Female coder live-tweets overheard sexist remarks 'made by lunching IBM execs' who refuse to hire young women because they 'get pregnant again and again and again'

Lyndsay Kirkham, an editor and freelance coder in Toronto, sat next to the suits from Big Blue at Richtree restaurant on Monday

Overcome with anger about their 'loud, obnoxious remarks', she tweeted: 'These execs are so comfortable in their sexism that they are openly sharing'

The mother-of-one said that the two men - and one woman who nodded along in agreement - would 'only hire mature women unlikely to have kids'

IBM had not responded to multiple requests for comment to MailOnline



A group of IBM execs underestimated the all-pervading power of the Internet when they obliviously made loudmouth sexist remarks during a business lunch - which were overheard and subsequently live-tweeted by a furious female coder at the next table.



Lyndsay Kirkham, an editor and freelance web developer in Toronto, had her birthday lunch ruined on Monday as she listened to the 'Big Blue' suits explain that they don't hire young women because 'they are just going to get themselves pregnant again and again and again'.

Ms Kirkham, a mother to five-year-old Aodhan , wrote: ' These executives are so comfortable in the sexism that they are openly sharing. Wow. My disbelief is tempering my anger. #IBM .'





Lyndsay Kirkham, a freelance coder and editor in Toronto, live-tweeted on Monday about the allegedly sexist remarks being made by IBM execs at the table next to her

Ms Kirkham had just sat down to lunch at the Richtree restaurant in Toronto with her son and her son's father, when she heard two men at the table next to her being 'obnoxiously loudly and belligerent' about their hiring strategies.

Lindsay Kirkham, 36, tweeted the remarks she heard being made by men she believed to be IBM execs over a working lunch in Toronto

The 36-year-old told MailOnline today: 'It caught my attention because they were talking on what I am passionate about, women working in technology.'



Ms Kirkham is head editor of Demeter Press and has an MA in English and Computer Science from the University of Toronto.



She works part-time in web development and does volunteer projects for women's organizations.



She said the men were in the 50-plus age range and very well-dressed.



She said that their loud remarks, with little heed of who was nearby, made her question if they had been drinking but she saw no evidence of alcohol.



Ms Kirkham told MailOnline on Wednesday that her anger grew as she listened to the men explain that they would hire 'mature' women who were not likely to have more children.



She said: 'They said that women needed to take more breaks and longer holidays due to ''work-family stress''.'

The execs also named specific women in their department who they were 'anticipating to take time off to have children' in the next few years, Ms Kirkham said.

The two men were then joined by a woman, believed to be a colleague, who nodded along in agreement at their misogynistic diatribe.



'Women can be just as responsible for sexism as men,' Ms Kirkham added.



The coder considered taking photos of the offending IBM execs but said she felt strongly about protecting their personal right to privacy.



The editor told MailOnline: 'This is a such a serious issue. They seemed to be willing to cut off, or not even consider, young women for career advancement and saw them only as baby machines.'



The working mother said that her run-in with the tech execs speaks to a more systemic problem for women in technology - whether in gaming, web design or at a corporate Goliath.

She said: 'It is rampant across the board. Anytime a woman goes to a tech conference, she has to worry about being harassed.



'Any time I write an article about technology, I have a man telling me that I don't know what I'm doing with a computer.'

Virginia Marie Rometty is the current chairman and CEO of IBM, the first woman to have ever headed the company.

When her role was announced in 2012, retiring CEO Samuel Palmisano told The New York Times: 'Ginni got it because she deserved it. It’s got zero to do with progressive social policies.'

According to the company's global employment standards: 'IBM will not discriminate in hiring, promotion, compensation of employees and employment practices on grounds of race, color, religion, age, nationality, social or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, political affiliation, disability or veteran status.'



An IBM spokesperson told MailOnline: 'The views expressed in this reported conversation have nothing to do with how we operate our business in Canada or anywhere else.



IBM does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.'

