Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit • Hacker News Board

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#11

Post by seeyes » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:54 PM UTC

phendrenad2 wrote: post #2

Is this headline subtly sexist..?

It is also a bit stereotypical to think that an engineer woman should not be interested in cooking a meal for her family or doing chores at home. In the podcast I pointed to above - Dakshayani mentions her love for cooking and interestingly compares cooking to coding.

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#12

Post by zem » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:54 PM UTC

phendrenad2 wrote: post #2

Is this headline subtly sexist..?

just the opposite - it's highlighting the sexism she has to face, where she is expected to put in a full day's work and also do housework, including cooking for eight people.

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#13

Post by overcast » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

madengr wrote: post #3

I’d think an engineer and surgeon could hire a housemaid to help out with the cooking. In the USA, it’d be a household income of > $600k. I saw a documentary a few years ago. The woman cooked breakfast, then after the husband left, immediately started lunch. Brought lunch to the husband in a stacked lunch-pail, them immediately started with dinner. They cooked all day; crazy. Of course Indian food takes a long time t…

In my experience, having dated legit Indian women, housemaids are extremely common. Even low income families, had someone of even lower income working for them. Having food cooked for you by someone else is very much a norm for a lot of Indians.

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#14

Post by starpilot » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

phendrenad2 wrote: post #2

Is this headline subtly sexist..?

Is any mentioning of the sex of a person subtly sexist?

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#15

Post by akshayB » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

Dynamics are definitely changing in India, now more women finish school & college and are becoming contributors in household income. This although is happening in major cities and metros but in rural area women are still not able to receive good education, along with this there are also several cultural challenges which are involved as well. But stories like this definitely share a hope and optimism.

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#16

Post by amrrs » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:00 PM UTC

A nice similar piece earlier published on backchannel https://www.buzzfeed.com/ipsitaagarwal/the-women-who-took-us...

"An image of the scientists celebrating in the mission control room went viral. Girls in India and beyond gained new heroes: the kind that wear sarees and tie flowers in their hair and send rockets into space."

looked hard to find this one since backchannel moved back to wired and I didn't have free articles to read. Irony!

Edit: source on BuzzFeed took me to wired right link https://www.wired.com/2017/03/these-scientists-sent-a-rocket...

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#17

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:01 PM UTC

danharaj wrote: post #4

phendrenad2 wrote: post #2

Is this headline subtly sexist..?

The subject matter is about a woman managing a high intensity career and taking care of a large family, so perhaps not. It's worth thinking about though.

[deleted]

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#18

Post by nonamechicken » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:15 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #10

madengr wrote: post #3

I’d think an engineer and surgeon could hire a housemaid to help out with the cooking. In the USA, it’d be a household income of > $600k. I saw a documentary a few years ago. The woman cooked breakfast, then after the husband left, immediately started lunch. Brought lunch to the husband in a stacked lunch-pail, them immediately started with dinner. They cooked all day; crazy. Of course Indian food takes a long time t…

In the USA, parents don't typically arrange an adult daughter's marriage without asking her what she thinks either. (She also was living with extended family, a thing Americans tend to not do either. In America, we default to the nuclear family. When it began with saying she was cooking for 8 people, I assumed she had many children. Not so.) Also, she liked to cook and if you are a woman and have a career, doing thin…

>In the USA, parents don't typically arrange an adult daughter's marriage without asking her what she thinks either.

Same in India also. Arranged marriage doesn't mean forced marriage. It's unfortunate people have this perception. Even in arranged marriage, men and women agree for marriage only if they are ok.

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#19

Post by anonymfus » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:20 PM UTC

This old soviet cartoon about exploitation of woman still stays relevant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkdhJWyzFR8

Re: Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit

#20

Post by nonamechicken » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:20 PM UTC

What India Can Teach Silicon Valley About Its Gender Problem: https://www.wired.com/2014/08/silicon-valley-sexism/

India and Italy have the highest percentage of female developers: https://blog.hackerrank.com/which-countries-have-the-most-sk...