And we arent "offering" anything, like I said, this is a Microsoft sponsored event.
trhtrhth
You quibble about the term 'offer', but surely you could 'find' or 'discover' something for the men.

And do you tell the women they are going to need to learn to interact with men as part of a professional programming job? Are they only ok with that if they are in the majority?

cjbprime
I think you already did a pretty good job of explaining it -- it would be better if these initiatives weren't necessary, but when you're at 95% you might need to do some bootstrapping work to start off a positive feedback loop, and to share positive role models.
whyme
Unfortunately, things like this are more damaging overall. i.e. Even if you succeed and get some more women involved, you will have also created resentment from men whom are not given equal opportunity, which then can lead to women not being given equal opportunity.

I suggest you don't perpetuate the problem / don't participate.

whyrusleeping
I definetly agree... I was thinking of talking to the microsoft rep about it and about what we've run into. Its difficult to say "no" when your department is asking you to help plan and advertise this event from such an influential company.
whyme
I wouldn't discuss with the Microsoft rep. This is a decision your school needs to make.

You could politely decline to participate and provide your reasons for doing so. If your department feels strongly enough about it then let one of them volunteer to do it. If no one volunteers, then obviously they don't feel strongly about it. Your declining to participate sends a strong message.