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Theresa Regli

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Girl Power

25-Mar-2010

Tags: Digital and Media Asset Management

Apparently Wednesday, March 24th was the second annual Ada Lovelace Day, which celebrates women's contributions to technology. I confess complete blindness to this fact, until I was kindly mentioned as an influencer woman in content management by Cheryl McKinnon (Chief Marketing Officer at ECM vendor Nuxeo).

I admit, I tend to stray away from discussions about women in technology, and have declined invitations to panels that discuss what it's like to be a woman in high-tech. Frankly, I don't think my gender should matter, and talking about why being a woman in technology is "different" is exactly what makes people keep thinking it is different. It shouldn't be.

Alas, this apparent commemorative day -- along with the SNCF website boldly claiming last week that "all our careers are open to women, even the most technical" -- has got me tapping away on the matter, reluctantly accepting that human beings will never be blind to such things.

I see almost every day just how often anyone who's not a geeky male stands out in our industry. I remember one week, sitting through several DAM demonstrations on behalf of a customer in the process of selecting a system, how the sudden presence of Ruth Knight -- one of the founders of Vyre -- changed the tone of the week completely. Dare I say it was a feminine presence in the front of the room, one that smiled, listened, and explained technology in a nurturing way, that set that vendor apart. Legions of men before her came across as, "well if you don't get this, you're just dumb."

I'm the last person who thinks a man couldn't pull off the same approach as Ms. Knight, but she stood out in particular in this instance because she was the only woman any vendor sent on the sales calls over a span of several days. Potential buyers, male and female alike, eat this up. Of course, you should be careful to not be over-influenced by it. What is most unique and memorable from a sales meeting is not necessarily a match for your requirements and use-cases.

Though we women are still comparatively rare in the content management world, I have a different view of the matter than McKinnon. I've never once vented about the male dominance of our industry (as McKinnon's blog implies we might). I play golf and drink scotch with the industry types, and am perfectly happy to do so, just as I was happy to watch Star Trek and play Dungeons & Dragons as a kid, rather than with Barbies. These acts are not, as some women may claim, a compromise of femininity or of who we are.

I have never once felt being a woman in a male-dominated industry was a disadvantage. On the contrary, it has given me every advantage. And as my colleagues will tell you, if someone comes to me looking for a shoulder or an ear and resorts to complaining, I'm generally unsympathetic. I will always say, "what are your ideas to solve this? Let's work together and solve the problem." Be like Joan of Arc -- she didn't go to other females to vent or whine about all those men out there. She rode out on the horse and showed the men who's boss. 

I attribute much of my thinking to my two older brothers, who told me from a young age that a smart gal could do anything with her life that she damn well pleased, as they took apart and re-assembled our Atari 2600, and then we played Adventure and Space Invaders to prove that it worked again. As a young girl, my mother put me in my bedroom and told me not to come out until I gave up whining - and I thank her for that. I also had the good fortune to work for a strong woman CEO early in my career, and thus never found a woman at the helm of anything technical even the slightest bit "different".

Perhaps what I appreciate the most about being a woman in tech is that generally, guys think girls who get tech are sexy. And that, well, sells. Milk it, girls: you've earned it.