Systers: 25 Years of Supporting Women in Computing
by Robin Jeffries
What is Systers?
Twenty-five years ago, at a small ACM conference, SOSP (Symposium on Operating Systems Principles), thirteen women arranged to sit together at lunch and talk about the challenges they faced being women in a very male-dominated field. They agreed to continue their conversations over email. One of the women there, Anita Borg, volunteered to host their mailing list, under the name “systers” (a portmanteau of systems and sisters).
Over the next several years, word got around to women computer scientists about systers and the many interesting conversations that went on there. Women talked about everything from how to deal with a demoralizing thesis advisor to what to wear on an interview to how to interview while pregnant to how to cope with the challenges of menopause at work. Many women who were not in academia/research labs, or systems joined the list. Anita became the go-to person for “why aren’t there more women in computing?” related questions. The list was particularly valued by the members for its rules about staying on topic, no “me-too” posts, “what is discussed on systers stays on systers”, and no flaming (a problem on virtually every list on the internet at that time).
Anita’s experiences running systers and as de facto spokeswoman for “women in tech” issues led her to leave her job at DEC (Digital Equipment – a large computer company of the time) to start the Institute for Women and Technology, now the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI). She had concluded that women were not going to be significant makers of or recipients of technological advances without some proactive efforts, and she wanted to be part of that solution.
I become “Her Systers’ Keeper“
I was doing some work as a volunteer with the brand new Institute for Women and Technology, related to understanding how systers fit into the lives of its users and designing a next-generation better-than-mailing-list software, when Anita became ill. I stepped in, temporarily, I thought, to manage the list while she was recovering. This was when systers was in its 13th year. Sadly, Anita did not recover, and we lost her in 2003. I’ve stayed on as “Her Systers’ Keeper”, the title invented for Anita in the early days of the list, until this year. During that period, the list grew from 2000 members to 3800 members, we started several other lists (for Latinas, LGBT women, academic women, etc.), we started a blog to share some of our learnings, and we became a mentoring organization for Google Summer of Code to get more women involved in open source programming. The rules established by Anita at the very beginning – only contentful, on-topic, respectful posts – have enabled the list to weather that much growth without coming apart at the seams. In fact, figuring out the balance between letting interesting conversations go where they will vs. allowing so much drift that I get messages reminding me of the role of the Keeper has always been my biggest challenge.
One of the most rewarding programs systers sponsors are the Anita Borg Systers Pass-it-on Awards. These small awards (generally under $1000) enable a woman in tech to continue in school or in another way advance her career, or enable women to do projects that bring other girls and women to computing. These awards have attracted applicants from all over the world, and have introduced me, the reviewing committee, and systers as a whole to a set of women who are facing challenges we couldn’t imagine or have designed amazing workshops/classes to share their passion for tech with the next generation.
Over the dozen years that I was Her Systers’ Keeper, I’ve seen systers have a profound impact on the women involved. Here are some quotes I found in my personal files: “Helped me so much in interviews”, “Pulled me back from the brink of giving up on a career in IT two years ago”, and one of my favorites: “Oh, it’s like having a tooth fairy – I put a question under the pillow, go away to work, come back and find a whole mountain of pearls waiting for me”.
Systers outreach
In addition to helping each other, systers at various times has gotten involved in advocating for solving some of the problems we face. In the 90s there were a series of tech company ads that were degrading to women (and I do mean degrading; one of them referred to their software options as “rent, lease or buy”, showing 3 pictures of man/woman pairs: a man with woman in a bra top and Daisy Dukes, a pair in their tennis whites, and a bride and groom), where systers set up campaigns to write the company with “I am a technical woman; I advise on the purchasing of software/I am in the demographic for your product, but you lost a sale with that ad”. There were also the Barbie chronicles, both the Barbie that said “Math is hard” and the campaign to get Mattel to make Computer Engineer Barbie. I’m sure it wasn’t systers alone who changed Mattel’s direction in those cases, but we certainly helped.
One of the most satisfying changes I have seen in systers over the years is its growth as an international organization. At one point, we were aware of systers from 43 different countries, from the United Kingdom to Belize and Kenya. Systers has also provided a safe haven for women who are marginalized even more than most of us – American minorities, lesbians, transsexuals. Many of them have chosen not to be “out” to the full systers membership, but I hear from them regularly about how systers helps them understand the difference between the problems that arise from their special situation and those that most women in tech experience.
Systers as “advice-column”
While systers works to stay focused on the intersection of women and technology, that covers a lot of ground. There’s a lot of sharing of information about conferences, about interesting news or blog articles, about personal experiences. But perhaps the most interesting parts of systers have been the requests for advice. They range from the ordinary: “What do I wear on a job interview” to the truly serious: “My advisor has been making advances. I’m almost done, so it’s too late to change advisors. What do I do?” Everyone who posts a request (and we make it easy to do so anonymously) has told me they get many more personal responses than the public responses that the rest of us see, some just saying something like “been there. It sucks, doesn’t it?” And many have come back to tell me that systers kept them from dropping out of school or leaving computing altogether.
The advice is not always supportive, though it is honest. Professors on the list tell students what the situation looks like from their perspective; managers tell employees why they are part of the problem. This is arguably systers’ greatest strength – that there are women of all ages and career stages, and what we learn from each other is invaluable (and it’s not all “older” to “younger”; older systers have had social media “explained” to them, and been told to learn it or become irrelevant, for example).
I handed over the job of Systers’ Keeper this fall, at the 25th anniversary celebration, to Rose Robinson, the very able program manager for systers at ABI. I felt it was time for new, younger blood to take the group to its next level. While I miss being at the heart of things, it’s sort of like sending one’s “baby” off to college – bittersweet, but you know that the changes will be good for both of you.
If you want to learn more about systers, go to www.systers.org. There’s a Join link on the page. Experience firsthand what sisterhood is all about.
About the Author
Robin Jeffries is a User Experience Analyst at Google. She has B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Iowa, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Colorado, and more than 30 years of experience in academic and industry research and product development with more than 100 publications to her name. She received the SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award (2004) and has been listed in Who’s Who. She was Her Systers’ Keeper from 2001-2012. She is an avid cyclist.