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Coding is a Privilege

Alisha Ramos
September 27, 2016

Coding is a Privilege

Talk given at CSSConf2016.

http://twitter.com/alishalisha

Alisha Ramos

September 27, 2016
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Transcript

  1. ASSUMPTIONS • You care about diversity in tech • You

    are interested in doing something about it
  2. TODAY'S TALK • Diversity in Tech • My Story •

    So What? • Privilege • How You Can Help
  3. Access to becoming an engineer should be wide open to

    all, but today that is far from the case.
  4. “ THE GOLD MEDAL WASN'T JUST FOR ME. IT'S FOR

    A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO CAME BEFORE ME. — Simone Manuel, 2016 Olympic gold medalist
  5. $ $$ $$$ Overcrowded urban high school Math and science

    magnet school Well-funded, affluent school
  6. FINDS A "RACE GAP" IN COMPUTER SCIENCE • Found that

    many classrooms were "technology rich but curriculum poor" • Only the wealthiest schools offered advanced courses, and few students of color enrolled in them • Uncovers dangerous belief systems students have about themselves, and teachers have about their students
  7. SWIMMING VS. COMPUTER SCIENCE • Something that people of color

    "don't do" • Associated with a certain "type" of person • Both began as a white-dominated activity
  8. Margolis states that the race gap in computer science education

    "is one example of the way students of color are denied a wide range of occupational and educational futures."
  9. COMPUTER SCIENCE IS MISSING FROM AMERICAN K-12 EDUCATION U.S. schools

    without a single CS course offered 75% Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/csforall-fact-sheet-9-13-16-long.pdf
  10. THE LACK OF ACCESS IS EVEN WORSE FOR UNDERREPRESENTED COMMUNITIES

    22% 13% Girls who took the AP Computer Science exam in 2015 African-American or Latino students who took the AP Computer Science exam in 2015 Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/csforall-fact-sheet-9-13-16-long.pdf
  11. Blacks and Latinxs earning CS Bachelor's degrees 18% 5% Source:

    code2040.org Blacks and Latinxs working in top tech companies
  12. The average salary of a tech worker is more than

    the median household income of a black family and a Latinx family combined. (The average net worth of a white family is 15x that of a black or Latina family.) Source: Pew Research Center
  13. The average salary of a tech worker is more than

    the median household income of a black family and a Latinx family combined. (The average net worth of a white family is 15x that of a black or Latinx family.) Source: Pew Research Center
  14. Being a developer is a position of privilege, but privilege

    should not be the only path to becoming one. Photo Source: #WOCinTechChat
  15. COMPUTER SCIENCE CAN BREAK THE CYCLE OF INEQUALITY. “ —

    Jane Margolis and Yasmin Kafai Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/17/why-the-coding-for-all-movement- is-more-than-a-boutique-reform/
  16. • Racial privilege • Socioeconomic privilege • Male privilege •

    Religious privilege • Geographical privilege • ...and more WE ARE NOT ALL ON AN EQUAL FOOTING
  17. Companies that lack diversity risk building products that exclude their

    customers. “ — Y-Vonne Hutchinson, "Biased by Design"
  18. https://app.box.com/s/bpk3v4umfbj8dkakepwvqpqt79y87tyt • Spend time with people from different backgrounds •

    Set data-driven tools and processes in place, especially for hiring and promotions WE CAN MANAGE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS
  19. THIS IS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.

    — Jane Margolis, "Stuck in the Shallow End" “ Photo: #WOCinTechChat