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No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

code.likeagirl.io

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Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#21

Post by jorjordandan »

My daughter is six. I never wanted her to be interested in things that were traditionally gendered - but she just is. I would buy neutral toys, but her eyes would light up when she saw the babies and pink princesses. So, is she wrong to like those things? We have done the minecraft hour of code together, (she likes minecraft too) but if there was an even more 'girly' version I an guarantee that she would be more engaged by it. Of course she is interested in coding because it's interesting, but if it takes some marketing to get her in the door, so what?

Furthermore, I love to buy her books etc such as "Suzy shier engineer", but I wonder why all the books where girls are engineers or inventors or programmers they have to be wearing jumpsuits and glasses and rarely anything pink. I suspect it's because the books are sold based on the biases of the parents. I feel like my daughter gets the message that "You can be a pretty princess girl, or you can be a smart girl". So I say the opposite. Give my daughter some princess engineers in pink dresses please. She recently saw a barbie movie at a friends house (i know) and barbie was coding and it palpably raised her interest in the whole endeavor.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#22

Post by draw_down »

jorjordandan wrote: post #21

My daughter is six. I never wanted her to be interested in things that were traditionally gendered - but she just is. I would buy neutral toys, but her eyes would light up when she saw the babies and pink princesses. So, is she wrong to like those things? We have done the minecraft hour of code together, (she likes minecraft too) but if there was an even more 'girly' version I an guarantee that she would be more enga…

Nobody is attacking your daughter, stop it.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#23

Post by discreditable »

kradeelav wrote: post #14

I honestly feel like framing the debate around surface elements like color (of all things) is worse than useless, and would rather people focus on what tech-y groups have historically attracted young girls with no problem - neopets(1), for example. (The linked article below focuses on a few things that really resonates with me - emotional security paired with the freedom to play and hack, not having to ~present~ a ge…

Agreed. The whole thing reminds me of the old pink ponies slashdot April fools theme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot#2000s

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#24

Post by menacingly »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #4

The irony of the source name here is wonderful.

I think that's more a misunderstanding about what they're trying to do with the name. Perhaps the misunderstanding they're trying to address with the name.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#25

Post by 1auralynn »

The real way we're going to see equity in girls going into computer science/tech is for it to be an academic requirement, or at least an honors-level course in all high schools. In my high school in the 90's, computer science was practically a vo-tech class so none of the smart girls took it - hobbyist boys were the ones with the most experience going into college. I had an engineer dad, was super into computers, and I didn't even think of taking it.

Another approach is for it to become a more acceptable hobby for girls, but the social pressure is strong still for girls in the opposite direction. I think that one's a harder battle in a lot of ways.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#26

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

menacingly wrote: post #24
Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #4

The irony of the source name here is wonderful.

I think that's more a misunderstanding about what they're trying to do with the name. Perhaps the misunderstanding they're trying to address with the name.

I can see that, and I think I get what they were going for. But you simply can't choose to complain about using colors to attract women to tech (vs. letting the actual tech stuff be the draw) and then choose to utilize all the "Like a girl" stuff they've gone with. I see so many of these events that are branded "like a girl" "be a girl boss", etc. and it stinks of selective bias.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#27

Post by twobyfour »

curun1r wrote: post #19

Pinkifying to appeal to women...sure, it's probably patronizing and wrong-headed. Pinkifying to appeal to young girls...absolutely need more of this. Almost every engineer I've ever spoken to on the topic had Legos or some other toy that involves combining building blocks of some sort into a larger whole when they were a child. We absolutely need to pinkify these toys to build engineering instincts in young girls if…

You might be surprised to learn that girls aren't attracted only to toys that are pink and flowery or related to traditionally feminine pursuits. I find that assumption damaging.

As a girl, my favorite toys were legos, blocks, and the toy cars that sadly were more often gifts to my brother than to me or to us both. Ideally all three together (racing cars down the hallway on ramps built from blocks and lego? Win!)

None of them were pink. None of them were dolls. None of them involved families or housekeeping or kitchens or flowers.

But then, I was one of the lucky ones who didn't have pink things and "pink is for girls" and "girls should play with dolls" pushed on her from a young age.

Just make the toys unisex and be glad when any of your kids play with any of them instead of looking askance at your daughter when she reaches for the legos or your son when he picks up a doll, and they'll be fine. Legos are girls' toys too, regardless of what color they are.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#28

Post by ggggtez »

1auralynn wrote: post #25

The real way we're going to see equity in girls going into computer science/tech is for it to be an academic requirement, or at least an honors-level course in all high schools. In my high school in the 90's, computer science was practically a vo-tech class so none of the smart girls took it - hobbyist boys were the ones with the most experience going into college. I had an engineer dad, was super into computers, and…

Changing the education system to train children for next generation jobs? That's just ridiculous, how could that possibly help /s.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#29

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #13
amiga-workbench wrote: post #3

I have noticed that some women only tech events tend to go very lightly into technical matters and lean more towards the social justice side of things and I can very easily see just how unappealing such events would be.

No, I'm pretty sure its "Code like a girl". That's the name of the submitted and is the completed form of said URL. I'm also reasonably sure that referring to women professionals as "girls" is also one of those things you shouldn't do. Right hand, meet left hand. These are adults, and they happen to be male/female/white/black/asian/whatever. (Unless we're actually talking about k-9 school aged females. Then girl is a…

You aren't allowed opinions, my friend. Right or wrong, you must be gender biased (unless it's against females) or you mustn't raise points.

Re: No need to pinkify – Girls get interested in tech because it is interesting

#30

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh »

jorjordandan wrote: post #21

My daughter is six. I never wanted her to be interested in things that were traditionally gendered - but she just is. I would buy neutral toys, but her eyes would light up when she saw the babies and pink princesses. So, is she wrong to like those things? We have done the minecraft hour of code together, (she likes minecraft too) but if there was an even more 'girly' version I an guarantee that she would be more enga…

I think both problems are instances of the same ridiculous thought process.

So one side we push the pink obsession by default onto all girls (I can't begin to explain how much I hate the whole boy-blue girl-pink bullshit we do with babies even before they are born)

On the other, we imagine that non-girly things (tech) are so because they do not signal traditional girly things (hence the jumpsuits and large glasses and all), so if only we made them a little more pink...!

If your girl enjoys pink, awesome! Buy her pink stuff. The problem is not in girls liking pink, the problem is in us peddling irrelevant gendered nonsense onto our kids even before they are old enough to express a choice in that matter.

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