Reality is set at a women’s tech conference

Last month’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC), an annual recruiting event of note guidance ‘Women and non-binary technologists’: Under fire after attendees complain that a large number of men showed up and dominated the job fair portion of the conference. “Pov: You’re at a women in tech conference watching men take jobs meant for girls,” reads the text of a viral tiktok video showing lines of men (mostly of Indian and Chinese origin) waiting to speak to tech recruiters at the conference, where admission costs range from $650 to $1,200. A female assistant published that “two men tried to follow her into the hotel room,” while others reported that the men “were talking about how women looked in their native language.”[s] so that others could [not] to understand.”

After the first day of the conference, which took place from September 26 to 29, a request circulated asking GHC to refund “all female attendees who have paid registration fees under false pretenses” and to “establish clear guidelines that only self-identified women or non-binary people may participate.” “It has come to our attention that a significant number of men participate in this event, which defeats its purpose and undermines the opportunities it seeks to provide women,” wrote the author of the petition, which received more of 2,500 signatures before publication. removed the next day.

Rumors circulated on social media that many men at the conference had chosen not to identify their gender (or identified as “non-binary”) on their registration forms to justify their attendance. They “delicacy[d] the system choosing to “prefer not to answer” to their pronouns, getting scholarships to cover their costs, taking up space that could have gone to smart women who worked tirelessly to get this incredible opportunity.” he wrote an assistant The petitioner proposed that GHC “implement a thorough verification process during registration to ensure compliance with the intended audience for the event,” a suggestion that sparked debate among attendees on Reddit. “Do you want GHC staff to check all participants? [sic] genitals or something?” he wrote a user “How will TF implement this? Penile inspection? DNA sample and blood test for testosterone?” wrote another.

Men identifying as “non-binary” at GHC in an attempt to access female-targeted scholarships and job offers would hardly be the first case of people opportunistically aligning themselves with “underrepresented minorities” for get preferential treatment. (Think, for example, of UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman recent claim that many asylum seekers pretend to be gay in order to “game the system” and stay in Britain.) The fluid nature of non-binary identity, which is essentially defined by its lack of definition, makes it a particularly easy target for this kind of co-optation. As online commenters were quick to point out, even a person’s chosen pronouns are no longer a sure indicator of their gender identity. “A good number of [non-binary people] prefer he/him pronouns,” he wrote a Reddit user in response to a comment suggesting that event organizers turn away attendees with “s/he laces” at the door. “There is a good chance of these [alleged men] they are neither cis nor men”.

In response to the barrage of criticism, Bo Young Lee, advisory chairman of Anita B, the group responsible for organizing GHC, issued a apology video to X. “In the past, [GHC] he’s always felt safe and loved and embraced,” Lee said. “This year, I have to admit, [it] I didn’t feel that way, and I know that many of you feel unsafe, physically and psychologically, and you don’t feel heard… I can promise you that we are working on solutions.”

Who could have predicted this? Now they are conference organizers wringing his hands on the question of Which one types of “non-binary people” and “male allies” to admit underscores the fact that this crisis was entirely of his own making. Did they hope reality would never set in? This group of culturally tone-deaf men looking for a place in tech—men who brazenly commented on women’s looks and followed them back to their hotel rooms— no take advantage of the gaps that allow them to attend a networking event focused on women? The naivety is almost too hard to believe, though I wouldn’t put anything beyond that at this point.

– Sanjana Friedman