Of course, I do feel that corporations in general starting using that meme as a way to discriminate against women…unfortunately it has now become commonplace for people to think that discrimination in this manner is valid.

Although it is true that I lacked mentors and female colleagues, I feel that the rampant outsourcing and allowing visas in professions that were in decline (namely after the dot-com crash) in recent years has reduced working conditions locally. I had my salary halve in a short number of years and the opportunities available are far less glamorous. Personally, I don’t want to work nights and weekends so that pretty much eliminates all opportunities that I’m qualified for. I was laid off nine months ago and have started my own company that allows me to work flexible hours from home, and I’m much happier for it.

I don’t work now. After becoming a mother, my options were severly limited. I couldn’t keep putting in 12 hour days 5-6 days a week and still be a part of my children’s lives. I didn’t have any family support system I could rely on to help me if problems arose. (i.e. sick child, etc.)

Another consideration is the lack of part time engineering jobs. I live in an area with an abundance of technically trained stay at home mothers because there really aren’t jobs out there for us. Many would like to get a part time tech job while their children finish out school, but they don’t exist.

Any companies out there listening???? At this moment, I know of 5 tech women who would love part time tech jobs.

But apart from that, I count myself lucky. I have a mentor. My direct supervisor encourages work/life balance and making the most of our flexi-schedule. My mentor is my direct supervisor. My mentor is a dad who also picks up kids from school and sometimes leaves company events early to go home to the family. He’s also married to a woman who runs her own business and definitely “gets” the challenges of being a woman in IT.

But very few women have this, and if I were working for another woman in IT, I may even have had less support. It’s well-known that the sisterhood in business doesn’t function healthily, not like the boy’s club.