Slides and notes from WordCamp Cape Town Talk 2018
I was privileged to give a talk about making a tech space more welcoming at WordCamp Cape Town this year. This is an interesting topic, because there is so much information on it, and it blends some objective reality with subjective experiences.
This post will include links to my slides and some of the sources that I used in creating this talk.
I am incredibly grateful to the organizers of WordCamp Cape Town for allowing me to present on this topic as it is much easier to ignore the unpleasant realities than to have the difficult conversations.
I would also like to point out that as a cis hetrosexual white woman I am pretty high up on the privilege chain. I hope in this case I used my privilege for good.
Slides
Sources used in creating this talk
As an aside, thank you to the creators of Evernote for allowing me to keep track of a lot of these sources. I am not the most diligent user, but this talk would have been much more difficult without my notebook.
Probably the most valuable resource that you can invest in is Nene Molefi’s book A Journey of Diversity and Inclusion in South Africa – Guidelines for Leading Inclusively, you can buy it from Takealot.com or Loot.co.za you can also buy the ebook directly from KR publishers.
Blogs, videos and articles etc that I used in formulating this talk
These links are presented in no particular order at all. A few of them are found on sites that are not safe for work or minors and are marked NSFW. I am erring on the side of caution and marking the post NSFW if the site deals with any adult topic regardless of whether the post itself does or not.
In all honesty, this talk was pruned so ruthlessly in an attempt to get it to the 35 minute mark (which I failed at, thanks to Gareth for letting me go over time) that it is likely that some of these resources weren’t directly used, but they all influenced and helped shape the presentation. As such, I am including them here:
- “Say What Now?”: Microaggressions in the Office – they’re not as small as you think
- No more rock stars: How to stop abuse in tech communities
- After the
toxicity the toxicity remains - The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google
- Smashing the Patriarchy: Anti-Lean in Strategy puts the onus on men
- Why don’t you just hit him
- Technology’s Man Problem
- Why Women Quit Technology
- Anti-oppression 101 (Video)
- Thoughts on a diversity discussion
- How to apologize when you get called out
- Why pressuring someone to educate you about their struggles is oppression, not understanding
- Intent versus Impact: Why your intentions don’t matter
- Don’t be evil
- I’m angry because I’m afraid
- Lean In: Karen Walrond’s Story
- A Twitter thread about what happened when a man and a woman swapped email signatures
- Working While Female
- When “Life-Hacking” is
really white privilege - How to get ahead in Silicon Valley – Hide being a woman, says male “expert”
- Diversity and Inclusion are not interchangeable – here’s how to use them correctly
- How diversity makes us smarter
- Liz Fong-Jone’s Twitter Feed
- Not just a river in Egypt (NSFW)
- On building a culture of consent (NSFW)
- We all need mirrors (NSFW)
- We are the cops (NSFW)
Good general websites
- The Ada Initiative – closed in 2015 but still has good resources
- Everyday Feminism
- Quartz at Work on Diversity and Inclusion
- Compassionate Coding
Resources if you are harassed at work
If you are the victim of harassment or discrimination at work, here are some resources that might be helpful:
- The CCMA has a specific page dealing with unfair discrimination
- The South African Labour Guide has articles, resources and reports about the labour law’s impact relating to incidents of harassment and racism
- A
US based resource, Better Brave, has some helpful guides
Mental Health Resources
As being harassed or abused can have a negative impact on your mental health you might want to reach out to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group for specific resources in your area.
Open Sourcing Mental Health provides some resources to help you to become stronger than before.
Indirectly related resources
- Brene Brown’s writing, specifically Daring Greatly
- Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger: South Of Forgiveness
Conclusion
These are difficult conversations to have. Very few people delight in other people’s suffering. But, it is up to us to step up and be brave. To listen to people who are different from us.
We have the power to make the world better, so let’s do that.