Female Founders Conference 2015 applications are open

http://blog.ycombinator.com/female-founders-conference-2015-applications-are-open

by katm • 12 years ago

102 48 12 years ago

blog.ycombinator.com

taprun• 12 years ago

I always wonder if these "female only" conferences, awards and events are beneficial for women.

Many folks might (mistakenly) see them as an admission that women can't hack it on a level playing field. Such thoughts would only serve to harden their chauvinistic mental models and cause gender discrimination to be more (rather than less) likely in the future.

dang• 12 years ago

Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say about them.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

drcomputer2• 12 years ago

As a female developer / hacker / mathy techy computer science person (for 20 years) who has never been to one; my only impression of them is the commentary I see from people online talking about their controversy. Otherwise, they are like fog to me: I can comment neither positively nor negatively nor even neutrally on whether they genuinely add or detract from my experience or interests.

Lots of people seem to have opinions on these conventions, but to be seriously seriously honest, it is very rare I have been involved in any tech thing where, if you mandated that 90% of the participants must be male, that it would change the demographic. That is a satirical way of demonstrating that most technical, mathematical, engineering, and computer things are male dominated purely by their origin and lineage of development. It's like asking a 14 year old boy to go lingerie shopping. People react because it's not the norm. The reaction is neither good nor bad. I react to people too.

lotharbot3• 12 years ago

Speaking as a former 14 year old boy who went on all sorts of embarrassing shopping trips with my mother (and sometimes 4 younger sisters), I would say the reactions other people had were the least significant effect. The most significant effect is that as an adult, I'm can walk into the maxi pad section and find the ones that meet the required criteria. If I ever have a daughter I need to take bra shopping, I can handle that. Developing confidence and competence to do those things is way more important than the reactions of other people.

If a female founder conference helps women develop confidence or competence, or helps connect them to customers or investors or future employees, good for them. Those benefits will last a lot longer than whatever silly (over)reactions people have.

wglb• 12 years ago

They have videos of previous such conferences here http://blog.ycombinator.com/female-founders-conference-video.... There was a lot to learn from them. I particularly remember Diane Green's talk about communication.

Lots of high energy stuff going on there.

lotharbot3• 12 years ago

There are a lot of people who are affected by conferences like this, with some positive and some negative effects. I suspect the balance is strongly positive.

The possible increased discrimination from those with pre-existing chauvinistic mental models can be weighed against decreased discrimination from those whose pre-existing chauvinistic models are challenged by seeing capable female founders, which I think would be the larger effect.

And there are bigger and more direct benefits: networking with other founders, getting your startup / product out there in front of more potential customers and investors, media coverage, etc.

gizmo6862• 12 years ago

The concern isn't (exclusively) increased discrimination from those with pre-existing chauvinistic mental models; you also have to be concerned about people who see this type of event and subconsciously infer that it means that females are inferior.

santacluster• 12 years ago

"Let's not provoke them" is a survival strategy, not a winning strategy. I don't think mere survival is the goal here.

smokey_the_bear2• 12 years ago

I used to doubt the need for conferences like this, when I was in college in a 6% female major. I had tons of male friends and was completely comfortable. But as I've gotten older and worked and become a mother, I've really started to appreciate the opportunities to meet technical women. It seems to me it's a socially different experience to be a woman in engineering than a man in engineering.

So perhaps some men sit around and use these conferences as an excuse to be chauvinistic, but the conference isn't for them, it's for women.

Though, ironically, last year I couldn't go because I didn't have a babysitter.

nobodyshere• 12 years ago

Just for a second imagine a men-only conference for developers. Shit-storm would be stronger than anything you've ever seen. While I agree that IT industry is generally dominated by white men (no racism implied, I simply haven't seen a single black programmer yet), such events might be useful for women, but still would be interesting for me as a man to attend. I'd like to know what's going on on the other side of this whole situation. How are we going to bring equality here if we are separating ourselves from each other? I recently visited a conference in Moscow (Highload++), and there wasn't a single woman presenting. That's just sad. In the company I work for right now, there are probably about 10 women writing code vs over a 1000 men.

colmvp• 12 years ago

Indeed. Should we also make Black men only conferences to encourage more male Black engineers and cofounders?

oldmanjay2• 12 years ago

Why not? Does the existence of something not aimed at you somehow make your life less worth living?

kaitai2• 12 years ago

That would be great! I'd be interested in hearing a panel discussion.

