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Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?

#21

Post by thirdsun »

sartemis wrote: post #2

because there are fewer stereotypes. Maybe well be a leftover from communism as well, when individualism was strongly discouraged and the only way you could stand out is by doing your job well. Individualism I mean in all aspects of current society - choice and variety of this. I suspect there is a similar trend in China as well.

> Maybe well be a leftover from communism

That may very well play a role. Here in former East Germany women were expected to work despite being parents which resulted in some side effects like widely available daycare / kindergartens.

Re: Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?

#23

Post by sanswork »

simonsarris wrote: post #12
sanswork wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It's not like we are in risk of running out of humans on the planet.

IQ is highly heritable[1], and if smart people are having zero or one children, that should be of concern to everyone. It's possible that nutrition + butts in school seats created the Flynn effect, where the population's IQ rose. The next century might see the reverse. [1] Per gwern: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13729085

Are you saying people in Europe, north America, and Russia are smarter than people in the rest of the world?

Re: Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?

#24

Post by raducu »

dep_b wrote: post #3

I think there's a high correlation between the relative salary for a techie compared to other jobs in the same country and the amount of women you see. The US pays a lot better than The Netherlands and has a much higher percentage of female programmers. In countries like India or Russia a developer earns even more compared to other traditionally well paying careers. Maybe a smart girl is so smart she's not going to g…

Eastern European here: in 2003 when I joined a computer science university I had ~15% female colleagues; as the net salaries for programmers have reached ~70% of the western european levels(while average salaries are nowhere near that level), I see about 40% of the interns being females. So, this might not be politically correct, but yeah, I think women pursue safe, well-trodden paths while men are much more likely to be single-minded risk takers.

Re: Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?

#25

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #16

It's the wrong question. Which is ironic, since the inability to ask to right question (about the US) is indicative of the problem (here). The question tech here should be asking is: If our "party" is so great (and being the self-absorbed Kool Aid drinkers that we are, we're 100% certain it is), how come so few outside our immediate circle wants to come to our party? Maybe it's not them? Maybe it's us? Could it be us…

What are you even on about???

    1. We don't understand what our problem is.
    2. Nothing we try seems to really work.
    3. So we compare ourselves to places that don't have the problem.
    4. We hope the differences shed some light on the things we are doing wrong so we can change.
Why exactly do you think they take other countries as case studies?

Re: Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?

#26

Post by simion314 »

macspoofing wrote: post #4

I've seen it argued that, paradoxically, the richer and more egalitarian a society is, the more the differences are magnified in the kinds choices individuals of both genders make. So Russia being a poorer nation with less paths to success would lead more women to make career choices based around economics, while in Sweden, a richer welfare state, economic factors may be a lower driver.

I think it makes sense, if you want to have a good life you will want a good education(my parents always told me if I do not learn then they would send me to take care of sheeps/cows I am from Romania)) so parents and children are aware that education means more money, We have differences here too, from my experience 10 years ago, there were more girls in literature then boys, more boys in computers , and in MAthematics where I was were 75% girls.

Re: Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?

#28

Post by redfieu »

sanswork wrote: post #23
simonsarris wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IQ is highly heritable[1], and if smart people are having zero or one children, that should be of concern to everyone. It's possible that nutrition + butts in school seats created the Flynn effect, where the population's IQ rose. The next century might see the reverse. [1] Per gwern: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13729085

Are you saying people in Europe, north America, and Russia are smarter than people in the rest of the world?

Across East Asia birth rates are also well below replacement levels. A lot of the world's population growth is coming from rapid increases in Africa.
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