Double standards, or horses for courses?

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 27 October 2010 14:27

Opinion and Analysis

One software company took a caning over the appearance of bikini-clad women at a conference party, but another didn't. Why might that have been?

The presence of Gold Coast meter maids wearing gold bikinis at Microsoft's TechEd Australia conference earlier this year caused a distinct kerfuffle.

The meter maids hosted a remote-control model car racing contest during a party at the conference, which was held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre. The media fuss was mostly about their attire, which was considered inappropriate in the light of industry efforts over several years to increase female participation. There was at least one session specifically targeting women in IT at TechEd 2010.

Yet as far as I can see, there was no similar fuss about the presence of similarly lightly clad female entertainers at the closing party at McAfee's Focus 2010 security conference in Las Vegas. Why was that?

My concern here isn't the rights and wrongs of the two companies' decisions, just the different reactions to what appears to be very similar circumstances.

The first reason that comes to my mind is that McAfee isn't Microsoft. For a variety of reasons, some people are quick to find fault with anything that Microsoft does. Probably the only other IT company that attracts a similar number of haters is Apple.

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