Tech Industry Has Written Women Out Of History

Susie and her computer friend Sadie appeared in 1960s adverts to promote a now defunct UK computer company, accompanied by a young, attractive, nameless woman. 

Feminised adverts like these were a common ploy in Britain at the time, when male managers, uninitiated in the complexities of this new technology, viewed the machines as intimidating and opaque. “Computers were expensive and using women to advertise them gave the appearance to managers that jobs involving computers are easy and can be done with a cheap labour force,” explains technology historian Marie Hicks. 

They might have been on a typist’s salary, but women like the one who appears alongside Susie and Sadie were not typists, they were skilled computer programmers, minus the prestige or pay the modern equivalent might command. As Hicks’ book Programmed Inequality illustrates, women were the largest trained technical workforce of the computing industry during the second world war and through to the mid-sixties.

They operated the huge room-sized electro-mechanical computers that cracked codes, worked out military logistics and made ballistic calculations during the second world war. 

Later they went on to work for civil service departments, operating the computers needed for government to gather data and run properly. “It was viewed as unskilled, highly feminised work,” explains Hicks. “Women were seen as an easy, tractable labour force for jobs that were critical and yet simultaneously devalued.”

Managers perceived women to be ideal for the computing industry because they didn’t think they needed to be offered any sort of career ladder, explains Hicks. “Instead the expectation was that a woman’s career would be kept short because of marriage and children, which meant a workforce that didn’t get frustrated or demand promotions and higher wages.”
But by the 1970s, there was a change in mindset and women were no longer welcome in the workplace: the government and industry had grown wise to just how powerful computers were and wanted to integrate their use at a management level. “But they weren’t going to put women workers, seen as low level drones, in charge of computers,” explains Hicks. Women were systematically phased out and replaced by men who were paid more and had better job titles.

Discrimination Still Remains 
“Today, companies still perceive it as lucrative to treat women differently than men, to pay them less,” says Hicks. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg recently spoke out against the gender pay gap, prevalent in the tech space where giants like Google have been accused of systematically underpaying women. 
In May the company argued that it would be too much of a financial hassle to compile and hand over the salary records requested by the US Department of Labor. In August the Silicon Valley company was left facing legal action over the leak of a male software engineer’s 10-page manifesto criticising diversity initiatives and arguing that men occupy more leadership roles than women in tech due to “biological differences”.
“Even though companies like Google obviously weren’t around in that earlier period, they’re still benefiting from the same cultures that sidelined women,” says the author.

If women had continued to be a major force in computing, instead of being sidelined, the way the tech industry looks today would have been very different, she argues. “If women had been a more important part of the high tech industry all along, would so many platforms and apps have the same problems with rampant sexism and misogyny both in their workplaces and their products? Most likely not.”

The British computing industry lost its edge when it removed women – and ultimately, the move destroyed it, believes Hicks. “There were persistent labour shortages once women were thrown away – a lot of the young men who got trained to do these jobs soon decided to go and do something else because it was still seen as feminised work and there really wasn’t a career ladder at that point.” 

The Effect Of Sidelining Women 
If women had remained a part of the workforce, the scope and quality of computing products we have today, particularly software, would undoubtedly be better, says Hicks. She uses Dame Stephanie Shirley as an example of the sort of talent effectively written off by the mainstream industry at the time. In the face of repeated workplace discrimination, the 29-year-old went it alone in the 1960s and built up a thriving software business for female computer programmers.
In an interview with the Guardian earlier this year, Shirley said she knew her work at the Post Office’s prestigious Dollis Hill research station was good enough to get her promoted, but the promised promotion never materialised. 
“When I began to make it clear that I was pursuing a vigorous professional career, then it became a more entrenched position to keep me out,” she recalls. When the young computer programmer got married, it was expected that she would stop work immediately.
“Women continue to be weighed down with this sort of heteronormative cultural baggage,” says Hicks. “I think it’s clear that just relying on companies to do the right thing is not going to work and I think unions are going to have to become a major force again.”

