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
Great diversity #osb13 keynote by @ashedryden Facts, reasoning, actionable recommendations. http://t.co/QRFrbUmgee
— Colin Dabritz (@ColinDabritz) June 20, 2013
@ashedryden Thanks for the awesome keynote. Got lots of ideas on how to increase diversity at my workplace #osb13
— Thomas Schreiber (@ubiquill) June 20, 2013
Good talk. @ashedryden is so badass. #osb13
— Liz Henry (@lizhenry) June 20, 2013
@ashedryden making connections between job mobility and healthcare and chronic health stuff and gender and trans health and and and #osb13
— Larissa Shapiro (@larissashapiro) June 20, 2013
@ashedryden Loved it, thanks so much!
— Cory Kolbeck (@cbeckpdx) June 20, 2013
Holy crap, this deck by @ashedryden on diversity in tech is FANTASTIC. Positive, no-BS treatment of a sticky issue. https://t.co/T5zJWxuyuk
— Jeff Eaton (@eaton) June 20, 2013