I noticed many posts about how to address individuals due to the ambiguity of their gender on the internet (including Stack Exchange) such as these:
As a young (relatively, 21) female student working in tech I notice that gender is very rarely made explicit. In jobs before I met someone upon hearing my name they automatically assumed I was a boy. I noticed that the profile page asks for a website, location, age, and name. Name in some cases can be used to identify gender for example "Katie" is unlikely to be a male identified individual whereas "Thomas" probably is. So it isn't as if gender / identity are entirely unknown. Rather they are simply even less obvious. I also notice that very few profiles address it.
Perhaps because they are male and know the assumption is that they are, or if they are female they prefer not to point it out as a difference / point of contention with some individuals. As much as we would all like there are still individuals with gender bias. Of course it may also be the case that those individuals simply don't care.
Given the questions, confusion, and avoidance of continuing a "automatically male unless proven female" way of communicating why is it that Stack Exchange doesn't list gender on profiles? Of course this could become an issue for non-gendered / trans / queer / or other perhaps gender fluctuating or transcending individuals.
I know that perhaps some people may not want to disclose this but in the same way they do not need to disclose a website. Some individuals may also choose a gender to create an artificial profile however still this doesn't seem to be a major issue. Is it due to issues of discrimination from recruiters / companies etc? I know companies cannot hire based on gender (or at least they aren't supposed to).
Or was it simply not the intent of Stack Exchange to disclose gender? It seems (I could be wrong) that in a sense removing gender doesn't help make women any more visible in tech, nor does it remove the "all male" stereotypes.
It isn't that I'm particularly bothered by it rather I wonder given the fact that many people are concerned with what types of pronouns to use for people wouldn't it be easier to allow individuals (relatively low cost) to add their gender if they so choose?
Is it inappropriate to ask individuals for their gender, or make yours obviously known in say your profile? Essentially I'm curious as to why gender is not considered relevant but something like age or full name is.
Would you want a feature like this? Mrs, Ms, Miss, Mz were created to denote or conceal the knowledge of a woman's marital status. Many men promoted non-specific titles to remove the awkwardness of getting it wrong. I think gender could serve a similar role.
Due to certain individuals comments I would like to state that this is really a food for thought question. It is not about my experiences in tech etc. I am asking it to provoke discussion not be critiqued personally.
However when comments like these:
Maybe you'll get somewhere when you drop that "they treat me bad because I'm a woman" attitude. When nobody knows you are a female.
are the reactions to women asking questions about gender in tech related sites, I think it proves there are discussions to have.