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An event meant to be a career-builder for women and nonbinary tech workers turned into yet another symbol of the industry's gender imbalance after self-identifying men showed up in droves. 

 and bills itself the world's largest annual gathering of women and nonbinary tech workers. 

Tickets for the four-day event, which took place in Orlando, Fla., last week, ranged in price from $649 to $1,298, and included a coveted chance to meet one-on-one with sponsors such as Apple, Amazon, Salesforce and Google. 

With some 30,000 annual attendees, that career expo was already a competitive space, 

. But this year, access was even more limited by what the 

 as "an increase in participation of self-identifying males." 

Videos posted to social media showed scenes of men 

 to get an interview slot. Footage showed 

, hundreds deep, waiting in line for a chance to enter the career expo. 

put it, “the Kens had taken over Barbieland.”

Some of the attendees had lied about their gender identity on their conference registrations, said Cullen White, the chief impact officer with AnitaB.org, the nonprofit that organizes the conference. 

“Judging by the stacks and stacks of resumes you're passing out, you did so because you thought you could come here and take up space to try and get jobs,” White said during 

 “So let me be perfectly clear: Stop. Right now. Stop.”

Tech jobs were once a safe bet for workers looking for stable, lucrative careers. 

Women were disproportionately affected by those cuts, making up 69.2 percent of all tech layoffs, according to 

. And that's on top of the industry's ongoing gender imbalance. Women hold just 26 percent of jobs across all STEM occupations and even less — 24 percent — in computer fields, according to the latest available data from

 that the shift in demographics had robbed the conference of the joyous and supportive atmosphere that had helped previous conference-goers grow. 

“We tried to create a safe space. And this week, we saw the outside world creep in,” she said. “I can't guarantee you that we'll have solutions tomorrow. But I can promise you that we'll be working on solutions, and we won't do it in a bubble.”

Earlier in the week, the organization addressed calls to ban men from the conference by saying that “male allyship is necessary” to work toward overall inclusivity and also that federal law prohibited discrimination based on gender. 

NPR reached out to AnitaB.org for additional comment but had not received a response by the time this article was published. 

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Emily Olson

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The Grace Hopper Celebration was designed to celebrate and uplift workers who are traditionally underrepresented in the tech industry. This year, men showed up in droves.

Men took over a job fair intended for women and nonbinary tech workers

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