There’s an article in today’s NY Times about women in the fields of science, technology and engineering. The article describes the macho and sometimes hostile environment women experience in these male-dominated fields.
I don’t question that it is hard for women to maintain long work experience in those fields. What I question and where I point my finger is that the NY Times decided to put this article in their Fashion and Style section. Seriously? They have a Technology section. They have a Science section. They have a Business section. What was the thinking behind this placement? Hey this story is about women let’s put it in the Fashion and Style section even though there is nothing in the story that talks about Fashion or Style.
The NY Times is part of the problem because they shuffle a story like this into the fluffy section (yes, bring the hate that I, as a woman, have decided that the Fashion and Style section is fluffy). I don’t work in the fields described in the article. I have a sister who does and I was once a system administrator. I work with someone who has a daughter in high school who wants to be an engineer. I owe it to these women to stand up and tell the NY Times to stuff it. I’m firing up my email to unleash the hounds.
Update:
My email:
I enjoyed your article on diversity in the SET fields. I have worked as a system administrator and my sister holds a PhD and works for an environmental company so the subject is close to me. I question the decision to place this story in the Fashion and Style section of the NY Times website when there are more appropriate sections for this story (business, science or technology). I think by placing this article in a section populated by “what’s new on the catwalk” stories demotes the subject.
It’s disappointing to see serious stories about women shuffled off to the “fluff” section of the paper.
The writer’s response:
Its not as bad as all that. I write a column about life and work. Have been for nine years. Until last year it ran every week in the business section, where apparently you never saw it. No one else did, either, so I asked that it be moved to Styles which has twice the readership and where I get twice the space. Now people like you actually find it, and that, after all, is the point…
No ghettoizing here, really.
Thanks for writing