westrix

I really appreciate this take. I find that focusing on the labels tends to actually reinforce their negative effects. "Women in tech" implies there is something special about women being in tech, as the author points out, which reinforces the idea that there is something different or odd about it. I get that it's meant to be empowering, but I think it's often the exact opposite.

It's perfectly fine I think for there to be women-focused technology groups, or women-focused initiatives. E.g. if a company realizes it has a very low percentage of women in leadership roles, it's useful to say, "Ok, how do we address that?" But it's very easy to go from that to the kind of thing you're talking about, where people are inadvertently imposing labels and roles, even when that's exactly what they're working against.