181–190 of 238 posts
Since when did this become an issue? Tired of hearing that company X or company Y should hire more females. We have way more serious problems to solve, really.
I wasn't aware that we had to attack the list strictly in order.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its hand-waving comments like this that really annoys me when reading HN. As with anecdotal evidence, it tries to masquerade as scientific while being the exact opposite. My reply to such comment is like always: Bring in the real science (i.e. Sociology). If women are being driven out as you describe, it should be possible to measure. For example, if they are being actively driven out, women in technology should then…
What is hand-wavey, that women are being driven out of stem or that any women I have talked about the subject has repeated how hostile it is? The fact that women are leaving stem fields is very easy to measure and has lots of reports and studies, the fact that everyone I talk to about it has hostile experiences to describe is very much an anecdote, one that I think its easy for a lot of people to share. The reference…
But you have nothing to support your claim beyond "any women I have talked about the subject" says so. If you have "lots of reports and studies" to show that the cause is from a hostile environment, bring them on! Im calling on your bluff there.
There is "lots of" reports that show that the number of women in STEM subject are decreasing. However, they rarely if ever venture into the cause of the statistic decline. Since statistics are cold facts without much worthy of discussion, its the cause that people discuss.
And its such causes that study of human social behavior is useful to figure out. It using Science rather than grunting.
I hope this article goes viral. I can't believe we're still not over these stupid preconceptions that intellect has anything to do with our reproductive organs. It shouldn't have anything to do with luck, but still: Best of luck to all you girls out there!
Judging by some of my colleagues / the people I've worked with, intellect isn't a prerequisite for getting into the tech industry either :p.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is hand-wavey, that women are being driven out of stem or that any women I have talked about the subject has repeated how hostile it is? The fact that women are leaving stem fields is very easy to measure and has lots of reports and studies, the fact that everyone I talk to about it has hostile experiences to describe is very much an anecdote, one that I think its easy for a lot of people to share. The reference…
You claim that women are getting into STEM, and then forced out through (the cause) a hostile environment. But you have nothing to support your claim beyond "any women I have talked about the subject" says so. If you have "lots of reports and studies" to show that the cause is from a hostile environment, bring them on! Im calling on your bluff there. There is "lots of" reports that show that the number of women in ST…
However if I didnt find any emperical studies to backup my anecdote I wouldnt really care, unless I have some reason to believe everyone I talk to is a habitual liar I will carry on considering it a real and upsetting problem. Problems are still problems and can even be worked towards without having an scientifically rigorous process applied to their definition.
To the author of this blog and all ladies reading this: I'm sorry, but just like stories around racial diversity in tech you're about to see a bunch of HN comments making _EVERY EXCUSE CONCEIVABLE_ , and then some, to dismiss your concerns and/or say this blog is doing damage instead of helping. I think they're all wrong, but I can't argue against all of them. All I can do is upvote your supporters and downvote the d…
> I have a daughter here who will benefit from the path
> you're creating
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's very simple for me: From 20s to 30s most women are having babies, because it's the only time on their lives when they can do it safely. They can go startuping later. Male coders on their 20s are mostly coding and brofounding because they don't have a better thing to do. IMHO It's even not such a good idea to go having babies at this age for a male because you are mostly broke all the time and you are still a tee…
Please note there are age related discrimination problems in our area of work. And frankly speaking when you talk of management you are talking of glorified desk supervisors and when you talk of architects you are talking of UML-drawing clueless people in semi-managerial roles. Almost anything that requires solving hard engineering problems like scalability, quality you will again get back long hour working engineeri…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You claim that women are getting into STEM, and then forced out through (the cause) a hostile environment. But you have nothing to support your claim beyond "any women I have talked about the subject" says so. If you have "lots of reports and studies" to show that the cause is from a hostile environment, bring them on! Im calling on your bluff there. There is "lots of" reports that show that the number of women in ST…
Most of the recent things I have read have been a summation of this study - http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/08/21/sf.sot... In particular I think I noticed http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/gender-societ... Which mainly discusses how many women leave STEM compared to over fields and to do what. However if I didnt find any emperical studies to backup my anecdote I wouldnt really care, unle…
Study1:
What does emerge is that investments and job rewards that generally stimulate field
commitment, such as advanced training and high job satisfaction, fail to build
commitment among women in STEM.
“We suspect that the retention deficit in STEM may be due to the team organization
of scientific work combined with the attitudes and expectations of co-workers and
supervisors who hold more traditional beliefs about the competencies of women in
these rapidly changing fields,”
A related 2012 study published in Sociology, “The Dimensions of Occupational Gender
Segregation in Industrial Countries,” examines why some jobs may be filled more by
men or women, be it by choice, obligation or exclusion. Among the findings are that
women tend to outperform men in the general desirability of occupations
Here is my abridged comment: 1. It is important to like who you are and what you do. I am glad you are proud of being who you are, 2. But at the same time I don't like when people are calling out initiatives like "more women in tech". Look, getting a job is tough. It can be luck or qualification. I know someone is going to cite some research studies but at this point, let's just say yes we get it, a lot of assholes o…
You post strongly reminded me of the Physician's Oath. I will not permit considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between my duty and my patient; Teach like that. Everyone deserve the chance to learn and grow as human beings.
If you are born in the wealthy London suburb of Hampstead, you are likely to live eleven years longer than someone born in to a family in the much poorer Somers Town/St Pancras area.
If you are a sexually active gay man, you are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than if you are a heterosexual. If you are an Ashkenazi Jew, your children are more likely to suffer Tay-Sachs disease.
If you are setting medical policy, you will sometimes need to target particular communities for intervention and prevention.
These factors should never be used as a reason for providing lower quality of care. But if an observable trend exists that is causing a particular problem for people in a specific community, it should be permitted for considerations of minority status to be taken into account for deciding health policy.
Like, I'm okay with the government spending less money and effort telling childless people to vaccinate their kids than the money they spend telling parents to. I'm okay with the National Health Service putting a free condom dispenser in gay sex clubs and not doing so in primary schools.
There is nothing about programming computers that is gender specific; in fact it seems kind of weird and awkward that we have to discuss this at all. Given that so many of the foundational figures of the field ( Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, etc. ) were female, the fact that programming and IT became an almost entirely male-dominated profession is suspicious, and should make us question the attitudes and social constru…
The other comments here are talking more about the work-life balance issues that might be causing the gender gap... but I personally just think it's to do with parents/relatives, role models, and the time between grade 1 and grade 12. I myself am a coder because I loved modding games when I was younger. I do like creating things regardless, but I got to that point because a childhood friend shared PC games with me (g…