Talibanism of Technology—2

Researching for my book on Artificial Intelligence, I began to notice the way

women in science and engineering, especially the entrepreneurs and the pioneers

never seemed to find mention, any mention-be they in textbooks, media or in

the public domain.

As an engineer who happens to be a female, I found this personally irksome.

When researching and writing the article "Talibanism of Technology" or

when Dataquest published it on February 28, 2003, I never imagined it would be

translated in several languages, debated hotly in corporations and academic

institutions, be used as a primer course in universities and high schools in

Europe and USA, or that it would win an award! While I felt passionate about the

issue of invisibility of women in science and technology, I was hardly prepared

for the response-the brickbats, bouquets and the inundation of information and

the invitation to debate.

Since Dataquest and its readers provided me the forum where this journey

started, I feel it is only fair you should be the first to know what happened

afterwards. Once the article got published, I was happy and went back to normal

life-I'm one of those "Swades" engineers, who returned to India

after doing my masters in the US.

The Brickbats: The responses were varied in tone and came from both men and

women. Most emails were polite but disagreeing, like this one from an

engineering student in Chennai: "Interesting article but who cares if women

invented paper-I don't and I don't think anyone else does either" or

this from Qatar: "I think you have bias towards women because you are a

woman." Some readers had assumed I was a man! "Stop writing lies about

this, man. It may help you get girls but not win promotions." When blogs

picked up the article after it won the Preditor's and Editor's Reader'

Poll Award-it was voted the best non-fiction article of 2003 by readers around

the globe-the brickbats were mainly on the blogs. One reader accused me of

"discrimination just when things were getting better." One angry

author said: "I think those who propagate the notion that it's a given

that women in IT are treated unfairly are doing just as much (if not MORE) of a

disservice to women and the industry than those who just claim "women aren't

good at technical things." Another reaction from several male readers,

albeit weird, was: "You must be unmarried that is why you are writing this

way." It is hard to comprehend what invisibility in technology had to do

with my marital status! Then there were the abusive emails and name calling

which I won't go into.

The Bouquets: It was fantastic to hear from people who I had never met, which

comprised the bulk of the responses. There were emails from renowned people like

Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala who congratulated me on the "excellent

article" while Maria Arinbjarnar, a student from Iceland, wrote in:

"It addresses a very important issue and I want to congratulate you for

it." Some emails were in French, Spanish and Arabic. I've translated one

such note. Agnes Loteta Dimandja, a 57-year old civil metallurgist engineer from

the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote to say: "Within the International

Conference of the Women Engineers and Scientiques, I have devoted practically

all my life to this cause to fight for the promotion of the African woman in the

field of Science and Technology because I believe women have the capacities and

the potential. Your article was interesting precisely because I have encountered

similar difficulties that you write about."

I was then getting email from academics who wanted to use the article as a

primer course or as a project assignment in schools and universities in the US

& UK. Dr Kate O'Riordan, Lecturer in Continuing Education, emailed a note:

"I read your article with interest and will make sure there is a link to it

on my undergraduate IT and Society course." My own professor from CSUN, US,

Dr Campbell wrote: "I am so very proud of you! (Actually, I was already

proud of you-you've just given me another reason).  I'm actually

teaching a course, 'Women in Mathematics, Science and Engineering,' this

semester (which just started this week), and will be referring the students to

your article." Prof Niklason, Weber State University, USA, Ellen Carvil, a

teacher from West Over School, among others, said they would like to pass the

article on to their students for assignments.

The reaction from the industry, mainly professionals from IT companies like

Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Sun Micro Systems, etc was a general "Thank you

for writing this", "Well written, well argued", "Great

job" etc, or a more specific one like the one from M Zahn, "That

section under Marketing where it says, 'Linda Austin says men tend to

over-represent their abilities and qualifications by 30-40%, while women

under-represent theirs by the same amount. This works to a 60-80% gap between

what a man and a woman with similar qualifications claim', really hit home for

me. I realized that I needed to toot my own horn." I was informed the

"Women in Computer Science Group" at MTU (Michigan Tech) are actually

discussing the article "section by section" in their meetings.

It was extremely interesting to find out that the article was discussed by

UNDP people in Kabul, Afghanistan and by women who are not related to either the

science or technical field. Anjali Subramaniam, Associate Director, India

Abroad, who is based in the US called it: "Simply superb and a boost to

womanhood." Pat Brown, an investigative criminal profiler and US Court TV

show host emailed: "Not only is Talibanism alive and kicking in technology

but just about every other aspect of women's lives on this planet. I still

have one hell of a time getting past the good-old-boy's network in the police

kingdom." Pat Brown is the same person who was on Discovery Channel

re-investigating Cleopatra's death.

New Information: What I cherished most apart from the discussion in "Systers",

a global mailing list of Women in IT founded by the late Anita Borg about their

personal experiences and the way they could relate to the article, were the

emails and letters with new information. Some wrote in to ask why I had not

covered Adele Goldberg, Ellen Hancock, Meg Whitman and Carol Batz. Esther from

Virginia asked me why I hadn't included the famous Hollywood actress, Hedy

Lamarr. I was stunned to find out, after some research, that Hedy Lamarr was

actually a patent holder and the co-inventor of spread spectrum technology.

There are several other women whose inventions are contributing to today's

society, which I'll cover in my forthcoming columns.

Meanwhile, the Astronomy Department at the University of Alabama and Dr

Sethanne Howard of the National Science Foundation, USA have a very interesting

ongoing project called "4000 years of Women in Science". They are

painstakingly compiling and indexing women achievers in science and technology

from all over the world , over the past 4000 years. Anyone interested in knowing

more or would like to contribute information can visit the following website.

http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/4000WS.html

While it is all very well to write about Talibanism of Technology, from the

feedback I received from India, I was made to realise that starting a debate or

helping organise conferences/seminars was not enough. What Indian women in

sciences and engineering required was a platform where they can talk and share

on a sustained basis and not in spurts. So I've started IndianWISE (Indian

Women In Science & Engineering)-an e-group for students, businesswomen,

professionals, doctors, academics, etc-so Indian women can interact, talk

about the issues they face, mentor, keep up with technical developments while

taking a break from their careers to raise their families, etc. This is only the

beginning.

The author is a writer and engineer based in Trichy, TN, whose articles

have been published in six continents. She is also the founder-moderator of the

IndianWISE e-group