20 Years of Empowering Women in Computing:

Systers Past, Present, and Future

Carla Ellis, Duke UniversityRobin Jeffries, Google

Laurian Vega, Virginia TechDale Wolff, Emerging Health Information TechnologyMary Shaw, Carnegie-Mellon University (moderator)

The Systers Online The Systers Online CommunityCommunity

• Systers is the world’s largest email community of technical women in computing. – Founded by Anita Borg in 1987– Originally, small email list for women in

“systems” research – Now broadly promotes the interests of women in

computing and technology• Anita created Systers to “increase the

number of women in computer science and make the environments in which women work more conducive to their continued participation in the field.”

-- http://anitaborg.org/initiatives/systers

Today’s panelToday’s panel

Today we will examine– Past: the reasons for creating the systers

community– Present: the impacts systers has had to date– Future: ways for systers to exploit current

technologies to address current problems of women in technology.

ContextContextStatements from panelistsStatements from panelistsQuestions for panelQuestions for panelQuestions from audienceQuestions from audience

Organization

1987 cultural context -- 1987 cultural context -- mindsetmindset

In 1987, when systers was created,– “Cut and paste" involved scissors. – International ivory trade was legal.– “Avatar” was a Hindu deity, not your online persona.– The Berlin wall had not yet fallen. – Cellular telephones were very expensive and too big to

carry– Nutrition labels were not required on US prepackaged

food.– Dilbert wasn’t even a gleam in Scott Adam’s eye– The FCC repealed the "fairness doctrine". – The first heart-lung transplant took place. – Digital cameras were not yet available. – Nelson Mandela was still in prison.– FCC prohibited telephone carriers from offering

voicemail. -- Based on the Beloit College Mindset list, http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/

1987 context – status of 1987 context – status of womenwomen

We did not yet have– Title IX requirement for equity in college athletics

(1997)– Violence Against Women Act (1994)– Gender Equity in Education act (1994)– Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)

We did have some rulings– Supreme court ruled sexual harassment to be illegal

job discrimination (1986)– First woman won a civil suit as a battered wife

(1985)– Supreme Court banned sex discrimination in

membership of organizations like Jaycees, Kiwanis (1984)

1987 context – women in 1987 context – women in technologytechnology

• Women felt isolated in their jobs

• Numbers of women entering the field were dropping

1987 context – technical 1987 context – technical Why not use …

– Facebook or Second Life– LambdaMOO– The Web– AOL– Chat

1987 technology for virtual communities– Network news protocol for dialup usenet/uunet news

groups– NSFNet, 56Kbs backbone, only for researchers, 10K

hosts– Listserv for BITNET (another research network, but

dialup )– The WELL (2000 members)

started 2004, 2003

started 1991

started 1991

started 1989

IRC defined in 1988

1987 context – technical1987 context – technical

1987 technology for virtual communities– Network news protocol for dialup usenet/uunet news

groups– NSFNet, 56Kbs backbone, only for researchers, 10K hosts– Listserv for BITNET (another research network, but

dialup )– The WELL (2000 members)– monochrome screens, 2400baud dialup lines

Evolution of systersEvolution of systers

• Growth of numbers– 1987: 12 women in systems– Now: 2800 women, 54 countries,

1500 messages/yr• Shift of professional profile

– 1987: systems researchers– Now: all women involved in computing

• Early topics– What to wear to interview; dealing with menopause on

job• Recent topics

– How to have social network of women when job is all men

– Nerds auction themselves off to attract women to CS

0

1000

2000

3000

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Operation of systersOperation of systers

• Ground rules– Stay on topic: women and technology– Treat each other with respect (no flames) – What you read on systers, stays on systers– No commercial messages

• Changes in underlying technology– Initially: simple mailing list, manually administered– 1994: Mecca (written by Anita):

• database system; everyone has a profile, can target subsets of systers

• missing standard functionality (e.g., digests)• people didn't use profiles, had to write SQL to target

messages

– 2003: special version of mailman; allows systers to opt in or out of particular conversations

Impact of systersImpact of systers

• A virtual community at a time when other virtual communities were not available– isolation of technical women in the workplace– importance of being a woman-only forum– started just as women were leaving the field

• Spinoff listsresearcHers entrepreneurs

latinas LGBTJrProfessHers ProfessHers PhdJobhunters

• Research papers drawing on systers cohort

Pressure on anti-women Pressure on anti-women advertising/productsadvertising/products

• Examples– woman with electronics product in waistband

of bikini (crotch shot) – “rent it (hooker), lease it (woman with tennis

racket), own it (woman in wedding dress)” -- in ad for CAD software

– pole dancing desk toy in Frys– Barbie that says “math is soooo hard”

• Strategy– One syster finds contact information– Others bombard company with complaints– Usually we get at least an apology

Pass-it-on grantsPass-it-on grants

• Program honors Anita Borg• Small grants awarded from funds raised

by systers and GHC attendees• Grants carry obligation to pass on the

perceived value received to another woman in computing

• First 6 grants recently awarded (world wide)

• Plan to award them several times a year going forward

Carla EllisDuke University

An original Syster

Early activism of systersEarly activism of systers

• Doug Clark, PC Chair• Anant Agarwal, MIT• Brian Bershad, U

Washington• David Culler,  UC Berkeley• Josh Fisher,  HP Labs• Mark Hill, U Wisconsin• Wen-mei Hwu, U Illinois• Michael Powell, Sun Labs• Jim Smith, Cray Research

• Anita Borg, DEC• Susan Eggers, U

Washington• Carla Ellis, Duke• Monica Lam, Stanford• Susan Owicki, Consultant• Anne Rogers, Princeton• Margo Seltzer, Harvard• Mary Lou Soffa, U

Pittsburgh

Anita: “Why aren’t there any women on your Anita: “Why aren’t there any women on your program committee?”program committee?”Typical PC Chairman: “We can’t think of any.”Typical PC Chairman: “We can’t think of any.”So systers compiled & distributed a list of So systers compiled & distributed a list of qualified women.qualified women.One outcome - ASPLOS 1994:One outcome - ASPLOS 1994:

Carla EllisDuke University

An original Syster

Robin JeffriesGoogle

Her Systers' Keeper, the cat herder for the Systers electronic community

Dale WolffEmerging Health

Information Technology

A long-time Syster

Laurian VegaVirginia Tech

A relatively new Syster

Please join our community:

http://www.systers.org