Why do people assume if youre a girl that you don't understand electronics?

[Iwanushka]

An acquaintance of mine is an extremely wealthy entrepreneur. But he is a down to earth Aussie who wore a blue singlet and shorts into some Melbourne Mercedes dealerships to test drive a high end sports car. He was virtually shown the door at two dealerships after he asked for a test drive. He went to a third dealership who treated him with respect and let him test drive the car. After he finished the test drive, the bloke ordered TWO - one for his brother and one for him - a half million dollar sale. The word had got around and the first dealer called him after he heard of the big sale, saying "Sorry we were busy but if you ever want sell, please call us to get a good deal." He promptly told that dealer where he can go in rather colourful language .

Assume nothing, expect anything.

I always wear something like that when I go the bank, it's quite funny how they look at you until they see your account - world just flips over...

[langwadt]

Hiya

Unfortunately stereotypes exist in every area. Its not unusual to have a female doctor - males and females train together and are treated by each other during training as equals unless cultural differences overwhelm common sense. In postgraduate training the stereotypes start - between medicine and surgery and within subspecialisation. How often do you see a female surgeon - unless it is in ophthalmic or obstetric surgery?

maybe they are just not interested. Males and females are different and that is just fine

[rrinker]

 It's not just electronics, or high tech fields. My ex wife has degrees in both chemistry and biology. At one time, we were both looking for cars. She's as much of a car person as I am - her first car was an MG Midget, which she took care of herself - and anyone who knows those older British cars know they need a lot of TLC to keep going. With her first husband she had a fully restored show winning 1956 Chevy. She did at LEAST as much work on it as he did. So since we worked in different areas, I went to the dealer nearest me, and she went to the one nearest her. The salesman I got linked with took me out driving, pointing out all the performance features and so forth. When I compared notes with my ex, she said most of the time while out test driving, her salesman kept pointing out all the convenience and comfort features, like the cupholders, the link for garage door openers, that sort of thing.
 Now my current GF, she's not really into cars at all. She doesn't even like mine, says it rides too rough. She is the type who that previous salesman was geared for with a female customer. But she also knows that, so when she recently bought a new car, I was along and she had me drive it as well to see what I thought, before making any sort of commitment.
 She also has no clue what 99% of the stuff on my electronics bench is, or what half the things she got me off my Christmas wish list were for. But that's ok, too. She's a million times more artistic than I ever could be.

[GreyWoolfe]

She also has no clue what 99% of the stuff on my electronics bench is, or what half the things she got me off my Christmas wish list were for. But that's ok, too.

SWIMBO is the same way though she does know what a soldering iron looks like.  Everything else, not so much.  On the top shelf of my bench is the gigabit switch with the MTA and router sitting on it.  Her name for all of that?  Blinky sh!t.  She tells everyone that with all of the crap (her words) in my office, I am probably sitting there contacting Jupiter.  I just 

[Beamin]

In Australia, men prefer Weller and women prefer Wella. But assume nothing. Some sales dude assuming a woman does not know much about electronics is a bit like Starbucks calling in the cops on two "African Americans" because they entered the store and sat down without buying a coffee is pure discrimination on an individual.

The message is pretty powerful...

That is why I don't live in  the south or even go too far into the redneck parts of the state. You don't realize you have white male privilege until you don't have it any more.

Being small/ not having muscles anymore I can't fight or really do anything and if I have to call the cops I want to make sure they are on my side and they won't be if they are rednecks, they are actually a bigger threat.

But on the plus side I found if I'm feeling lazy and don't feel like fixing/doing something I can pretend I'm dizzy "Like... I totally like don't get it. Can you help?" And sometimes sex (specifically pink lip gloss and high heels for some reason) sells. Some guys have an obsession with transwomen because they have never met one or even less likely dated one.

I always find ways to turn disadvantages into advantages so in the mean time I can handle people thinking I don't get it. Always easy to impress someone when their expectations are already low.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out when I finish college and try to get a job in the tech sector. I used to think I had to get a job like that because the total customer/people interaction was low. Now I feel that was such a ridiculous thought and I should never hide who I am or look/pretend I'm 100% female. I takes a lot of balls to hide your balls under a skirt or have them chopped off! 

Does anyone here have a wife or female family that works in tech?

[brucehoult]

Does anyone here have a wife or female family that works in tech?

Sure.

My wife (46 yrs old) did a 6 year Master's degree in computer programming, and worked as a programmer then project leader for a while. But then she went back and did another 6 year Master's in Graphic Design and works in that now. Her 70 yr old mother was also a computer programmer, using Ada in Russia back in the 80s.

