Another tech event, another inappopriate after party... This time around, the North American Bitcoin Conference pushed the limits, reports Moguldom. The Miami conference held its official after-party at a local strip club, and while the actual dancers didn't join the party until 11:00 p.m., the servers wore lingerie. Conference organizer Moe Levin, CEO of Keynote Events, said it was "the ideal layout for networking. The nude performances were halted until 11 p.m., and if it later became a place where people felt uncomfortable, that wasn't the conference's fault." As one female attendee said of the environment, "...that was enough to set the tone in how my male peers behaved towards me there. Will a conference attendee who tells me to go on the stage or offers a lap dance ... take me seriously the next day?" On the flipside, check out this cool roundup of nine female Blockchain leaders to follow on Entrepreneur. Which means, next year... Magic Mike Live?! (See WiCipedia: Bots Gone Wild at CES & Another Google Lawsuit.)

Figure 1: (Source: Moguldom)

Several new articles have tallied up the pay gap between white men and different minority workers in tech, and the difference -- while not exactly surprising -- isn't showing much forward movement. MarketWatch found that female managers at tech companies are paid 10% less than their male counterparts, that is, if you can even find them. While 10% might not seem like a huge amount, with soaring tech salaries, that might mean nearly $20,000 per year. Not exactly chump change. Hired's 2018 State of Salaries Report found that African-American techies made the least for all positions, and also asked for the lowest salaries in negotiations. This is in contrast to the average white tech worker, who asks for the highest salary, and generally receives an offer even higher than requested. (See WiCipedia: Google Sued Over Gender Pay Disparity and Equal Pay Day: Time to Get Paychecks in Check.)

The #MeToo headlines may have slowed down a bit in recent weeks, but it's clear this movement isn't just a trend; it's here to stay until the problem gets solved. It's also becoming more and more a part of everyday dialogue for women who work in tech. Blind, the anonymous workplace venting app for Silicon Valley, has launched a #MeToo channel for conversations about discrimination and diversity issues. Reading through the posts is at times alarming and triggering, so read at your own discretion. Just know that if you need a place to anonymously vent, you can find it over at Blind. (See WiCipedia: #MeToo Hits the Valley & WiC Goes to London.)

A new study from Sage Journals has found that a positive outlook towards the subject of math in early education has an impact on performance. Using a group of 240 children, "scientists found engagement of the hippocampal learning-memory system." A press release from Stanford Medicine states, "The new study found that, even once IQ and other confounding factors were accounted for, a positive attitude toward math still predicted which students had stronger math performance." The study was performed by the Stanford University School of Medicine. So this means I might not be terrible at math after all?! (See WiCipedia: 'Perceived Gender Bias' & Google/YouTube CEOs on Diversity.)

— Eryn Leavens, Special Features & Copy Editor, Light Reading