I love this post:
http://ladybug010.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/high-heels-in-high-tech-women-working-in-the-software-field/
As a woman, working in an engineering company, I am definitely in the minority, which frankly I'm used to now. In college I was also in the minority which was definitely a culture shock having come from 14 years of convent schooling (all girls, everywhere!). But I'm over it now, it's the norm for me.
There are difficulties sometimes with perception and opinions. An adjective used to describe a guy is positive yet when the same adjective is used to describe a woman, it has negative connotations.
I definitely agree, having a mix of gender in a team is beneficial to the team's success. It reduces testosterone level, and as one man said to me, it has a calming effect. And we all think differently, which is what you want in a testing team.
Yet somehow, I seem to be collecting women! In a department of 16, with two managers, I have all 4 women (including myself) in my team. We actually have a majority of woman! How weird is that?
Its great that you have such a good mix in your group- certainly a different dynamic to have more women than men! Glad you liked the post!
ReplyDelete(The full text of it is published in TEST and can be read here: http://www.testmagazine.co.uk/2010/04/high-heels-in-high-tech/)
Lisa Crispin recently blogged on gender diversity:
ReplyDeletehttp://lisacrispin.com/wordpress/2010/06/07/what-gender-diversity-means-to-me/
Well worth a read.
Cowboytesting also blogged on diversity:
ReplyDeletehttp://cowboytesting.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/workplace-diversity-why-diversity-can-ignite-innovation-and-guarantee%C2%A0success/
A particular quote struck a cord with me when reading this blog:
"Diversity harnesses ... differences as a source of innovation and radical problem solving. "
Diversity In Agile Series: Women In Agile
ReplyDeletehttp://sites.google.com/site/diversityinagile/project-definition