My sister did a mechanical engineering degree, paid for my the RNZAF, and then worked on A4 Skyhawk engines, then on the "Kahu" project to upgrade the A4's with new wings and F/A-18 avionics, and then on another project to upgrade C130s (also with new wings and other stuff).

A former gf (in 2005) was a whiz at configuring Linux kernels and drivers to get Linux working on all kinds of weird notebook computers. She also liked to make KDE pretty and wrote KDE documentation and published articles in places such as linuxjournal.com.

The gf before that was a classical pianist, but in the time we were together (eight years) she learned enough computer programming that we both got H-1B visas in 2001 to work as Java programmers in the same company in Chicago.

[Echo88]

How can someone criticize people in hardware-shops as "people with asperger, who are too small, without muscles and dont have a real job" and then bitch about not be taken seriously as a woman interested in tech, not realizing that you also generalized about people?

Sorry, but would it be the other way around "Im a man in a women-shoe-department and want to buy shoes for my girl, but those sales-women dont take me serious. Must be because theyre all fat and ugly bitches, which id never fuck. You know what i mean?!  " then this thread would be closed instantly by the moderators.

Those dudes surely dont get paid much and cant answer your arduino or other hardware-questions, but that doesnt mean its okay to despise them.

[Beamin]

Does anyone here have a wife or female family that works in tech?

Sure.

My wife (46 yrs old) did a 6 year Master's degree in computer programming, and worked as a programmer then project leader for a while. But then she went back and did another 6 year Master's in Graphic Design and works in that now. Her 70 yr old mother was also a computer programmer, using Ada in Russia back in the 80s.

My sister did a mechanical engineering degree, paid for my the RNZAF, and then worked on A4 Skyhawk engines, then on the "Kahu" project to upgrade the A4's with new wings and F/A-18 avionics, and then on another project to upgrade C130s (also with new wings and other stuff).

A former gf (in 2005) was a whiz at configuring Linux kernels and drivers to get Linux working on all kinds of weird notebook computers. She also liked to make KDE pretty and wrote KDE documentation and published articles in places such as linuxjournal.com.

The gf before that was a classical pianist, but in the time we were together (eight years) she learned enough computer programming that we both got H-1B visas in 2001 to work as Java programmers in the same company in Chicago.

Beside myself the women in my family tend to run the people side of the husband/wife business. Probably everyone here has used some sort of technology my family invented possibly even right now. They are the 1% hopefully I'll be joining them in a few years. 99%  sucks it does when you grew up 1%. But it taught me how to be charitable and less is more. So I won't be an asshole 1%er.

[Echo88]

May is ask what technology your family has invented?

[coppice]

It seems to be a largely western phenomenon. In former USSR and China today, female EEs are not unusual.

I don't know about Russia, but in China female EEs are rare. A number of Chinese women study electronics, but they go into sales and marketing. I see less women doing actual engineering work in China than in the US. If you interact technically with someone in China it will often be a woman, because a lot of women study English to reasonable standard. They will be passing on any non-trivial questions to a man in most cases.

[GlennSprigg]

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE, between a girl/woman who knows a 'Company' inside-out, and where all the parts
are stored, (which I've often found to be GREATLY helpful), and a girl/woman who is 'trained' electronically.
If they 'are' electronically/technically trained, then that's GREAT, and Kudos to them, seriously !!!!

However, experience has shown that of the THOUSANDS of phone calls I have made, for numerous technical
Companies, a lot of time has been wasted speaking to the wrong person..... And that does NOT mean women.
If I said..... "Have you got the 24v Solenoid, brand 'XYZ', shown as Model 'SL234' in your catalog"......
then I expect, & find, that almost 100% of company females will know exactly what I mean, from their computer!

However... if I say something like......
"Your model ABC123 has an Impedance that is too low.....  can you suggest an alternative".......
Usually after a 5 sec pause, I hear the likes of......
"Oh...  let me put you through to someone who might know"......
And that's sort of normal & expected, except when sometimes the person keeps you on the line for 1/4 hour,
talking back & forward, before finally connecting you to someone else.....
I don't BLAME them for not knowing !!! but put me through !!!  :-)

[Eka]

Does anyone here have a wife or female family that works in tech?

My SIL is a radar tracking software guru working at a major radar research lab.

[CopperCone]

i always wonder if someones dress obsession is going to result in ghost in the shell thermoptical camouflage, i kind of see like in my head some woman with all those dynamics figured out in her head that learns FPGA and then the Illuminati reveal music plays and everyone is running around invisible, or maybe some kind of elastic muscle suit thing that can stretch all the fibers in the right places

[apblog]

Does anyone here have a wife or female family that works in tech?

