It's been scientifically proven that more diverse communities and workplaces create better products and the solutions to difficult problems are more complete and diverse themselves. Companies are struggling to find adequate talent. So why do we see so few women, people of color, and LGBTQ people at our events and on the about pages of our websites? Even more curiously, why do 60% of women leave the tech industry within 10 years? Why are fewer women choosing to pursue computer science and related degrees than ever before? Why have stories of active discouragement, dismissal, harassment, or worse become regular news?
In this talk we’ll examine the causes behind the lack of diversity in our communities, events, and workplaces. We’ll discuss what we can do as community members, event organizers, and co-workers to not only combat this problem, but to encourage positive change by contributing to an atmosphere of inclusivity.
Objectives:
- Educate about the lack of diversity and why it is a problem
- Examine what is contributing to both the pipeline issue as well as attrition
- Isolate what is and isn't working
- Inspire direct action by examining our own behavior and learning more about the people around us so we can empathize better
links to external video
<3s from #eurucamp for helping me get here. Thank you everyone. https://t.co/SIZ5jPaMRu
— ashe dryden (@ashedryden) August 18, 2013
"Programming diversity" go @ashedryden, go @eurucamp pic.twitter.com/9NRx4jwPAk
— Matthias Günther (@wikimatze) August 17, 2013
"If we are going to evolve as an industry we need to have more people involved from all walks of life." @ashedryden @eurucamp #insight
— Johanna S.S Bassetti (@johannassb) August 17, 2013
"Diversity is more than Male vs. Female. Diversity is not always visible!" Thank you @ashedryden @eurucamp #singitsistah
— Johanna S.S Bassetti (@johannassb) August 17, 2013
"Education is the trojan horse to empathy" -- @ashedryden. So well said #eurucamp
— Klaus Fl (@kaeff) August 17, 2013
"What's the evolutionary advantage? Does being a programer keep me from being eaten by cheetahs or hit by buses?" :-/ @ashedryden @eurucamp
— Johanna S.S Bassetti (@johannassb) August 17, 2013
I would love that every company I've worked for listened to @ashedryden's talk. Specially the part about remuneration.
— Miguel Parramon (@mparramon) August 17, 2013
@ashedryden "no whiteboard interviews" YES! THIS A MILLION TIMES OVER.
— Fred Kelly (@fredkelly) August 17, 2013
Encouraging #eurucamp! @ashedryden opened eyes on the issue of diversity. @xuanxu showed how easy and cool is to contribute to science.
— Luismi Cavallé (@cavalle) August 17, 2013
@ashedryden loved your talk! Thanks for sharing and I’ll happily be part of your army :)
— Garmisch P A. Riley (@misch) August 17, 2013
Amazing talks today at @eurucamp I specially enjoyed @SaltineJustine and @ashedryden #eurucamp
— Carmen (@adavideo) August 17, 2013
Thank you @ashedryden for this encouraging talk! We are very happy that you are here <3
— eurucamp 2013 (@eurucamp) August 17, 2013
Ashe Dryden is a programmer, diversity advocate and consultant, prolific writer,