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Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

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Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#51

Post by rayiner »

tomp wrote: post #44
rayiner wrote: post #34

The problem with his argument is not the statistics, which are sound, but the fact that he begs the question and also ignores some obvious implications of the very data he presents. First, let's talk about mathematical ability. It's widely known that men outnumber women in the upper percentiles of mathematical ability. However, that's an explanation for why there are so few female Fields Medalists (in fact, there are…

It could be the butterfly effect. It starts with children. Better at math -> more interested in math -> better at math -> ... by they time young adults start seeking jobs, a small initial bias has turned into a large gap. Personally, I don't think that's the whole story (according to my observations, it's also upbringing, girls socialize more than boys, who are more likely to keep to themselves, and differences in to…

First, it's probably not the case that interest and practice can have any impact on your underlying mathematical aptitude. Second, regardless, the 2:1 ratio for perfect scores on the SAT Math manifests at 16-18, so when people are already mostly developed.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#52

Post by arrrg »

asdasf wrote: post #40
arrrg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but people would argue that mostly men are truck drivers due to rigid gender roles and strict gender policing of the patriarchy.

Only a very tiny number of people would argue that.

Actually, that argument is pretty universal. Even MRAs are sort of making that argument, only they claim the reason is some sort of weird feminist conspiracy, something that really makes no sense at all.

I would consider the culture of working oneself to death generally harmful and strictly policed gender roles can play a very dangerous and enforcing role there.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#53

Post by theorique »

harryh wrote: post #45
coldtea wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The world at large isn't ready to hear these statistics Not the "world at large". Just (provincial) middle/upper class America. > We shouldn't accept these disparities as driven by natural forces until we've tried everything we can imagine to try to bring the differences in line. Shouldn't we in fact try to understand what's going on, instead of trying to change it because of a priori notion that there shouldn't be…

IT is different because that's where the money and the power is (compared to fisherman and male nurses).

Nursing is a well-paid profession that offers flexibility and good benefits.

Fishing can also be a very well paid profession (look at Deadliest Catch for example) but the challenges, hardships, and stress are extreme for those challenging fishing crew jobs.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#54

Post by michaelochurch »

Weak shit.

There might be very slight natural differences in variance of ability, which would explain why more men come out at the top and bottom. I don't think there's value into coming in to that argument on either side. At any rate, the evidence seems to indicate that the gender disparity (at the relevant IQ level) is at most 2:1.

Going 100 steps further and justifying the good-ole-boy network that has taken over VC and Silicon Valley is another matter entirely.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#55

Post by kazagistar »

asdasf wrote: post #39
USNetizen wrote: post #21

This sounds like it was written for a 12th grade research assignment and makes several incorrect inferences without a basis of fact, i.e. the male hunting equating to math reasoning. I tend to think of it as the same reason minorities are not prevalent in these places either, probably because society held them as "lower class" until recently and they are just now making gains which are long overdue. All in all, women…

>I tend to think of it as the same reason minorities are not prevalent in these places either Except that they are. Do Chinese and Indian people cease to be minorities when discussing tech?

Since when does over 2 billion people constitute a minority? Thech is on a global scale.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#56

Post by makomk »

coldtea wrote: post #41
thatthatis wrote: post #8

Just positing that these things _might_ be true and should be investigated was a key factor in Larry Summers getting drummed out of his position as President of Harvard. The world at large isn't ready to hear these statistics, and overall that is probably a good thing. We shouldn't accept these disparities as driven by natural forces until we've tried everything we can imagine to try to bring the differences in line.…

> The world at large isn't ready to hear these statistics Not the "world at large". Just (provincial) middle/upper class America. > We shouldn't accept these disparities as driven by natural forces until we've tried everything we can imagine to try to bring the differences in line. Shouldn't we in fact try to understand what's going on, instead of trying to change it because of a priori notion that there shouldn't be…

IT's white-collar whereas the jobs you're talking about aren't. Apparently there's never been a huge amount of feminist interest in getting women into male-dominated blue-collar jobs or in working-class women in general; it's an old and fairly well documented issue.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#57

Post by thatthatis »

coldtea wrote: post #41
thatthatis wrote: post #8

Just positing that these things _might_ be true and should be investigated was a key factor in Larry Summers getting drummed out of his position as President of Harvard. The world at large isn't ready to hear these statistics, and overall that is probably a good thing. We shouldn't accept these disparities as driven by natural forces until we've tried everything we can imagine to try to bring the differences in line.…

> The world at large isn't ready to hear these statistics Not the "world at large". Just (provincial) middle/upper class America. > We shouldn't accept these disparities as driven by natural forces until we've tried everything we can imagine to try to bring the differences in line. Shouldn't we in fact try to understand what's going on, instead of trying to change it because of a priori notion that there shouldn't be…

My point is that we should have to disprove equality repeatedly, consistently, and summarily before we accept inequality.

The standard for proving the hypothesis of inequality should be extremely high.

All people created equal until summarily proven otherwise, and even then still treated as equal in every way that matters.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#58

Post by pwnna »

USNetizen wrote: post #21

This sounds like it was written for a 12th grade research assignment and makes several incorrect inferences without a basis of fact, i.e. the male hunting equating to math reasoning. I tend to think of it as the same reason minorities are not prevalent in these places either, probably because society held them as "lower class" until recently and they are just now making gains which are long overdue. All in all, women…

Interesting theory as well. The final statement seem to be not backed up by the arguments presented.

I would love to see this theory getting more researched. So given that the original article used just numbers and assume that the time derivative of these are flat, you're suggesting that the time derivative is not, and I feel like there must be stats backing this in a more.. cited manner.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#59

Post by harryh »

theorique wrote: post #53
harryh wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IT is different because that's where the money and the power is (compared to fisherman and male nurses).

Nursing is a well-paid profession that offers flexibility and good benefits. Fishing can also be a very well paid profession (look at Deadliest Catch for example) but the challenges, hardships, and stress are extreme for those challenging fishing crew jobs.

Hey, I'm not saying Nursing & Fishing aren't good jobs. If you're into that sort of thing then go for it!

But it's not nurses and fishermen who are drastically pushing up the cost of housing in SF. It's the tech industry.

Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology

#60

Post by asdasf »

kazagistar wrote: post #55
asdasf wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I tend to think of it as the same reason minorities are not prevalent in these places either Except that they are. Do Chinese and Indian people cease to be minorities when discussing tech?

Since when does over 2 billion people constitute a minority? Thech is on a global scale.

Since we are talking about American companies hiring Americans.
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