Diversity on Campus

The Association of Computing Machinery – Women’s Chapter (ACM-W) has continuously broadened my view on diversity and shaped my understanding of what diversity truly means. It has only been a few months since I first became a member in the chapter, but it is by far the organization I am most involved with. I have been lucky enough to attend many meetings throughout the semester, and have become a lot more comfortable with the organization and the people in it. For a while, it was slightly awkward being one of the only men sitting in a room full of women. This is especially so because the organization is specifically geared toward women and their advancement. No matter how much the girls assured me that I was completely at home there, I still felt sort of guilty for sitting there. Almost as if I was taking resources that weren’t supposed to be mine. Normally, I am not a person to be afraid to speak up in class (I’m sure Jen would wholeheartedly agree with this statement), but even when I had questions during some of the ACM-W meetings, I held back. I can’t even put into words why, but I was genuinely afraid to speak up even to ask a question. I felt that I was somehow being a representation of all men, and that they would somehow think more or less about my entire gender by simply what I said in the meetings. Even being an openly gay man, I have never felt anything remotely similar to this experience. Despite the fact that I am generally the only or one of few gay men in my classes and groups, I still somehow felt even more awkward sitting in the room of women. However, I’m almost glad that I was able to feel some of that awkwardness. The percentage of women in tech is actually incredibly tragic. My software class is easily eighty percent men, and from what I can see in the industry, they do not seem to have better statistics either. Switching up roles and being in a room full of women has allowed me to gain a fresh perspective on diversity. There have rarely been times in my life that I have felt that I was a minority, even if I am, personally, a member of a minority group. I can now better understand what women, and especially women of color, must feel like when sitting in a room full of white men. In addition, I have been able to overcome a lot of these feelings and become more comfortable in the ACM-W. Though, this is probably due to my open personality, and others would likely not overcome this nearly as fast as I have been able to. This is allowing me to be a part of a group dedicated for the support of women in tech. I cannot imagine working in a company of all like-minded individuals, and feel that having more women in tech is conducive to a better work place as a whole. For this reason, I believe that diversity is incredibly important, especially in engineering majors. In addition, I believe that diversity can transcend just gender, race, sexuality, etc. There is also diversity in thought and background, and I believe that a diversity in experiences and ideas is also important to allow people to break the bubbles that they create around themselves. While it is easy to become surrounded by like-minded individuals, it is also incredibly important to see, talk, and understand people of all backgrounds and experiences.

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