#SexismInSiliconValley: Men are considered rocks, women as Silicon implants
Silicon Valley is a strange place. If you look from outside, it is a magical place where dreams are made. There is so much futuristic technology, VC money and power. And, if you look from inside, it is the real-life version of 'Game of Thrones'. There is so much fantasy, fake money and power abuse. It is almost incestuous. But, from either vantage point, you see sexism - rampant, unapologetic, pervasive sexism. Men are considered the rock of this Valley, and women as the Silicon implants.
Let's debug and compile the sexism from the beginning
At the very core, the problem stems from the big money (in the form of salaries, signing bonuses or funding) thrown to the 20-somethings who are right out of college. And, when you are a young engineer inducted into an arguably male-dominated industry, where casual sexism is common, you assimilate your bosses' behavior, rather unknowingly. You also think you can own the world (and the women in it) from your newly-earned money. With that, a sense of entitlement is born.
The Null pointer exception
Now, don't get me wrong - as an entrepreneur, one understands that money gives wings to problem-solving. But, VC money is a privilege, not our right. In any case, a young engineer is not expected to know the difference. The problem lies with their bosses, and the culture they breed.
Garbage in, and garbage out
If you analyze deeper, you see a striking similarity between the boys of Valley and the men of Wall Street. Their cultures are quite similar too. Misogyny, casual sexism, encouragement to judge talent based on gender et al exist in both the industries. This is the chain: Men from Wall Street-->VC guys-->Start-up founders-->Start-up employees. Since the men from Wall Street are the ones funding the Valley guys, no body sees a problem, let alone fix them.
The ASCII values of both men and women are same
But, here's the thing. Coding doesn't require a penis or breasts - it requires knowledge, smartness, capability to apply logic and ability to work hard. And, in the era gone by, when Google was less sexist and less evil, it had shown us that women can run technology companies- Marissa Mayer, Susan Wojcicki or even Sheryl Sandberg are all Google finds. That Google now supports Andy 'predator' Rubin is a different topic altogether.
Syntax error, Syntax error!
As a matter of fact, Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, once said that "if women had been on the early Twitter team, online harassment and trolling wouldn't be such a problem." So, you see, you just don't need Python(s) to code, you need perspective too.
The "Object" oriented programming
Sometimes, though, enough is enough. By all accounts, 2017 was the watershed moment of Valley. It took one Susan Fowler, one dispassionate blog but countless incidents of sometimes casual, often times blatant sexual predatory behavior to cause the "Uber effect" - the omipotent Travis Kalanick was forced to resign. And, then many more did, after him. Women aren't scared anymore of losing their jobs, about time men shape up their act.
If sexist, then end, else the industry can survive
For far too long, far too many women have endured sexism, sometimes because they didn't want to lose their jobs, and sometimes because they didn't know otherwise. They were trained to ignore, lest they were seen as trouble makers. But, here's the simple math and it really is binary: If there aren't enough women on top, this industry we all love (because of its amazing contributions) will die. The onus is now on everyone - VCs, founders, employees, even that 20-year-old engineer!