Jun8• 12 years ago

Check out the spot on top answer to this SE question about why there are separate tournaments for men and women in chess: http://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/6282/why-are-there-....

The gist is: At novice level women-only events are very useful, at expert level they tend to be constricting.

sremani• 12 years ago

I am not against conferences like these - women to women connection is different from women to mixed crowd. Actually, I would not mind men only conferences either if they improve the social environment for all the attendees.

w1ntermute• 12 years ago

women to women connection is different from women to mixed crowd

Why is it socially acceptable to say this, but it's not socially acceptable to say "men to men connection is different from men to mixed crowd"?

jobu• 12 years ago

It's only taboo in a business sense. No women I know have ever had an issue with my friends and I going on a "guys weekend" trip. Men to men is a very different connection and we do things that just don't happen around wives and girlfriends - drinking, fishing, shooting things, etc.

In the business world it's taboo because it would be seen as colluding against women and minorities. Historically (and even currently), business and politics have been dominated by white males, and that tends to give an advantage of familiarity and incumbency. Women-only, or minority-only conferences like these are a chance to balance the scales a little.

rockmeamedee• 12 years ago

It's not unacceptable to say it. To say "We should have men only events because of that"(or for any reason to benefit men) is mean. The reason it's mean is that we've had thousands of years of men-only events in places that should have been mixed, and now men have an incredible upper hand in tech. When men are the minority gender here, we can talk about setting those up.

anigbrowl• 12 years ago

Because men are collectively better off than women in this sector.

Your handle refers to a character in the sci-fi novel Neuromancer, an artificial intelligence that is prevented from linking up with another one to pursue their mutual destiny by an arbitrary human prejudice against artificial intelligence enforced by administrative fiat. In fact, the urge to circumvent this established power structure is the motivating force that drives the plot. Perhaps you can find a way to generalize from one disenfranchised class that you identify or empathize with in some fashion, artificial intelligences, to another that you apparently don't, women.

ps4fanboy• 12 years ago

If women only conferences are good at helping women network and communicate safely, I really think we could apply the same argument to men, do we just disregard men who are to afraid or feel uncomfortable around women because we already have too many successful men who dont suffer from this problem?

viiralvx• 12 years ago

When are we going to have the Black or Latino/Hispanic Founders Conference, YC?

d0m2• 12 years ago

I understand where a lot of people commenting here come from, but I think Female only tech events are actually amazing.

I believe the main reason why there's less women in tech is because there's less women in tech(!) It's really hard to jump in a new field where you're the extreme minority. Just as a crude example, imagine getting into nursing school as a guy. That would take a lot of guts. I know because I have a friend who did it and you can easily imagine the kind of comments he's getting all the time from families, strangers, administrators, etc. However, if there were more guys in nursing, it wouldn't be as hard.

You can also think about being gay in San-Francisco right now vs 50 years ago. Yes, a lot of things changed, but part of the reason why it's getting much better is because there simply are more gays, you know you're not alone.

I'm not sure if this was a good example. But women in tech are a bit similar. It's hard to jump in when you're the minority. It's much easier to take the easy route and get a profession where there's already a good ratio of men/women.

Why am I saying all this? Because I think women-only events help girls looking to move into tech understand that there actually are women in tech. If we'd only have mixed-in events, the few women in the crowd would easily be missed by the overwhelming majority of guys.

Someone also posted something about Black, Latino/Hispanic Founders. That's extremely related. A black friend of mine told me that one of the hardest thing about being black in the tech community is that he's almost always the only one. It takes a lot of guts to be the only different one in the room. Some people like that, but for lots of people it's hard. Personally, as an introvert, I'd hate to have everyone in the room looking at me the second I enter the room, all the time.

DAddYE2• 12 years ago

Some people like that, but for lots of people it's hard. Personally, as an introvert, I'd hate to have everyone in the room looking at me the second I enter the room, all the time.

If in 2014 you are still feeling different for a __color__, I think the problem is more on you than others.

I'm not saying that racism or things like that don't exist. That is another thing.

I'm saying that really I'm pretty annoyed when I read these things. So what I'm Italian and I'm always the only Italian in the room, and so what?

Also, we want the same sex thing? What if we do Only Man Conferences? ? How much bad press will that get?

