Today in Cis Privilege: Sexism and Misogyny Rampant in Tech Industry

The tech industry — both startups and big companies like Google and Yahoo — have struggled with gender inclusion and its overall “brogrammer” culture. Men in tech outnumber women seven to three and make up an overwhelming majority of leadership positions. That disparity has been shown to shut women out for not “fitting the culture” or because they are considered unqualified. Once hired, women in tech frequently face sexual harassment and discriminatory policies that ignore gender-based harassment in the workplace. This kind of culture has also been blamed for the droves of women leaving science and technology jobs much sooner than their male counterparts.

The tech industry’s homogeneous culture has also been attributed to cultivating bad policies that alienate female customers by painting them as technologically challenged or excluding them altogether. Assassin’s Creed video game developer Ubisoft recently angered fans for refusing to add a lead female character to its newest game because it “too much work,” ignoring the fact that half of all gamers are women. Microsoft also fended off backlash earlier this year after it released a controversial commercial implying that women only use computers for wedding planning and checking Pinterest. Google faced similar allegations after airing a Gmail tutorial that suggested a woman could use the email service’s new format to easily confirm dates and shop for shoes. Since then, the company has launched new initiatives to get more young girls and women interested in tech and improve diversity.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/01/3455494/tinder-sexual-harassment-lawsuit/

Today in Cis Privilege: Gang trafficked at least 120 women into London where they were raped

The Hungarian-based gang trafficked at least 120 women into London where they were raped, beaten and forced to work in brothels across the capital.

The six gang members — led by Indian-born Vishal Chaudhary — are among 25 criminals convicted or jailed in the past month alone in a series of operations against Eastern European human trafficking gangs targeting London.

Police say there are an increasing number of joint inquiries with countries such as Poland, Hungary and Romania into prostitution and trafficking gangs.

Scotland Yard said there are at least seven live inquiries into crime groups bringing women into London.

In one operation with Romanian police, the first of its kind, 12 Romanian nationals were jailed for 89 years in their own country for bringing women to Britain to work in prostitution.

In another case earlier this week a Russian madam who ran a “high class” escort agency was jailed for eight years at Southwark crown court. Tatiana Shmyrova, 45, exploited a talented former Bulgarian athlete after she was lured to Britain with the promise of a new life working as a tour guide in London.

The Chaudhary gang trafficked more than 120 women from Hungary into the UK.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/sex-traffickers-facing-jail-after-forcing-120-women-to-work-in-london-brothels-9534488.html