Technology giants have long been known for an atmosphere of sexism, with the upper tiers looking like a boys-only club. Malone, head of the interaction design program at the California College of the Arts, argues that women have always been an essential part of the tech equation, even though men reserved the spotlight—and the high-paying positions—for themselves. The “side door” for women to enter the tech industry was the field of user interface design, which called for deep skills in communication, empathy, and imagination. The company men treated the area with disdain, believing that the development of operating systems was the crucial profit driver. Malone disputes this, emphasizing that most customers were more concerned with an interface that was simple, clear, and flexible than with programming details. The emergence of the internet called for a new generation of tools, which were mostly developed by women, including those with backgrounds in social psychology and aesthetic design. Despite their work, women were usually denied promotion into leadership positions, remaining locked in the interface field. The situation has improved in the past decade, mainly because the latest generation of female designers has included activism in their skill set. True equality and due recognition, however, are still a long way off. Malone’s book has important things to say but is a dense read, and the narrative sometimes becomes lost in technical issues. Despite the importance of its subject, the book is more for specialists than general readers.
English (US) ·