We want to be all equal? So what if a site of the weight of oKcupid will be like okWhiteCupid as this: www.blackpeoplemeet.com

Would be fun to read on hacker news: "Ok Cupid" now becomes only for whites. But if we want to be really equal no one should be upset right?

Long thing...

I'm sayin' that while I'm for the parity of things and equality in general I just see most of them just taking advantage of being a minority to complain when things gets wrong.

As far I can tell you, mostly in my day to day life I don't see this white male dominance. I never judged someone just from the color or for being a girl, gay or whatever could be.

I'm pretty sure that is the same for most of us.

I'm not saying that there aren't problems about that.

TL;DR; humans seems to like to create problems (on both sides).

NOTE: I know is not really female only

NOTE 2: After the down-vote please explain.

d0m2• 12 years ago

> So what I'm Italian and I'm always the only Italian in the room, and so what?
> If in 2014 you are still feeling different for a __color__, I think the problem is more on you than others.

The thing is.. you're right that it's fucking ridiculous that people are so judgmental and mean for a __color__, and that __they__ have a problem. But the fact that matters is that when you're the one being judged and mistreated every day, it doesn't really matter if they're right or not, it hurts and it's frustrating.

> Also, we want the same sex thing? What if we do Only Man Conferences? ? How much bad press will that get?

That's a whole different subject. The point is, why would you do a man-only conference? Is it because you really care about having only men in there? Or because that's a way to (passive-aggressively) express your opinion against how stupid you think feminism is?

> I just see most of them just taking advantage of being a minority to complain when things gets wrong.

I see what you mean, and maybe it's true in rare occasions. But more often than not, for someone to publicly talk about an issue, it's something important to them. Maybe not to you, but to them.

As a stupid example, it really pisses me off when people are disturbing me when I try to hack. I lose all my productivity and I feel like I wasted my day. But for them, they don't care.. they don't understand, they're just chatting about the weather or whatever. Unless I take the time to explain to them why it bothers me, they won't get it.

So, maybe when you see the other gender complaining you think they're annoying, or find excuses, or are abusing their minority. But in practice, I'd recommend paying close attention to what they say because it's not about what you think, it's about how you (or someone else) just hurt them without even knowing it.

> I never judged someone just from the color or for being a girl, gay or whatever could be.

What if I told you that your post is extremely cruel for someone struggling with racial or gender harassment?

> I'm pretty sure that is the same for most of us.

I wish.

belorn2• 12 years ago

The problem with using exclusion in order to solve social problems is that sooner or later the group need to start hating others in order to validate a continuation of the exclusion.

A extremely related issue is indeed how African Americans are treated in American. The Black Panther Party was a reaction to racism in the police (In 1966, only 16 of Oakland's 661 police officers were African American) in the same way that women exclusive events are a reaction to sexism and gender ratio in IT.

I understand that using exclusion is a simple method in order create a environment where a minority groups feel more included. It also source for hate, tribe mentality and radicalization. When people like me criticize such methods, it simply because the benefits do not seem to validate the high cost.

akiselev• 12 years ago

The problem with using exclusion in order to solve social problems is that sooner or later the group need to start hating others in order to validate a continuation of the exclusion.

I think this is a matter of perspective. When a certain section of a population (50% in this case!) is passively or actively discouraged from participation, I don't view an event like this as exclusion of the majority but as radical inclusion of the minority.

YCombinator plays a significant role in the community around tech entrepreneurship and, most importantly, how that community is portrayed to the rest of the world. I don't see how this relates to the Black Panthers which were started, as you say, as a response to institutional racism. If I were a gambling man, I would bet that the Black Panthers would have had much more of a cultural impact than they did if they were born out of, and were actively supported, by the same institutions whose behavior they fought against.

Furthermore, humanity's tribal instincts aren't inherently bad and often they serve a useful purpose. Who here hasn't band together with like minded individuals for support whens faced with adversity? The problem arises when that tribalism is used to put down other 'tribes' which I do not think is the intention here.

