

An open letter to Laura Kalbag, a woman who wants to be a token speaker. - chrisleydon
http://blog.chrisleydon.com/2013/01/24/an-open-letter-to-laura-kalbag/

======
quasque
This guy appears to misunderstand the purpose of affirmative action / positive
discrimination. It's not to make tokens out of people, but to try to remove
systemic bias against groups underrepresented in a society or subculture -
case in point, females being often underrepresented in tech conferences due to
rampant sexism.

~~~
cantastoria
_females being often underrepresented in tech conferences due to rampant
sexism_

But females aren't underrepresented due to rampant sexism, there are fewer
women at tech conferences because there are fewer women in tech period.
Creating a preference/quota system (i.e. affirmative action) that tries to
correct a imbalance due to lack of participation will only serve to further
stigmatize and reinforce whatever negative attitudes exist about the group
supposedly being helped. It may not intend to create tokens out of them but it
does none the less. Although it does seem to make proponents of said system
feel better about themselves which many will claim is its actual purpose.

~~~
DanBC
> But females aren't underrepresented due to rampant sexism, there are fewer
> women at tech conferences because there are fewer women in tech period.

Do you not think that there are fewer women in tech because of rampant sexism?

~~~
Peroni
I've heard this argument many times before yet I've never once seen a shred of
evidence to back it up. I'm not sure of the situation in the US but despite
dealing with hundreds of UK tech companies and conferences in my career, I can
categorically state I've never once witnessed anything that could be construed
as sexism.

~~~
DanBC
That's good.

Do you get to see unconscious[1] biases that cause women not to be hired; to
be paid less than men for the same work; to be not promoted?

[1] At best.

~~~
Peroni
The direct opposite. In the UK tech market there is almost a desperation to
hire female staff. The handful of female devs I've come across are generally
paid more than what a male with the same level of experience would purely
because companies are desperate to cling on to the precious few females that
exist in the market.

In my time I've advertised over a hundred dev vacancies. I can honestly count
on one hand the number of female applicants that applied.

------
mseebach
Does anyone have some context to this?

~~~
Peroni
In a nutshell:

* @laurakalbag previously spoke at @leydon's tech meet-up.

* She was involved in a twitter debate regarding gender equality in tech.

* @leydon chipped in with a comment meant in jest: <https://twitter.com/leydon/status/294450249567711232>

* @laurakalbag took offence and a twitter fight ensued.

For context, @leydon is an openly gay male who runs a small tech meet-up group
that has had a large percentage of female speakers in the past.

------
EwanToo
Site's down for me, Google cache link:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://blog.chrisleydon.com/2013/01/24/an-
open-letter-to-laura-kalbag/&hl=en&client=firefox-
beta&hs=shl&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&strip=1)

------
largesse
I really miss the days when discussion about conferences was more about
technology and content than gender and race kerfuffles.

~~~
jpdoctor
> _I really miss the days when discussion about conferences was more about
> technology and content_

It's time to face the fact that conferences are becoming antiquated by
technology.

EDIT: Judging by the replies, apparently people think conferences are local
get-togethers? The point of a conference used to be about exchanging ideas
with people outside the neighborhood. It would roll in airline, hotel, $100s
for attendence fees (because the venues are large and require organizers.)

Basically, these things turned into junkets in exotic locations. And then many
companies decided they are no longer necessary in the age of the web.

~~~
Xylakant
So if I go to the euroko 2012 in Berlin, pay 50 euros and no hotel, airline
etc. and get to see speakers and attendees from all over the world, including
Yukihiro Matsumoto for the keynote, that doesn't count as a conference because
it's local and organized by a crew of volunteers that don't need to reek in
hefty profits?

~~~
jpdoctor
> _and attendees from all over the world_

So you can choose to quote your 50 euros and say that it's a conference, or
you can examine how much money the "attendees from all over the world" paid in
travel and hotel paid in and note that their money is now being substituted by
the web.

Your call.

