People have criticised a 'women in tech' initiative launched by IBM - because it is called Hack A Hairdryer.
The technology firm said sexist misperceptions keep "bright minds" out of research labs, and that it wanted to "blast away the barriers" that confront women every day.
But the tone-deaf name of the project has annoyed some Twitter users.
Molecular biologist Upulie Divisekera registered her disapproval, saying: "I leave hairdryer fixing to the men. I'm too busy making nanotech and treating cancer."
Another user, called RebeccaDV, wrote: "IBM, no-one is asking male scientists to hack beard trimmers."
One added: "Err, does IBM stand for inept bumbling misogony?" with another chipping in: "Can someone let IBM know that it's not the 1950s anymore?"
Gizmodo writer Mika McKinnon pointed at that the timing of the post was bad - it's 30 years since the Montreal Massacre in which 14 women were shot dead at an engineering school.
She wrote: "Women are allowed to use hairdryers, and to like them. Hell, they can even hack them if it tickles their fancy.
"When I’m doing fieldwork, I keep a hairdryer in my toolbag. I use it to warm up cranky LED displays, gently dry out damp electronics, shrink heatwrap after repairing wires, and give my batteries a tiny boost if the generator is still running strong.
"A hairdryer is a damn useful part of my geophysics field kit. But a hairdryer-based hackathon is not the way to entice women into science.
"The timing (of) the campaign just makes it so much worse. I get that Canadian history is invisible outside the country, but it’s the largest massacre in North America specifically targeting women for being engineers.
"Surely that’s history worth knowing about if you’re trying to recruit women into engineering."
Earlier this year EDF Energy's 'Pretty Curious' campaign to encourage young girls to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers was criticised for its name.
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét