Bluestocking Social April 28, 2007
Posted by rainelai in events, ladies, technology.trackback
Date: 3rd May 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: New York New York Restaurant (City Link, City Hall, Singapore)
This is an event for ladies who are interested in technology and who relate to what is described below in the context of Singapore..
What is Women 2.0?
Women 2.0 connects like-minded, motivated young women in the Silicon Valley to swap energy, ideas, and experiences with each other.
We promote the collaboration and growth of women in entrepreneurship, technology, and business and provide opportunities for young women to interact with successful women from a broad spectrum of industries.
How did the term Bluestocking Social came about?
Bluestocking from encyclopedia and wiki definition refers to women with intellectual interests involved in starting a social and educational movement.
From World Wide Words which refers it as a pejorative term:
‘The story starts in the early 1750s, when a group of independently minded women decided to break away from the stultifying sessions of card playing and idle chatter which was all that tradition allowed them. They began to hold literary evenings, in direct imitation of the established salons of Paris, to which well-known men of letters would be invited as guests to encourage discussion.’
In a similar fashion, the meetup is set up not in hope of inspiring a feministic movement but rather to connect ladies who have interests in technology similar to the ideas of Bluestocking and Women2.0 in the context of Singapore. Chixor, on the other hand, will be too specialised a technical term to be used in this context though it’s the only feministic term i can find in relation to technology (prove me wrong!).
As it is a social (i.e. totally informal, no strings attached meetup), attendees (restricted to females) are welcome to bring their girl friends along (whoever is interested). It will be more of a sharing and discussion session to discover possibilities and of course, to get to know each other! No age limit but ladies only! Please inform me if you are interested and able to attend. Thanks!
if the social goes well, am considering the possibilities of having it every first fridays of the month (next one will be june 7th 2007) organised by different people all the time. What do you think?
Raine, this is an outstanding idea.
One interesting cultural difference. You use the term “ladies.”
In Silicon Valley, most entreprenurial and tech-savvy women I know would either be confused or irritated if you referred to them as “ladies.” To paraphrase women I have known over my career in the Valley who have responded to men who referred to them in a patronizing way: “We are not girls, gals, ladies, chicks, or broads. We’re women. If you can’t or won’t all us women, then you are a male chauvinist pig.”
I have heard numerous people in Singapore refer to women as girls and/or ladies. As you interact more with women and men in the Silicon Valley, just be aware that you may insult or confuse your American counterparts if you use “ladies.”
What is the nuanced connotation in Singapore if someone calls female adults “women?”
tomk
Raine,
I left out a lot of the really rude labels that men sometimes use to refer to women in the quote above, because most civilized men are less likely to use the more vulgar terms in a business setting. But as the controversies in the American news media make clear, women are sometimes called really disrespectful names. In those case, a strong reaction reprimanding the offensive male, even if he is in a position of power is possible if strong women band together. So let the members of the Bluestocking Social Group be known not only for their shared interest in technology, but for their powerful voice ans enterpreneurial leaders who all just happen to be ..women? Ladies? whatever term best fits your spirited team mates in the context of the Singapore culture!
tomk
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