FeeTinesAMady• 12 years ago

That's a really interesting comment, and I think you're correct. Look at feminism today vs. back when it was actually relevant. Now, since it can't credibly be argued that women are oppressed in Western nations, it's turned into a movement about hating men and oppressing them.

jcr• 12 years ago

Anyone can apply to attend the Female Founders Conference so it's not "female only" as some have mistakenly claimed. If you are notable in the given specialization and you want to speak at the conference, I'm sure you could contact them and ask if they need more speakers. Like most YC-related events and functions (e.g. funding batches, startup school, hack weekend, etc.), the main problem they face is most likely limited space/resources. If you know anything about YC, then you know they will optimize for quality and growth/scale. If you're unable to attend, YC does provide videos of the talks [1] so you can still learn from them.

Though I'd definitely learn a lot at this conference, I'm not going to apply for an invitation because I'd rather see the limited invitations go to people who can make the most of them. I'm not founder material, so I should wait until the videos get released. If I was mistakenly given an invitation, I'd politely and humorously report it as a bug in their optimization algorithms. ;-)

HN users tptacek and cpercival are known representatives of a specific minority in tech, namely, people with a reasonable grasp of crypto. If there was a specialized conference of this crypto-cogent minority, the people who would gain the most from the conference are either already crypto-cogent, or are considering becoming crypto-cogent. The rest of us crypto-ignorant people (myself included as an admitted crypto-failure) are much better off always trying to learn from the experiences they generously share. If the title of this story was, "Crypto Conference 2015 Applications Are Open," I'd like to believe people on HN would not be arguing whether specialized cryptography conferences should exist.

All conferences are specialized in some sense. Learning from the unique perspectives and experiences of said specialization is one of the main reasons for going to any conference. The other reason is networking with your peers. The specialization can be a field, topic, group, or some other commonality. In this case, the specialization is Female Founders and the chance to learn from them is a fantastic but rare opportunity. The same is true for any specialized group of notable people speaking on topics where they have the benefit of experience and perspective.

My challenge to you, the regular HN user, is can you tell me something interesting about the accomplishments of any of the speakers?

I'll start. Jessica Livingston wrote a book called "Founders At Work" and it's one of my absolute favorites. I've nearly broken the binding on my copy with all the sticky-note page markers. Though my server will probably melt from the load, proof of my assertion is available [2].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5PSIanlQ_x6...

[2] http://designtools.org/pix/DSCN0022.JPG

benhamner• 12 years ago

This is phenomenal & a huge thanks to YC for promoting this. The massive gender disparity in tech is painfully clear to anyone walking the halls of a SF startup, attending a team meeting at a large corporation, or observing . It is a multifaceted and highly complex challenge, but hopefully strong leadership on this issue from central players like YC will help things move in a positive trajectory.

To those saying "what about an Latino/African American/etc. founders conference?": you can't be everything to everyone, and you have to start somewhere. Looking at this as a binary world view where "you can only have nonexclusive events" or "you need to have an exclusive event for every potentially underrepresented group" is counterproductive and gets us nowhere. Supporting one underrepresented group will hopefully have positive downstream effects across the board. If things like this are successful in moving one underrepresented group on a better trajectory, then that model can be more easily replicated.

To those saying "why not a YC conference just for male founders?" or "this isn't necessary" or the like: you're being petty and this isn't for you. The tech industry has plenty of open opportunities for people to connect across the board, and stronger connections tend to be forged within smaller sub-communities. If this and events like this encourage more females to become founders, then that's a great outcome.

zaroth• 12 years ago

It will be interesting to see how they tailor the content to be most useful/motivating/supportive/educational for their target audience. There is plenty to founding a company which is entirely gender neutral, and yet, there's a morass of unique challenges (and benefits) that female founders in particular may face.

Catering to a specific field of expertise is orthogonal to catering to a specific pool of genetics. I think the actual reason why it would make no sense at all to have a 'Male Founders Conference' versus the obvious appeal of a 'Female Founders Conference' is because male founders simply don't have to deal with their gender as part of their identity as a Founder. I don't ever stop and think, "Is X happening because of my gender?" I very rarely have to stop and think, "Do I need to approach this problem differently because I'm a man?"

Whereas a female founder is almost certainly going to have their gender become a notable / discussion-worthy factor tied into their popular identity as a Founder (whether they want it to or not). They are going to be faced with situations, perhaps regularly, when they will question how much their gender played a role in a particular outcome. They will actually encounter discrimination with some regularity, and need the tools to deal with it, and the experience and support system to decide how they should best respond.

The way I see it, when there's nothing left to talk about at a Female Founders conference, then we can happily stop having them.

Female Founders Conference 2015 applications are open

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