Hidden Histories

In this 2020 GDC Summer talk, Romero Games' Brenda Romero digs up the fascinating history of women in computer programming. She explores what happened to them, and looks at how the artifacts of this legacy still affect computing and its growth today.

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[mixternnik]

At first, because of the title, I didn't expect much from this talk but still started watching it in spite of my expectations. It was a pleasant surprise to be mistaken and learn this interesting part of history.
Thanks to the good education I received, I already knew about some of the facts shown in the video, and never had an attitude of separating female coders from all coders. But I still sometimes see this attitude in some people, even in other fields.
Your stand on the topic is very respectable, in the sense that we should remove those negative attitudes, cliches, and barriers towards rarely present groups from all environments. Replacing them with a positive attitude and targeted advertisement/courses would be beneficial too. However, I think that affirmative action may actually worsen the problem by further separating groups with small presence from the whole, and collide with idea that these groups are as capable.

[heliolux]

A really fascinating topic extremely well-handled. I didn’t find it ideologically driven really, and she went out of her way to not sound politically motivated. I think most people would have no issue with the talk but because of the subject matter just assume you have a particular viewpoint on the issue and automatically dislike.

[eritsidisp]

Good talk, however the title is very generic and in a sense misleading. Something more specific would be better. Maybe "History and impact of women in tech" or something. I was expecting something entirely different

[VladyVeselinov]

Thanks for the great talk Brenda, it's up to us to foster a welcoming, safe and fair community so I'm glad you're bringing these things up

[martin]

So you are for judging Amanda Clooney because of her speech instead of look. and than you propose to change photo of C inventor because how he looks instead what he did?

[im_bobby_mom]

My Ma told me when I was young when I asked for a PlayStation that they were "boys toys". It made me want to play more.

[FrancoisSchnell]

Thanks for this very informative and lively talk.
27:15 made me laugh "We put man on the moon for god's sake" ...
... "A woman built that man, too." :)

[wcr]

28:20 put some respect on Dennis Ritchie

[Damalycus]

Great talk, Brenda. Jagged Alliance 2 is one of my most favorite games.
I'm a huge sexist myself, but some examples from this video are appaling. The boner guy - WTF?! Those awful advertisements? Yikes.
I grew up in soviet union - and there women were always equal in work-related questions.
For example almost all watch repairers in my area are females. Sure there are differences to consider, but women can do anything men can.

[CrossoverGameReviews]

I hate being one of those people but I have to voice my displeasure at these topics. Can we get back to talking about game development and game distribution? Those were always great. These social topics are not why I come to GDC at all.

[TwaDeRandomz]

Learning about women's crucial role throughout the world of tech is definitely an eye opener, during my years at University I can't say that we were EVER told/taught about ANY female pioneers in games development and programming; which is a shame and I can see how that could be discouraging for young women hoping to enter the industry.

[ACatWithACrown]

Great talk, Brenda!
Man, ngl a lot of ya'll are clowns and didn't even watch the video; shame.