20 Years of Empowering Women in Computing:
Systers Past, Present, and Future
Carla Ellis, Duke UniversityRobin Jeffries, Google
Laurian Vega, Virginia TechDale Wolff, Emerging Health Information TechnologyMary Shaw, Carnegie-Mellon University (moderator)
The Systers Online The Systers Online CommunityCommunity
• Systers is the world’s largest email community of technical women in computing. – Founded by Anita Borg in 1987– Originally, small email list for women in
“systems” research – Now broadly promotes the interests of women in
computing and technology• Anita created Systers to “increase the
number of women in computer science and make the environments in which women work more conducive to their continued participation in the field.”
-- http://anitaborg.org/initiatives/systers
Today’s panelToday’s panel
Today we will examine– Past: the reasons for creating the systers
community– Present: the impacts systers has had to date– Future: ways for systers to exploit current
technologies to address current problems of women in technology.
ContextContextStatements from panelistsStatements from panelistsQuestions for panelQuestions for panelQuestions from audienceQuestions from audience
Organization
1987 cultural context -- 1987 cultural context -- mindsetmindset
In 1987, when systers was created,– “Cut and paste" involved scissors. – International ivory trade was legal.– “Avatar” was a Hindu deity, not your online persona.– The Berlin wall had not yet fallen. – Cellular telephones were very expensive and too big to
carry– Nutrition labels were not required on US prepackaged
food.– Dilbert wasn’t even a gleam in Scott Adam’s eye– The FCC repealed the "fairness doctrine". – The first heart-lung transplant took place. – Digital cameras were not yet available. – Nelson Mandela was still in prison.– FCC prohibited telephone carriers from offering
voicemail. -- Based on the Beloit College Mindset list, http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/
1987 context – status of 1987 context – status of womenwomen
We did not yet have– Title IX requirement for equity in college athletics
(1997)– Violence Against Women Act (1994)– Gender Equity in Education act (1994)– Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)
We did have some rulings– Supreme court ruled sexual harassment to be illegal
job discrimination (1986)– First woman won a civil suit as a battered wife
(1985)– Supreme Court banned sex discrimination in
membership of organizations like Jaycees, Kiwanis (1984)
1987 context – women in 1987 context – women in technologytechnology
• Women felt isolated in their jobs
• Numbers of women entering the field were dropping
1987 context – technical 1987 context – technical Why not use …
– Facebook or Second Life– LambdaMOO– The Web– AOL– Chat
1987 technology for virtual communities– Network news protocol for dialup usenet/uunet news
groups– NSFNet, 56Kbs backbone, only for researchers, 10K
hosts– Listserv for BITNET (another research network, but
dialup )– The WELL (2000 members)
started 2004, 2003
started 1991
started 1991
started 1989
IRC defined in 1988
1987 context – technical1987 context – technical
1987 technology for virtual communities– Network news protocol for dialup usenet/uunet news
groups– NSFNet, 56Kbs backbone, only for researchers, 10K hosts– Listserv for BITNET (another research network, but
dialup )– The WELL (2000 members)– monochrome screens, 2400baud dialup lines
Evolution of systersEvolution of systers
• Growth of numbers– 1987: 12 women in systems– Now: 2800 women, 54 countries,
1500 messages/yr• Shift of professional profile
– 1987: systems researchers– Now: all women involved in computing
• Early topics– What to wear to interview; dealing with menopause on
job• Recent topics
– How to have social network of women when job is all men
– Nerds auction themselves off to attract women to CS
0
1000
2000
3000
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Operation of systersOperation of systers
• Ground rules– Stay on topic: women and technology– Treat each other with respect (no flames) – What you read on systers, stays on systers– No commercial messages
• Changes in underlying technology– Initially: simple mailing list, manually administered– 1994: Mecca (written by Anita):
• database system; everyone has a profile, can target subsets of systers
• missing standard functionality (e.g., digests)• people didn't use profiles, had to write SQL to target
messages
– 2003: special version of mailman; allows systers to opt in or out of particular conversations
Impact of systersImpact of systers
• A virtual community at a time when other virtual communities were not available– isolation of technical women in the workplace– importance of being a woman-only forum– started just as women were leaving the field
• Spinoff listsresearcHers entrepreneurs
latinas LGBTJrProfessHers ProfessHers PhdJobhunters
• Research papers drawing on systers cohort
Pressure on anti-women Pressure on anti-women advertising/productsadvertising/products
• Examples– woman with electronics product in waistband
of bikini (crotch shot) – “rent it (hooker), lease it (woman with tennis
racket), own it (woman in wedding dress)” -- in ad for CAD software
– pole dancing desk toy in Frys– Barbie that says “math is soooo hard”
• Strategy– One syster finds contact information– Others bombard company with complaints– Usually we get at least an apology
Pass-it-on grantsPass-it-on grants
• Program honors Anita Borg• Small grants awarded from funds raised
by systers and GHC attendees• Grants carry obligation to pass on the
perceived value received to another woman in computing
• First 6 grants recently awarded (world wide)
• Plan to award them several times a year going forward
Carla EllisDuke University
An original Syster
Early activism of systersEarly activism of systers
• Doug Clark, PC Chair• Anant Agarwal, MIT• Brian Bershad, U
Washington• David Culler, UC Berkeley• Josh Fisher, HP Labs• Mark Hill, U Wisconsin• Wen-mei Hwu, U Illinois• Michael Powell, Sun Labs• Jim Smith, Cray Research
• Anita Borg, DEC• Susan Eggers, U
Washington• Carla Ellis, Duke• Monica Lam, Stanford• Susan Owicki, Consultant• Anne Rogers, Princeton• Margo Seltzer, Harvard• Mary Lou Soffa, U
Pittsburgh
Anita: “Why aren’t there any women on your Anita: “Why aren’t there any women on your program committee?”program committee?”Typical PC Chairman: “We can’t think of any.”Typical PC Chairman: “We can’t think of any.”So systers compiled & distributed a list of So systers compiled & distributed a list of qualified women.qualified women.One outcome - ASPLOS 1994:One outcome - ASPLOS 1994:
Carla EllisDuke University
An original Syster
Robin JeffriesGoogle
Her Systers' Keeper, the cat herder for the Systers electronic community
Dale WolffEmerging Health
Information Technology
A long-time Syster
Laurian VegaVirginia Tech
A relatively new Syster
Please join our community:
http://www.systers.org