Women in Technological Sisterhood

I would gladly share my experiences of being a woman and thoroughly in love with what computers, most decidedly Macs, can do in all aspects of our lives. I have learned so much from working and studying, but one of my best resources are the women I associate with at The Macnexus Macintosh Users Group.

I belong to a special interest group (SIG) within Macnexus called WITS (Women in Technological Sisterhood). We have been around since 1995 and are the most active SIG within the general membership. The meetings are every 2nd Sat of the month. I am proud to state that I one of the founding members.

I joined Macnexus before I even had a Mac since my research found that using the Apple help line back then was notoriously infamous for long waits on the phone. I had intentions of buying a Mac so I had to find another way to get help if I needed it since this was going to be the first computer for our family. I learned about users groups and back then Macnexus had membership pamphlets at stores like CompUSA. They had their newsletters for sale at the local Tower Books stores too. I joined in ’94 and bought my Mac, a Performa 638, the next month. I attended some user group meetings.

At those meetings, I observed that no women other than the officers or directors were talking publicly. I watched the women in attendance sit and listen, but not really say much. I realized that the women members were not really participating much at those meetings and I thought I knew why. The membership was comprised mostly of men, many of who would shout out answers and make open critical comments about questions they thought may have been silly. Whereas many of the men there could tolerate the digs or rally back with a like exchange, I know many women dislike that kind of treatment, especially in public. These meetings could have 100 or more members there. I wanted to meet with other women in a less intimidating arena other than the general meetings. I wanted a more intimate venue for sharing our love of the Mac with no emphasis regarding "dumb" questions being mocked, even in a good natured way. I enjoyed the raucousness of those meetings, but I could see that not everyone felt the same. I myself did not have the courage to ask questions in that kind of forum.

The WITS have always been a very open and sharing group. Men are welcome, but they rarely make an appearance. WITS has helped many women get past their fears and problems about their computers or their ability to learn about their Macs. We welcome all people, but we especially encourage women to be confident in the mastery of their computers. WITS has evolved into a social group where we have become good friends that share in many aspects of our lives, but the Mac continues to be at the forefront of our excitement in learning and sharing. Some of us have come and gone for long periods of time, myself included, but we return to reconnect again. This group continues to inspire me in many aspects of my life, not just regarding Macs. The women there are truly amazing and come from all walks of life. It is doubtful I would have met them at a job or socially other than through WITS because we are so diverse.

Some of the men initially considered us a group of hens chattering away, but we have garnered respect for our ability to continue regularly as a force within the club. We are provided with a meeting room and use of an Imac lab, but Macnexus recently changed its workshop and meetings location so the lab has gone away at least for now. Many WITS bring their powerbooks and with the new location’s wifi, we are still good to go.

The WITS meetings have evolved into continuing into lunch time and beyond although they start in the morning! As an example of one of our meetings this last Saturday, we got pretty geeked out when three of us were video iChatting sitting at the same table at Panera’s. I loved it! I should have had my camera. This was to demonstrate to other WITS members who had never used the iChat feature how simple and fun it was. I laughed because it was so typical of us to get excited about sharing something like that and getting so caught up in it. We got stares from other patrons, but we were having a good time. I think it is especially curious to see women get so into their computers like this.

My kids are now in their later 20’s, but they remember being included in the topics about WITS at my house growing up. They see their mom as a she-geek, but they love it. That makes me a little different and smart and who would not want their kids to see them like that. They also have learned to respect women and their knowledge of computers, systems and technology by their exposure to my friends at WITS. I want to learn about podcasting and videocasting so maybe writing about that would be fun. I would love to get this group on the web for other women to see.