It’s vital that the invisible female workforce that upheld the computing industry for more than 40 years isn’t forgotten. “It’s easy to write history just looking at the people who are really good self-promoters, it isn’t as sexy or exciting to focus on a broad swath of faceless workers, but historical change doesn’t come from one person doing one thing.” 

Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge In Computing was published by MIT Press in January 2017

Guardian:  

You Might Also Read:

Room At The Top For Women In Tech:

Very Few UK Girls Took Computing A-level:

 

« Cybersecurity Rules For Autonomous Vehicles
How Worried Should We Be About a Nuclear War With North Korea? »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Authentic8

Authentic8

Authentic8 transforms how organizations secure and control the use of the web with Silo, its patented cloud browser.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC - the first, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade information security solution for compliance and risk management - offers businesses efficient control tracking, testing, and enforcement.

BackupVault

BackupVault

BackupVault is a leading provider of automatic cloud backup and critical data protection against ransomware, insider attacks and hackers for businesses and organisations worldwide.

Clayden Law

Clayden Law

Clayden Law advise global businesses that buy and sell technology products and services. We are experts in information technology, data privacy and cybersecurity law.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

Wall Street Technology Association (WSTA)

Wall Street Technology Association (WSTA)

The Wall Street Technology Association (WSTA) provides financial industry technology professionals with forums to learn from and connect with each other.

SiteLock

SiteLock

SiteLock is a global leader in website security solutions. We provide affordable, cybersecurity software solutions designed to allow small to midsize businesses to operate without fear of an attack.

EuroISPA

EuroISPA

EuroISPA is a pan European association of European Internet Services Providers Associations and the world’s largest association of ISPs.

Automation & Cyber Solutions (ACS)

Automation & Cyber Solutions (ACS)

Automation & Cyber Solutions delivers a range of Industrial Automation and Cyber solutions & services to sectors including Oil & Gas, Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Power and others.

ECS

ECS

ECS is a leading information technology provider delivering cloud, cybersecurity, software development, IT modernization, and advanced science and engineering services.

Office of the National Security Council (UVNS) - Croatia

Office of the National Security Council (UVNS) - Croatia

UVNS coordinates, harmonizes the adoption and controls the implementation of information security measures and standards in the Republic of Croatia.

Recruit.net

Recruit.net

Recruit.net allows job seekers to instantly find millions of jobs from thousands of web sites with a single search.

Thomsen Trampedach

Thomsen Trampedach

Thomsen Trampedach offers a tailored-made brand protection solution to each customer using a proprietary enforcement automation and reporting tool and a multilingual enforcement team.

Zacco

Zacco

Zacco offer a 360° perspective on intellectual property: From patent filing and trademark registration to software development, digital brand protection, cyber security and portfolio management.

Citizen Lab - University of Toronto

Citizen Lab - University of Toronto

Citizen Lab focuses on research and development at the intersection of cyberspace, global security & human rights.

Veriti

Veriti

Veriti is a unified security posture management platform that integrates with your security solutions and proactively identifies and remediates potential risks and misconfigurations.

HEROIC Cybersecurity

HEROIC Cybersecurity

HEROIC’s enterprise cybersecurity services help improve overall organizational security with industry best practices and advanced technology solutions.

VicOne

VicOne

With a vision to secure the vehicles of tomorrow, VicOne delivers a broad portfolio of cybersecurity software and services for the automotive industry.

Trustack

Trustack

Trustack services cover connectivity, infrastructure services, security, unified comms, agile working and more. Our team of consultants deliver customised solutions tailored to your needs.

ELK Analytics

ELK Analytics

ELK Analytics is a specialized Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) that focuses on endpoint security and monitoring & alerting for any type of structured or unstructured data.

Cyber Qubits

Cyber Qubits

Cyber Qubits is a cybersecurity training and consulting company focused on developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.