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
Watching @ashedryden present ”programming diversity” @lonestarphp. Topic is important, but besides that, she's the best speaker here. #lsp13
— Jordan Kasper (@jakerella) June 28, 2013
"Engaging, thorough, research-based. Great talk with a lot of informative answers about how to enact change in your own organizations to make them more inclusive & diverse spaces."
"A great look at the subtle things that are happening to hamper diversity. A lot of great facts about the current situation and a solid list of things we can all be doing to improve the environment for everyone."
"This was very informative and the group discussion was very insightful!"
"Ashe is a great speaker - it helps that she is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about about the topic. Her timing was very good and she engaged the audience well during questions."
Quotes taken from reviews on Joind.in.
Ashe Dryden is a programmer, diversity advocate and consultant, prolific writer,