by Terrance Gaines
I was scanning my Twitter stream the other day and I came across a tweet from a colleague who was venting her frustrations. She was concerned with the comments of another woman who was discussing her project in a meeting, mentioning that her husband is the techie in the family.
But I’m not sure this is what the “project lady” meant by “my husband is the techie.” Without putting words in her mouth, my colleague took it as “I (as a woman) should automatically get a pass for my lack of tech experience.”
I’ll admit that I am the “tech geek” in my family. My wife’s background is in software, so for all intents and purposes, she is a techie as well. The difference is that I bring my work home, she leaves it at the office. So when it comes down to the family gadgets, applications, and processes, I am point-man for all that stuff.
A ton of Sistahs flood my Twitter timeline with all kinds of tech-related knowledge. I know women who are regularly attending and participating in hackathons. A woman gave me my first tech writing gig. Later, she went on to start a technology accelerator for minorities and women out in Silicon Valley. All that to say, I am sure there are some tech divas out there who would’ve also taken offense at the project lady’s comments as well.
Now, even with the recent surge of women taking up an interest in Silicon Valley, the tech scene is still male-dominated, professionally speaking. I am just curious, is this the case at home as well? For example, with all the woman bloggers out there setting up their own brands/businesses completely online, and dominating the field without any input from their spouses, are there women still clueless about the technology in their own home? When it’s time to buy that new family computer or TV, are women right there with there husbands, itching to pull the trigger on a new gadget?
Not trying to stir up any “War on Women” controversy here, I just wanted to know who wears the tech pants in your family? Are your right there on the front-lines with your significant other, or would you rather let him command the troops?
Terrance Gaines is a husband, father and technology consultant/evangelist who writes about all kinds of tech subjects on his site, BrothaTech, in addition to several other sites on the interwebs and in print media. He also talks about “all things tech” among other things on Twitter @BrothaTech.