An American woman’s blog post about sexism in the tech industry has gone viral and spawned the hashtag #Ilooklikeanengineer.
Isis Wenger, a software engineer living in San Francisco, has hit out at sexist interpretations of what “a female engineer should look like” after a picture taken of her for her employer’s recruitment campaign attracted negative comments on social media.
One Facebook commenter called the campaign “weird haphazard branding” to attract more women and said they didn’t think it was “remotely plausible..if women in particular buy this image of what a female software engineer looks like”.
Another said: “If their intention is to attract more women then it would have been a better to choose a picture with a warm, friendly smile rather than a sexy smirk. (sic).”
In response, Ms Wenger said she was not a representation of what a female engineer looked like because there was no such thing. She was an individual, just like every other female engineer.
She said: “Some people think I’m not making ‘the right face’. Others think that this is unbelievable as to what ‘female engineers look like’.
“News flash: this isn’t by any means an attempt to label ‘what female engineers look like.’ This is literally just ME, an example of ONE engineer at OneLogin. The ad is supposed to be authentic. My words, my face, and as far as I am concerned it is.”
She encouraged people to share pictures of themselves with the hashtag #ILookLikeAnEngineer to prove there was no one size to fit all:
MechE degrees from @MIT and @Stanford, big fan of math, robots and the color pink. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/CMSiVl8szx
— Laura Martini (@martinibot) August 4, 2015
Engineering degrees from @MIT #ILookLikeAnEngineer (read: https://t.co/tZpuMu5fwT) pic.twitter.com/kKNEQqd5kq
— Emily Calandrelli (@TheSpaceGal) August 3, 2015
I am a CS degree holder who used to build autonomous robots in high school #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/LZLFFfLKL2
— Lindsey Bieda (@lindseybieda) August 3, 2015
I'm Ajuna, from Tanzania and have been coding for 2 years. Interning at @twitter this summer #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/x46s2fXFXH
— Ajuna Kyaruzi (@Funky_AJ) August 4, 2015
#ILookLikeAnEngineer The female flight controllers of STS-120. pic.twitter.com/5fqVKggn1p
— Holly (@absolutspacegrl) August 4, 2015
I've put Java, C#, Ruby, Golang, JavaScript, & a baby into Production this year. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/NDuZeVFkpv
— Lisa Smith (@lisariendeau) August 4, 2015
Even men tweeted their support:
#ILookLikeAnEngineer It's the mustache, right? I wanted to be an inventor when I grew up and I think I pulled it off.
— Andrew S. (@TheAJSinclair) August 4, 2015
My little niece hears your hashtags tonight @isisAnchalee @sailorhg @MsMinotaur #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/yTZswvb2j2
— James Lewis (@james_lewis_) August 4, 2015
Everybody should read this (especially IT guys) https://t.co/EO8Wpi440u
— Andre Maia (@yazdroid) August 3, 2015
#ILookLikeAnEngineer Love to build with Ruby on Rails & Ember.js, currently helping build Skynet at my 9-5 job, nbd. pic.twitter.com/6qXs4BzcK6
— Iheanyi Ekechukwu (@kwuchu) August 4, 2015
I enjoy low-level systems engineering. I study database theory. I’m a mentor to many. #ilooklikeanengineer. pic.twitter.com/uaFSaZge6e
— jonathan barronville (@jonathanmarvens) August 4, 2015
My mom, Perl hacker, 20+ years sys analyst. Nuclear physicist. Started coding on punch cards! #iLookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/0VhMB56ps6
— Marcos Caceres (@marcosc) August 4, 2015
But others soon pointed out it was not just women who face discrimination and stereotyping in the tech world:
I'm not in your SoMa office to unclog yr toilet, deliver tacos, or take out the trash & #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/fxQjkbKAH8
— Isaac Elias (@BrainScraps) August 4, 2015
I'm Korean, Dominican, Spanish, and five feet tall. I write code all day. I wear lipstick. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/XFY3AKjVzj
— Alisha Ramos (@alishalisha) August 4, 2015
Our founder @6gems is an Elec Engineer by trade + created BGC to train the next gen of engrs! #ilooklikeanengineer pic.twitter.com/sWUBAYofin
— BlackGirlsCode.Com (@BlackGirlsCode) August 4, 2015