My mom invented a new category of optical image sensors in the 70s, and she physically made them herself in the lab. And made other breakthroughs that I won’t be specific about here. She knew the inner workings of semiconductor physics better than most EEs.

She never got her college degree either. She worked her way up from secretary to scientist by studying on her own and taking night classes.

And she did this starting in the 60s with all the men trying to keep her down and steal credit for her work.

So yeah, never underestimate a woman.

[nidlaX]

There's an image of which I hope to never be reminded.   

REMINDED???

[ebastler]

i always wonder if someones dress obsession is going to result in ghost in the shell thermoptical camouflage, i kind of see like in my head some woman with all those dynamics figured out in her head that learns FPGA and then the Illuminati reveal music plays and everyone is running around invisible, or maybe some kind of elastic muscle suit thing that can stretch all the fibers in the right places

 

That is one strange cascade of associations (to me). You must have been watching different movies than me, or been consuming different recreational substances. 

[cowasaki]

In a thread about stereotyping I'm going to do just that....

If the person you walk up to in <insert electronic component shop> really knows his stuff then WHY would he or she work in an electronic component shop when the knowledge he or she has would get a far higher paying job elsewhere?

The fact is that these shops pay little more than minimum wage and so the people working there seldom know very much at all.  Yes there are exceptions to that and I'm sure that there are many of them BUT why would you.  I've been in a certain electronics retailer and been waiting for the sales person (because I needed more of a certain component than I could see) and he was telling someone something that was plainly wrong.  I started laughing to which the sales person said "that's rude".  I said that I couldn't help it but he plainly had no idea what he was talking about and told the person what the sales person should have done.  I felt bad for the sales person but it doesn't change the fact that after the internet these shops are barely profitable so can't get the staff they really should because they can't pay enough.  Years ago I could need a specific IC or something like that and would go to the electronics shop where I would buy maybe 5 because I would use the others.  Now I would place an order for five on the internet and get then, probably, next day anyway.  If I really did need it that day I would buy one and place an order on the internet (I like to have spares of cheap components just in case).

As for the transgender/female/male issue we are often talking about young lads (I'm not stereotyping here but almost all the sales staff in these shops ARE young lads).  Now young lads may never have even seen someone who is transgender and may genuinely feel unable to deal with the situation.  If, as a girl, you genuinely do not look transgender then maybe the sales person has little experience dealing with girls!  I would go into the local Maplin, occasionally, with my daughter and the staff (all lads from 16-22) would follow her round like lost puppies!

[Raj]

To me,everyone is dumb until I find a clue,proving they aren't.
But let me tell you,there are jokes about how,theres no girls in IIT colleges.

[Kjelt]

It also depends on culture. In my country Beta interested women are rare, but change is slowly happening.
We had some Beta graduated women join ten years ago and talking to them it seemed like it was very common in Spain. So I guess its also culturally forced.
The other weird thing where my wife really gets upset about is that most women in our country work less than 24 hrs a week. It looks like they do their job on the side.

[GlennSprigg]

I love when Women get technical !,  Seriously !!!!!
It's such a pleasant change from my 'ex'......
I'm an 'Avid' follower of 'Fran Blanche' on Youtube......
Check her out here, and her HUNDREDS of posts!!!!!........

[Kjelt]

Opposites attract, if I look around in my technicall colleagues and friends department the best matches are nurses / school teachers or other nurturing professions.

[Seekonk]

Are you sure it really isn't that men don't know how to talk to women about anything?

[Kjelt]

or vice versa, why do only the man have to adapt?

[GreyWoolfe]

Are you sure it really isn't that men don't know how to talk to women about anything?

or vice versa, why do only the man have to adapt?

Mrs. GreyWoolfe and I communicate very well together, thank you.  However, it may be the fact that we have 5 marriages between us and have learned (maybe the hard way) how important communication is.  Our jobs also help.  She is a medical assistant and I am a field service tech working with government agencies.  Proper, professional and respectful communications is essential.  We have both been at it long enough that that type of communications bleeds over into everyday life.  Unlike Raj, it seems, I give everyone the benefit of the doubt at first.  It is up to you to prove that I should or shouldn't continue.

[Bud]

I love when Women get technical !,  Seriously !!!!!
It's such a pleasant change from my 'ex'......
I'm an 'Avid' follower of 'Fran Blanche' on Youtube......

Transgender cases are not clear cut for the topic.