Drones many be too nascent of an industry to say for sure, but it’s getting dangerously close to becoming a permanent trend — drones are a “boy toy.”
In February I wrote about Team BlackSheep’s marketing tactic on their website that implied only men fly drones.
In June I asked why people insist on using “hot girls” to sell DJI Phantoms.
In July I wrote an open letter to the Arizona Drone Expo explaining that having “booth babes” — girls in scantily clad bikinis — was a main reason why women feel excluded from attending drone events.
And a piece published by Zara Stone in Buzzfeed today cautions against this gender cap getting bigger.
“While no one is overtly excluding women, drone vendors tend to target men,” Stone writes in Buzzfeed. “There are a few people trying to change that before it becomes a permanent trend. But if drones aren’t to be just another boy toy, they’ll have some serious lifting to do.”
Numerous studies show that people gravitate toward people who are genetically similar to them. And as with any culture, it’s easiest to join a group where people are “like you.” It’s a natural human tendency.
There are very few women in drones, so with that bit of psychology in mind, it’s easy to understand why more women wouldn’t want to join — there simply aren’t any people “like me.”
That’s why, as this Buzzfeed piece rightfully acknowledges, there are groups like InterDrone’s Women in Drones luncheon, DJI’s Women in Drones month, the Amelia Dronehart Facebook group and others to say, “Hey ladies! There ARE people like you in drones, and here is exactly where you can find them.”
Diversity of all kinds is important to any industry, including drones. My hope is that Buzzfeed’s piece has drawn attention to the fact that there IS a gender gap, and the drone community can work together to close it.
