We Need Feminist Tech Activism

Welcome everybody.

My name is Carmel Hassan Montero. I'm a computer engineer. I started working as a web developer but soon I changed so I could become a specialist in Interaction Design.

We need feminist tech activism.

I studied Computer Sciences at the University of Granada at a time when female students were 30% approx. Not too bad, right? We believed we were part of an exclusive and special club of 'smart people'. We never thought that was a problem.

Back then, in 2001, I remember there was an online forum hosted by the school, so students could find new ways of learning from the community. The most visited thread was about a beauty contest where they (men mostly) would decide who was Miss CS Female Student of the year. Based on our hips and teats. We thought it was funny, nominated women felt proud, and non-nominated felt invisible (which was a relief). We never thought it was a problem.

New threads raised up quickly: "first-grade brunette" and other threads gossiping about those who didn't want to follow their jokes because "they must be lesbians," they said. Apparently, not a problem.

I also remember a teacher who used to evaluate us by asking questions in front of everyone very aggressively. His manners make us cry. But in the bathroom. We had to hide because "we must be strong like them”. We thought we were the problem.

Another teacher used to send by email sexist jokes to other teachers and students, nothing too harmful, just humour. Not a problem. In the same department, another teacher was arrested by the police because he was downloading child pornography. Totally unrelated.

Today, in Spain on average there are only 16% of female students in the grades of Computer Sciences. There are people who still don't see this as a problem, others are still asking why we even wonder since this is just “a free women’s decision”.

The problem is our culture of tolerance of violence and our sexist education.

Patriarchy doesn't happen in a day, we cannot expect to beat it in a day either.

We need feminist tech activism.

I must confess I was not very active or provocative then. I didn't call myself a feminist although I considered myself a person with strong values and an interest in politics.

I sometimes acted as an ally of the patriarchy. Just looking the other way, laughing and even standing by the aggressors. Because that's what they were, that's what they are. And I apologise for that.

After some years of working in the tech industry, receiving comments about my body by the CEO of the first company I worked in on my first day at work, and being sexually stalked in another company by a male coworker who didn't accept several NOs as an answer, I started to feel weird.

I felt alone.

Few years later, I was working on a start-up with 3 other women and 15 men. And I cannot tell when was the exact moment but I started hearing the same comments, observing the same behaviours, and receiving the same kind of jokes… that was more than a toxic environment, it was a culture of violence at work.

We need feminist tech activism.

I started to read because… I felt helpless. Was this happening only to me? Was this happening because of me? I read an article titled 'I'm sick to death of being a woman in tech' and it opened my eyes. I cannot face this alone. I suddenly decided to post a shy tweet asking whether there were other women like me feeling the same in their working places. I got the answer of quite a few and we decided to meet in Málaga.

It was in July 2015. That was the first meet-up of Yes We Tech. For some time it felt like therapy. We needed to share, listen, understand and explain our feelings so we could start thinking about why and what we were fighting for.

Indeed, Yes We Tech started as a therapy group. Then it moved to a community of women in technology who wanted to support other women. And, today, is an NGO with very strong beliefs and values and an agenda: empowerment, education, support and standing by the victims of violence.

I can tell you many things about the activities we've made with these goals in mind. Workshops, networking meetings, professional events where women were represented, safe spaces, 100% free grants for unemployed women, educational content creation and so on.

Just last year, in 2022, we participated in schools and institutional conferences to talk about the need for an inclusive education program. We organised an international conference, Wey Wey Web with 60% of women and non-binary people on the panel of speakers coming from different origins. And we gave 5 grants, mentored more than 15 women and created a resource of knowledge called 'The Easy Drive' (you know, the hard drive doesn't need to be hard or soft, but easy instead).

We do all things not just to get an immediate impact. Well, yes, we actually look for that too but there's more. We are seeding. We're trying to impose a new culture, more inclusive, more feminist, and more diverse. A culture that does not normalise violence. Who celebrate women interested in technology and sciences. Who doesn't think the problem is on us.

So now I'm in front of you, and I feel grateful to share with you this story. I've been thinking a lot about how or what to say, and I apologise if it sounds too blatant but there's no other way to talk about these things to me now. We all are adults here, we don't need to sugarcoat it.

There's a problem. The percentage itself is not the problem but the sign and evidence that there is an unnoticed reality.

We need feminist tech activism.

Since I started with this community I've been called many things. It is not uncommon in Spain to be called 'feminazi' when you are addressing gender inequality issues. The word is a contraction of nazism and feminism as if by rising concerns and criticism of a male dominant culture we were really organising a male extermination.

I've been told that I discriminate against men because I use inclusive language in my public communications (you know in Spanish the word 'you folks' or they are different for men, women and non-binary people as the Spanish language has grammatical gender).

I've heard people "worried" because 'I could be very sensitive to certain comments at work'. That it's true. Homophobic, ableist, racist and sexist jokes are not jokes, they are microaggressions. And you know what? It matters. My palestinian heritage matters, and my sexuality matters. But even if my identities were none of those, I'm a feminist and I would choose to be a feminist. I believe that we all have the same right to be treated fairly and we have the same right to have the same opportunities at work despite our gender, origin, sexual orientation, age, family situation, capabilities or physical conditions. And I stand for these values, I fight for these values, and I chase them.

I cannot ignore that 4 years ago someone made these even more urgent to me, personally. I had a daughter. She's smart, brave, beautiful and unique as she is. All kids are, actually. Children deserve better. Our daughters deserve to grow with full confidence in themselves, with enough space to develop their imagination and capabilities without fear of being judged. This is not solved with workshops to teach them to program or play with robots, but with spaces where they all can explore, they all are heard, they all are invited to participate, they all can decide whether they want their robots to run, to fly, to look like unicorns or dinosaurs.

So I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that we need feminist tech activism.

This is not just about me, or some of us. The more we fight for equality the better. The more events led by women, the more women speaking at professional conferences, the more women sharing their experiences, mentoring other women, and being aware of red flags, the better. If you're not a woman you could be at least a feminist. Yes, I know not all women would call themself that, I'm not trying to tag you. You could be whatever you want. But if you don't contribute, at least set aside (In Spanish you can say 'si no aportas ¡aparta!'). Do not disturb, because equality is an urgent and important matter and there’s a reminder on the streets every 8th of March.

Maybe you wonder now, what does this have to do with technology? Well, guess what? Machism is transversal. Male-dominated environments are at risk of getting toxic due to sexist education. Only people with feminist values can make them safe and healthy for everyone.

I'm not trying to convince you by giving you all the numbers that prove that diverse teams actually perform better and increase companies' profitability. They exist. You can find them on the Internet, it's the best invention we've made as technologists.

I'm telling you that technology is just another profession with political and economic power. Technology is defining societies, deciding how we work and what we consume. Technology is present in healthcare, agriculture, transportation, education, and many more places. It's part of our homes and our lives. And there are people deciding who can use it and who can't. There are people designing this technology and making it available for specific populations, and not others. Technology is built and created by people like you and me.

That is why we need feminist tech activism.

Thank you very much.

This talk was presented during the first week of March 2023. These words tell only my own experience about how Yes We Tech was founded and my own opinions about the need for feminist tech activism.

If you agree with this message, please share it one million times, I wish it could be inspiring to others. Thank you very much.