Technology has always been a male domain in the western world, especially in Germany. I remember my youth in the late 1980s and 90s: Whether at school, during study and career guidance or at university - girls and women were perceived to be denied any talent or interest in technical subjects.
Prejudices at School
I still remember an ironic comment from a teacher: she said that it was tactically unwise to focus on technology as an elective subject for girls, as it would be of no use to us later on. Instead, focusing on foreign languages would make much more sense for girls.
The situation was also similar for the opposite sex: my male classmates had to struggle with the respective stereotypes when they wanted to choose supposedly female subjects such as Housekeeping and Textiles (H&T). Few of them had the courage to choose H&T anyway, defying explicit and hidden expectations. I, on the other hand, did not have the courage to choose technology. Influenced by my upbringing and social structures, I had a very high barrier in my head. It was too high for me to choose the subject I was passionate about and would have enjoyed.
It took me many years of inner work. But at the end, I was able to change my mindset enough to find my calling and fulfillment in the tech world. I admit that I owe the courage to open myself up to this domain primarily to a man, my then husband.
The Unexpected Decision to Study Engineering
His passion for computer games had awakened in him the desire to develop software himself. So he studied computer science. Thanks to him, I quickly gained access to this world, which had previously seemed closed to me. I quickly discovered that I not only enjoyed technical content, but also had a clear talent as a techie. My husband encouraged me, so I enrolled at the university.
What I didn't realize when I made this decision was the small number of other women who had access to it at that time. As early as the first semester, I realized that my gender was clearly in the minority. Being one of only a few women certainly had some practical advantages: As an exotic female and at the semester parties and on campus, I could be sure of my fellow students' attention. In lectures and internships, on the other hand, stereotypes about women were often invoked and it was difficult to break free from them. This didn't get any easier when I entered professional life. My only strategy was to fight against these stereotypes and not to doubt myself.
I quickly learned to go the extra mile and be one step ahead of my male colleagues. This meant I could no longer be ignored and I came closer to finally being taken seriously. It was a rocky and often very lonely road for me and I'm sure for other women who started working in IT professions in the 2000s and 2010s as well.
Tailwind Through Cultural Differences
In the course of my international career, I noticed that the barriers are less visible in large Asian countries such as China and India. The proportion of highly qualified women who work in technical professions is significantly higher. All of a sudden there were more of us in the team and sometimes we even exceeded the critical mass of 30% female employees and in India we even cracked the 50% mark. That would have been completely unthinkable in Germany.
For me, it was a new feeling and an enriching experience to finally have "sisters" at my side: Colleagues with a similar skills profile who think like me, feel like me, speak and act like me and have the same challenges as me. This experience connected me more deeply with the team and the work. And it made the daily challenges easier. I was able to free myself from my isolation and self-doubts. When I had the feeling that I wasn't understood and was labeled as too "emotional", "intuitive", "dogged" or even ridiculed, I was no longer alone. I was understood, taken seriously and listened to. And suddenly there were colleagues around me who felt the same way and who knew these experiences.
In addition, my female colleagues also knew the pressure of being a mother and fulfilling social expectations on the one hand and performing alongside men at work on the other, thus breaking down widespread prejudices. We had few role models to look up to. This is why we saw each other as like-minded people, regardless of our German, Chinese, Indian or any other nationalities. We were united by our passion for tech and being a woman in a male-dominated world.
And although women are in no way inferior to men when it comes to technical expertise, this does not lead me to believe that women and men are completely the same. I often notice that women think, feel and approach things differently. This is certainly due to the fact that women have a different social responsibility than men in virtually every culture and every state system. This assumption was shared by the male and female members of my teams. In this atmosphere of mutual respect, all colleagues worked together more productively than I have ever experienced before. We met as equals.
Women have their own needs and require their own expression, which should ideally find its way into the tech domain. Not only has the increased diversity improved the maturity level of the teams in general, but there have also been very specific optimizations: Think of flexible working hours, virtual working, better occupational healthcare and safety, etc. - framework conditions that are not only due to women (with families), but have been demanded by them for a very long time.
A lot has happened since my youth, when girls were discouraged in their technical ambitions by just a few words from a teacher. Not everything is perfect by any means. There is still a long way to go. But in the meantime, I am enjoying the experiences in Asia, where many more women are opting for technical studies and are already making a difference for our gender in the industry.
A shout out to all girls and women: Be bold to open yourselves to technical disciplines! They offer a great scope for growth, not least influencing career and salary. Every one of you who enters this world makes it a little more feminine and therefore more diverse.