Marcie points to an unfortunately titled article that has a lot of interesting discussion points in it. It is about the myths of why there aren’t more women in technology or why many of the women who are in tech are not visible.

In the  list of myths I found this amusing, though it is not the point of this post:

Myth #4: Technical women are unattractive, arrogant, and abnormal.

Even in the description of the Women who Code BOF that I am doing at TechEd, I have said “come see that you are not an alien!“ .

But the quote that sparked this post is in reference to the fact that Technical magazines rarely feature women – not as writes but as subjects. And the author says:

Thus, editors justify lack of coverage saying their readers (again assumed to be male) wouldn’t be interested in knowing about women in technology. It is up to the women’s magazines to cover these topics and personalities. This becomes a vicious cycle as the typical woman’s magazine covers what are considered “women” subjects like fashion, beauty, and family and leave IT to tech magazines.

What a GREAT idea! To have the women’s magazines, especially the YOUNG women’s magazines, like Seventeen, take a little time out from the latest navel revealing fashions (or is that passe already?) and write some articles to inspire?

Now that’s a little unfair of me as I am just assuming that that’s all these magazine are about. So let’s take a look, shall we?

The main menu doesn’t hold much hope, nor do it’s drop downs.

Okay what about TOC?

-Do you really understand your guy?
-What’s your perfect [bathing] suit?
-Who’s your perfect summer guy?
-Are you immature?
-What’s your theme song?
-Fashion in Hawaii
-Celebrity Makeup artist Interview
-Does your makeup bag need a spring cleaning
-Girl around the World – okay, this is interesting and a nice change from the above. An article on a young Israeli woman who, like many had to join the army after graduating high school.
-Interview of beautiful t.v. star
-Guide to entertainment

So , maybe I’m being unfair as this is what Seventeen Mag is all about. But, what a perfect venue to stick articles about “what I want to be when I grow up“. And have it be not just “fashion designer“ type jobs.

I dunno – I wonder what Lora’s nieces read?? Here they are playing with their tablets. Here is an article by Lora talking about her nieces’ inspiration. And here are the blogs of these young girls: Elizabeth, Birdie, and Kim. These blogs are a great model for Seventeen mag. Their blogs are a wonderful balance of girl stuff and tech! Not that Seventeen should only include tech. But it just would be so cool to have articles on women who inspire, beyond actresses and models.

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