This article was flagged unfairly. It's substantive and grounded in personal experience. Those are good qualities for an HN piece whether one agrees or disagrees, so I've turned off flags and rolled back the clock on this submission to give it a second shot. If you want to comment here, please (re-)familiarize yourself with the site guidelines at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html , including this one:…
I feel bad about not being able to find a way to let the author know that her article is currently being discussed on HN
This seems like a good illustration of the soft bigotry of low expectations. Yes, we should make an effort to be inclusive of all individuals, but when that's done by putting people on a pedestal simply because they're a minority, it's superficial, cringy and embarrassing for everyone involved.
When a minority isn't being hired, it is probably hard to prove that it was because of discrimination... that's probably why a minimum is sometime required
Something I've noticed after 10 years in tech/finance is that there are very, very few western women in engineering roles. I think I've only ever worked with 1 woman who wasn't an Eastern European or Asian immigrant (and yeah, I eventually married one of the immigrant ones). The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us. This article really hi…
>The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us.
The countries with low gender gap in science/tech are also the countries that measure low on general measures of gender equality. It turns out there isn't anything to learn from these cases. In regions with low gender equality and weak social safety nets, technology is seen as the means to economic security and thus empowerment. Conversely, regions with high gender equality and strong social safety nets have the largest gender gaps. There is something to be learned from this, but we probably won't like what we find.
Something I've noticed after 10 years in tech/finance is that there are very, very few western women in engineering roles. I think I've only ever worked with 1 woman who wasn't an Eastern European or Asian immigrant (and yeah, I eventually married one of the immigrant ones). The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us. This article really hi…
> The gender gap is purely cultural...
It may be smaller in other cultures, but it's my impression that it's still there. At least among non-Western immigrants to the U.S., there are still at least 2-3 males for every female engineer.
Dunno about the quality or authoritativeness of the numbers, but this link indicates that India still has plenty of room for growth, assuming that 50/50 is the ideal gender ratio.
Something I've noticed after 10 years in tech/finance is that there are very, very few western women in engineering roles. I think I've only ever worked with 1 woman who wasn't an Eastern European or Asian immigrant (and yeah, I eventually married one of the immigrant ones). The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us. This article really hi…
>The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us. The countries with low gender gap in science/tech are also the countries that measure low on general measures of gender equality. It turns out there isn't anything to learn from these cases. In regions with low gender equality and weak social safety nets, technology is seen as the means to econom…
Instead of hinting at something, why not just tell us how you really feel? Is it because it's a conclusion that is generally not accepted when put in plain terms?
Quoting article: > I come from a country and a back ground where intelligence and the ability to work extremely hard is valued highly, with beauty, money and popularity ranked far, far below. Growing up as a South Indian in Mumbai, neither me, not anyone I know or grew up with, has ever had to defend their choice of or fight an uphill battle while selecting engineering as a career choice, regardless of their sex. I c…
Maybe the picture you're getting is not from South Indian people? There's a different mentality and situation in the south. The southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have the highest literacy rates in India, with Kerala especially having the highest literacy rate for women. Mallika's perceptions about the cultural importance of education are almost certainly correct especially if she is from the south.
This article was flagged unfairly. It's substantive and grounded in personal experience. Those are good qualities for an HN piece whether one agrees or disagrees, so I've turned off flags and rolled back the clock on this submission to give it a second shot. If you want to comment here, please (re-)familiarize yourself with the site guidelines at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html , including this one:…
Wonder if the flagging system can be enhanced by having the flagger provide a reason. Maybe having to explain would reduce the incidence of drive-by flagging.
Would be better to de-anonymise flagging so that we could interrogate flaggers. Show 'flagging's as actions that appear like comments on the page.
Something I've noticed after 10 years in tech/finance is that there are very, very few western women in engineering roles. I think I've only ever worked with 1 woman who wasn't an Eastern European or Asian immigrant (and yeah, I eventually married one of the immigrant ones). The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us. This article really hi…
"and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us"
If people are being oppressed/suppressed, then surely we have some things to learn.
But cultures are often 'just different' and one may not be better than the other because more women or men do this or that.
We also have gendered roles in teaching, construction etc., nobody is screaming injustice.
Something I've noticed after 10 years in tech/finance is that there are very, very few western women in engineering roles. I think I've only ever worked with 1 woman who wasn't an Eastern European or Asian immigrant (and yeah, I eventually married one of the immigrant ones). The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us. This article really hi…
> The gender gap is purely cultural... It may be smaller in other cultures, but it's my impression that it's still there. At least among non-Western immigrants to the U.S., there are still at least 2-3 males for every female engineer. Dunno about the quality or authoritativeness of the numbers, but this link indicates that India still has plenty of room for growth, assuming that 50/50 is the ideal gender ratio. http:…
Even at the college level in India, it isn't uncommon to see a 2:1 male to female ratio in engineering classes. Women in India do face plenty of bias, most of which stems from the fact that they are expected to get married and take care of their families. So investing in their education isn't seen as a priority as the assumption is they won't be able to fully concentrate on their careers once they have a family and kids. Now there are some castes where this bias isn't as strong - like Iyers and Iyengars for example, but they are the exception rather than the norm. Even amongst those castes, you'll find plenty of men who think that they are naturally gifted when it comes to math and science. So they claim they can goof around in college and still get good grades while women, who lack that natural talent, have to spend all their time mugging up for exams.
>The gender gap is purely cultural, and we should be learning from what those cultures are doing that's different than us. The countries with low gender gap in science/tech are also the countries that measure low on general measures of gender equality. It turns out there isn't anything to learn from these cases. In regions with low gender equality and weak social safety nets, technology is seen as the means to econom…
Instead of hinting at something, why not just tell us how you really feel? Is it because it's a conclusion that is generally not accepted when put in plain terms?
Not op but since you asked, I will draw the conclusion.
Given that we observe a larger gender gap in countries that are more gender equality we can conclude that when men and women feel more equal their choice of profession diverge.