在舊金山 AI 新創界工作讓我最吃驚的一件事
來到舊金山 AI 新創工作了兩個禮拜，認識一堆 AI 新創界的人後，最令我吃驚的一件事不是科技的日新月異，而是海量、排山倒海、多如牛毛的男人。
今天辦公室旁邊的空地舉辦了一場 AI Meetup，當我和我們公司的行銷人踏入會場時，她吃驚的說：「天呀！怎麼都是男人！」放眼望去，一場三、四十人的活動真的只有三、四位女性，剩下的全部都是男人。
雖然之前在 Meta 的團隊裡，也是十比一。十幾個男人，只有我和一位姊姊是女性。但大科技公司還是稍微講究一些性別比，在食堂一起吃午餐的時候，還是可以看見一些女性的。不知道為什麼，現在到了 AI 新創的共同辦公室見之後，壓倒性的全部都是男人。我想我已經太習慣身邊全是男性了，記得有一次遇到一位女性在辦公室時，我還驚訝又開心的問她為什麼會在這裡。
雖然說看起來只是數字上的差異，但是經驗確實有很大的不同。共同辦公室裡有一個 YC 創辦人姊姊，我每天閒來無事就會去找她和她的創辦人一起玩。身為一個女性創辦人真的很不容易，她說在新創發表會上，一群男性創辦人對產品論足，卻忽略她的存在，讓她感到很不舒適，那些新創也甚至不是什麼知名的新創。如果今天在場討論的是一群女性，早就會有人邀請她加入了吧！剛剛她在調她簡報要用的投影機時，還有人走過去問她是不是「工作人員」。
前幾天去的黑客松也是如此。在男人海裡，全場見不到五個女性。當我和旁邊的女性工程師一起工作的時候，有記者來訪問，只訪問了同組的男性，坐我旁邊的女性工程師好勇敢，對著記者直接問：「為什麼你只訪問男人，不訪問我們呢？」記者趕忙解釋只是照順序來，她：「但是你看見在場有多少位女性了嗎？」她說的很有道理，女性代表真的太少了，如果不強調女性的存在，就看不見女性的身影了。
雖然這些算不算是性別歧視或許都還有討論的空間，但是身為極少數的女性存在於都是男人的場合，會感到壓力或緊張，也都是合情合理的事。
就像電影芭比裡演的一樣，雖然世界表面上看起來男女平等，而矽谷也有越來越多科技業的公司給女性比男性更多的福利 (e.g. diversity programs)，但細節上依舊有很多很多的差異。我發現這個世界要達到男女平等，不止還有很長的一段路要走，科技業的女性也還需要更多的支持。
搬家提醒：我把文章都搬到 substack，可以在上面訂閱。
Biggest shock working in San Francisco AI startup environment
After working in the AI startup scene in San Francisco for two weeks and getting to know many people in the AI startup community, the most surprising thing to me wasn’t the rapidly evolving technology, but rather the overwhelming presence of men.
Today, an AI Meetup was held in the open space next to our office. As my colleague from the marketing team and I entered the venue, she exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! Why are there only men here?” Looking around, there were only three or four women in a gathering of about thirty to forty people, and the rest were all men.
Although in my previous team at Meta, there were also 10+ men, with only one female colleague beside me, larger tech companies at least seemed to pay some attention to gender diversity. While having lunch together in the cafeteria, there were still women to be seen. Upon entering the shared workspace in the AI startup environment, the overwhelming majority were men. I suppose I’ve become so accustomed to being surrounded by men that I remember being surprised and happy when I encountered a female coworker in the office one time, and I even asked her why she was there.
Although it may seem like a difference in numbers, the experience is quite different. There’s a female co-founder from Y Combinator (YC) in the shared office space, and whenever I have spare time, I chat and hang out with her and her co-founder. Being a female founder doesn’t seem to be easy. She mentioned that in startup events, a group of male founders dominated discussions about products, completely overlooking her presence, which made her feel very uncomfortable. These startups weren’t even particularly well-known. If the discussion were among a group of women today, I’m sure someone would have invited her to join. Just a while ago, while she was setting up the projector for her presentation, someone even approached her and asked if she was a “staff” for the event.
A few days ago, the hackathon I attended was the same way. In the sea of men, barely five women were in the venue. When I was working alongside a female engineer, a journalist came to interview us. However, they only interviewed the men in our group. The female engineer sitting next to me was courageous enough to directly ask the journalist, “Why are you only interviewing men and not us?” The journalist quickly explained that they were going in order, but she responded, “But have you noticed how few women are present here?” She made a valid point — female representation was indeed scarce. Without emphasizing the presence of women, it’s really challenging to achieve gender equality in the tech industry.
While whether these instances can be classified as gender discrimination might still be up for discussion, being a minority as a woman in predominantly male environments does lead to feelings of pressure and nervousness. These feelings are entirely understandable.
It’s like what’s portrayed in the movie Barbie. Even though the world seems to promote gender equality on the surface and Silicon Valley is offering more benefits to women than men in many tech companies (e.g., diversity programs), there are still numerous differences at the granular level. I’ve realized that achieving gender equality is still a long, long journey ahead, and women in tech still need a lot of support.
