Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 288 posts

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#51

Post by onmydesk »

dandrews wrote: post #48
staticelf wrote: post #29

I dislike the fact that females get a lot more attention because of their gender. If you want true equality you've to start treating everybody as equals and giving extra space for some just doesn't cut it. I see this all the time in my country (I don't know if this is the case here) but females get a lot more attention in basically all areas of society and I don't think much good can come from that. Well, I guess I'm…

staticelf, most of us here want that "true equality" that you refer to. But the unassailable fact of the matter is that we don't have it today. Look around you: assuming you're in IT, unless you work in a truly remarkable place men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that. I'd welcome your suggestion. But "start treating everybody as equals" is a goal, and not…

"men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that."

Why? What is that evidence of? You assume sexism presumably. Men and women are different and have predispositions to excel in different areas.

You know what would be really weird? A 50/50 split. Why is that the definition of correct?

Why are so few people rational about this?

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#53

Post by GhotiFish »

Crake wrote: post #16
namenotrequired wrote: post #3

For those who wouldn't click cause it's "Female Founders" - so far it's been just as inspiring as Startup School (even for me as a man).

I usually don't bother with links to things that are phrased in such a way as to suggest support of segregationist policies. I don't care about women in tech. I care about people in tech.

Really? Personally It just sounded like I wasn't invited.

though... that was because I did not read the title clearly.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#54

Post by _xo_ »

onmydesk wrote: post #51
dandrews wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

staticelf, most of us here want that "true equality" that you refer to. But the unassailable fact of the matter is that we don't have it today. Look around you: assuming you're in IT, unless you work in a truly remarkable place men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that. I'd welcome your suggestion. But "start treating everybody as equals" is a goal, and not…

"men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that." Why? What is that evidence of? You assume sexism presumably. Men and women are different and have predispositions to excel in different areas. You know what would be really weird? A 50/50 split. Why is that the definition of correct? Why are so few people rational about this?

Even assuming you are correct about this - CS is not one of these areas. If you go back a few decades, programming was a much more even leveled field. In the 80s, approximately 50% of all programmers were female.

(For numbers see e.g. http://blog.fogcreek.com/girls-go-geek-again/)

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#55

Post by GhotiFish »

danilocampos wrote: post #47
baddox wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Problem is, Crake, we're doing something wrong . And perhaps the support of segregationist policies is the thing we're doing wrong.

Okay. Let's hear your proposal for addressing the already segregationist technology industry. Let's hear your proposal for elevating female/non-white founder percentages out of the single digits. What've you got?

something needs doing

I'm doing something

something has been done.

full disclosure: I have no skin in this game, nor opinions. Just making an observation.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#56

Post by enlightenedfool »

onmydesk wrote: post #51
dandrews wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

staticelf, most of us here want that "true equality" that you refer to. But the unassailable fact of the matter is that we don't have it today. Look around you: assuming you're in IT, unless you work in a truly remarkable place men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that. I'd welcome your suggestion. But "start treating everybody as equals" is a goal, and not…

"men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that." Why? What is that evidence of? You assume sexism presumably. Men and women are different and have predispositions to excel in different areas. You know what would be really weird? A 50/50 split. Why is that the definition of correct? Why are so few people rational about this?

And there are fields where women outnumber men. No one ever bothered to think about equality there and having the need to "uplift" men

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#57

Post by onmydesk »

_xo_ wrote: post #54
onmydesk wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that." Why? What is that evidence of? You assume sexism presumably. Men and women are different and have predispositions to excel in different areas. You know what would be really weird? A 50/50 split. Why is that the definition of correct? Why are so few people rational about this?

Even assuming you are correct about this - CS is not one of these areas. If you go back a few decades, programming was a much more even leveled field. In the 80s, approximately 50% of all programmers were female. (For numbers see e.g. http://blog.fogcreek.com/girls-go-geek-again/ )

Why is 50% correct? Why was that right and later lower values wrong? What is the rationale?

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#58

Post by dandrews »

onmydesk wrote: post #51
dandrews wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

staticelf, most of us here want that "true equality" that you refer to. But the unassailable fact of the matter is that we don't have it today. Look around you: assuming you're in IT, unless you work in a truly remarkable place men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that. I'd welcome your suggestion. But "start treating everybody as equals" is a goal, and not…

"men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that." Why? What is that evidence of? You assume sexism presumably. Men and women are different and have predispositions to excel in different areas. You know what would be really weird? A 50/50 split. Why is that the definition of correct? Why are so few people rational about this?

Careful with that. You saw what happened to Larry Summers, right?

Seriously, I take your point about the differences between men and women. I saw the news tidbit a few weeks ago about the study on toddlers and the toys they prefer. I'm willing to treat those studies objectively.

Yet in the case I cited, fewer than three percent of attendees at a technical conference were women. "Predispositions to excel" or not, that's a statistic too big to ignore, and there's something else going on.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#59

Post by GhotiFish »

danilocampos wrote: post #50
Crake wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually don't bother with links to things that are phrased in such a way as to suggest support of segregationist policies. I don't care about women in tech. I care about people in tech.

> I don't care about women in tech. I've noticed. When you collect a few more life experiences, perhaps get a decade of career under your belt, you'll learn how toxic it is when monocultures form. You'll learn about the blind spots. The exclusion. The lack of productive conflict from varying ideas. And perhaps at that point you'll learn why "caring about people in tech" means caring that no people feel actively exclu…

That's perhaps too harsh.

You hear from people who are physically handicapped that the thing they hate most is the contrast in treatment. They want to be treated normally.

A different person in a different perspective gets treated differently because they are viewed as different. A common complaint. Is he being empathetic or indifferent? I dunno, but it's hard not to say to yourself "Women are being treated differently, that is what is keeping them out, so I will endeavour not to treat them differently."

Is that misguided?

Post reply on HN