{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Faeb3b6a2-758a-445f-a3d6-b3e3af50b54c","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Fighting tech\u2019s gender gap with TracketPacer","description":"Last month, the TikTok user TracketPacer posted a video online\u00a0called \u201cNetwork Engineering Facts to Impress No One at Zero Parties.\u201d\u00a0 TracketPacer regularly posts fun,\u00a0educational\u00a0content about how the Internet operates. The\u00a0account is run by a network engineer named Lexie Cooper,\u00a0who has worked\u00a0in a network operations center, or NOC, and who\u2019s earned her Cisco Certified Network Associate certificate, or CCNA.\u00a0\nIn the video,\u00a0Cooper told listeners about the first spam email being sent over Arpanet,\u00a0about how an IP address doesn't reveal\u00a0that much\u00a0about you, and about how Ethernet isn't really a cable\u2014it's a protocol. But\u00a0amidst Cooper's bite-sized factoids, a pair of comments she made about something else\u2014the gender gap in the technology industry\u2014set off a torrent of anger.\u00a0\nAs Cooper said in her video:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\u201cThere are very few women in tech because there\u2019s a pervasive cultural idea that men are more logical than women and therefor better at technical, 'computery' things.\u201d\n\nThis, the Internet decided, would not stand.\u00a0\nThe IT industry is \u201cnot dominated by men, well actually, the women it self just few of them WANT to be engineer. So it\u2019s not man fault,\" said one commenter.\u00a0\n\u201cNo one thinks it\u2019s because women can\u2019t be logical. They\u2019re finally figuring out those liberal arts degrees are worthless,\" said another.\u00a0\n\u201cThe women not in computers fact is BS cuz the field was considered nerdy and uncool until shows like Big Bang Theory made it cool!\u201d said yet another.\u00a0\nThe unfortunate reality facing many women in tech today is that, when they publicly address the gender gap in their field, they receive dozens of comments online that not only deny the reasons\u00a0for\u00a0the gender gap, but also, together, likely contribute\u00a0to\u00a0the gender gap.\u00a0Nobody wants to work in a field where they aren't taken seriously, but that's what is happening.\u00a0\nToday, on the Lock and Code podcast with host David Ruiz, we speak with Cooper about the gender gap in technology, what she did with the negative comments she received, and what, if anything, could help make technology a more welcoming space for women. One easy lesson, she said:\n\n\"Guys... just don't hit on people at work. Just don't.\"\u00a0\n\nTune in today.\nYou can also find us on\u00a0Apple Podcasts,\u00a0Spotify, and\u00a0Google Podcasts, plus whatever preferred podcast platform you use.\n\nShow notes and credits:\nIntro Music: \u201cSpellbound\u201d by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro Music: \u201cGood God\u201d by Wowa (unminus.com)\n\n\u00a0","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/001d405d-0dd2-4323-bc26-e9785b09371a/lock-and-code-logo-2021-ar2rs.jpg"}