by Ethan Johnson
June 19, 2007

(Updated below)

Shelley Powers recently raised the spectre of women being turned off to the "tech" field, and pointing to one possible contributing factor. In short, women are vastly outnumbered by men in the tech biz, so what can be done to attract more women to the profession? I'm not really in the "tech" field per se, and I don't have any delusions of knowing all of the answers (let alone the questions). Because it gels with where my head is at lately, I'm going to approach this from another angle: The male minority.

This past Friday was an emotional roller-coaster ride for me. I decided to go to the scrapbook store and rent some table space for a few hours to fuss over a one-panel layout I am planning to give to a friend of ours when we travel to Chicago in a few weeks. Marlena was out with a friend so I decided I'd just go solo. The store owner was very supportive and kept checking on me to see how things were going. 100% of all other crop room denizens were female. I really couldn't have cared less, as I was on a mission (and wanting some "me time") so gender equity wasn't high on my list of concerns. Marlena is on my case to be more outgoing when we go there because women aren't necessarily going to say "hi" otherwise. The store owner told me that women were approaching her about "that guy in there" (the crop room) but nobody said anything to me directly.

By the way, here is what I hacked together Friday night. I think it is finished, but there may be one or two final adjustments before I officially release it into the wild:

I am unsure as to how many calories are being spent by the various players in the scrapbooking biz wondering how more men can be attracted to the pastime. Not many, charitably, would be my guess. Unlike something specifically aimed at women, such as the Curves workout center or the OB-GYN office, scrapbooking is either taken up by people, or it isn't. And I suspect the market research trends heavily toward women - enough so that I don't think very many players are taking men (any men) into account. That does not mean that scrapbooking is "girly" to the core, though ingrained attitudes give this impression.

I suspect that scrapbooking is female-dominant for several reasons: One is first-mover advantage. If women took up scrapbooking in droves, and men ignored it or considered it to be "girly" (like playing with Barbie® dolls), then I can't fault the industry for reflecting that constituency. Second, if women take up scrapbooking, and get their friends to join in, the makeup of the crowd is going to be decidedly female, and self-reinforcing. Third, and this ties the first two points together, it's all about money. If women shuck out the bucks for scrapbooking and all that it entails, they drive the market. If men managed to outspend women in substantial enough numbers, the market might shift fundamentally to more masculine designs. Or there would be more of them available. Remember, women commemorate the achievements of men and boys currently, so not everything is pink lace and bows.

As a man stepping into the scrapbooking "scene", I think about how other men might be encouraged to join in. I think the answer starts with respect. I don't go to scrapbook stores and crop rooms with ulterior motives (cruising), and I think the veterans are picking up on that but want to see more commitment to the craft before they warm up to me too much. This isn't about pandering, or using more blue in your decorating to attract men like growing certain plants attracts butterflies. It's taking an interest in the interests of others. It's welcoming newcomers to the fold instead of circling the wagons. And it's certainly about encouragement and teaching instead of rejection and ridicule.

But if few or no men decide to check it out for themselves, the industry has to press on with the support that it can muster.

As for gender equity, personally I gauge my experiences by asking "am I welcome?" If not, why? Some are fairly obvious, as I have no need to visit an OB-GYN. Others are more nebulous. I can't speak to the environment native to the tech industry, but if they're truly concerned about gender equity they'd better take a harder look at the contributing factors than what I have seen thus far. Hand wringing may feel good and make for a good show of concern, but this is usually followed by a return to the status quo. I'm seeing numbers to the effect of 1 in 100 resumes in the tech sector are submitted by women. That's systemic to me.

If women really aren't interested in tech the same way that men aren't interested in scrapbooking, I suppose the industry will press on with the support that it has. But I wonder if this is a case of being turned off, or turned away. There's a difference. <EM>

[Update 6/19/2007:] Wouldn't you know it, the scrapbooking industry is indeed seeking to bring more men into the fold. As told by the Deseret News earlier this year:

The campaign is achieving some success. In Toronto, Scrapbooks by Design store owner Patrick Piette says 18 percent of his shoppers are now men, up from "zero" three years ago. (Bachelor-themed books made by the best man are newly popular gifts for grooms, he says.) Palmer, the Seattle scrapbook pro, has a roster of 80 male scrapbook clients, up from 12 three years ago. He encourages men to try embellishment-free layouts with darker papers, and recommends handwritten captions to tell stories. Can't come up with the right words? He tells them to paste favorite song lyrics.

Eh? Eh...? Paging Kent Newsome! Drive on up here... bring your favorite song lyrics with you. Oh, and your Man Card. (See linked article for context.)