Am I the Only Woman in This Sea of Men?
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Hi Jessica, your knowledge base and skills seem way above mine, so great to have your input.
On your topic of gender (which in an ideal world is irrelevant), I don't know why there are fewer women in I.T. than should be expected.
In the summer a female friend attended a "Women in I.T." meet up in London and came back saying many of the women at that meet were trans. That wouldn't matter matter to me, but it was around the time of the olympic debate, when the media were questioning whether birth gender should matter in competitive situations. In this particular case there were grants available for women to train in I.T.
So similar to the 'Olympics level playing field discussions' do you think any assistances only offered to women should equally be available for Trans women?
We dont normally have political / social discussions on this site, but it is an interesting topic. -
Oh wow, I hadnāt even thought about this before. As someone in the LGBTQIA+ community (firmly planted in the āLā word - pun intended - of the rainbow), this perspective is fascinating and new to me.
Letās start with the sports part first, since itās where the comparisons often come up. I used to be a bodybuilder, yes, the kind who lived in the gym and occasionally flexed for a mirror that may or may not have been imaginary. Back in the day (a couple of decades ago, judge away, I can take it), a lot of women in the sport took "enhancements." And guess what? Many of us lifted as much or almost as much as the guys. But does that mean we can all throw on some cleats and go tackle each other in a football game? Probably not. Sports are tricky because physical differences can matter depending on the context. I would not want to be any type of judge on this matter, as I would defend my trans peeps.
In the military, letās just say there were no men putting me on the floor during PT. I could run circles around most of them, and not to brag (okay, maybe a little), but I usually left them in the dust. If sports are about physical performance, the military and bodybuilding taught me that sheer determination and hard work can level the playing field and sometimes tip it entirely.
But hereās where I really get fired up: IT. How in the h-e-double-hockey-sticks does gender or gender identity even factor in when it comes to being good at IT? Are we saying men are inherently better at coding? Iād kindly like to boot up my Linux distro and slap that idea straight into the kernel and watch it panic - again... pun intended -. IT is about brainpower, creativity, and problem-solving not chromosomes WTAFSAPTA (Just made it up don't ask).
When it comes to programs like grants for women in IT, I say letās keep the focus on breaking down barriers. Historically, women, cis and trans, have faced enough of those to last a lifetime. If weāre trying to make IT more inclusive, why would we nitpick over who qualifies for assistance? Trans women, who face even more bias, absolutely deserve a seat at the table (and probably a bigger one, considering how often theyāve been excluded).
In short: sports might have some gray areas, and the military and bodybuilding gave me muscles and a competitive streak, but IT? IT is a wide-open playing field. Talent doesnāt care about gender. Letās just make sure everyone gets a fair shot to play.
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Totally agree. And sometimes I wonder if organisations giving grants 'to only women' (of whatever classification) isnt just perpetuating prejudices (if there is still any).
I know it comes from a good place but 'grants for people who need them' to get into the industry (for whatever reason) might be more sound!Re LGBTQIA+, Im going to have to google what the IA+ groups are, as this mnemonic keeps getting longer lol
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Of course, I cannot imagine what transwomen (and our transmen) go through!
I = "Intersex"
A = "Asexual/Ally/Abrosexual"-- Yeah, on this side of the pond, we call it the "Alphabet Mafia"
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There you go! I will make a plea to the board
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I am not... I am not even sure how to get started with it. I have NodeBB at: https://discussions.codenamejessica.com but it is still v3.11.1
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Yes it wont be included as an option until v4, hopefully will be main branch soon.
Im running the Beta with it in though.
I have an idea for something that can run on top of that, but my coding level isnt quite upto it. Do you mind if I DM you my idea? -
Sure! I also have the chat section on my site. That way we can just chat it up if you like
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Im trying to register, but it says my password too weak, even though I have 8 characters/numbers.
Does it require extra special characters?The nodebb registration / email validation has been the thing Ive had most problems with over the years on my own instances
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Let me check the password complexity.
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I decreased it to 1, I did have it at 2. I do Cybersecurity for work.
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This is NodeBB's password levels:
<select id="minimumPasswordStrength" class="form-select" data-field="minimumPasswordStrength">
<option value="0">0 - too guessable: risky password</option>
<option value="1">1 - very guessable</option>
<option value="2">2 - somewhat guessable</option>
<option value="3">3 - safely unguessable</option>
<option value="4">4 - very unguessable</option>
</select> -
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Let me create a private chat for us
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Try now, if it doesn't work. Then log out and log in, it should work then
