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The article clearly indicated otherwise. Did you read more than just the first paragraph? Anyway, for such a claim, you really should do more work to give a reference. [citation needed]
I code like a girl
71–80 of 169 posts
Re: I code like a girl
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes people claim that women are biologically, statistically, just not as good/interested as men at programming/technology, and point to current gender balance in tech as evidence of this ("There's a reason there's lots of male programmers, men must be just better!") Remembering some of these women, and the early history like this, is very relevant today to show that that's nonsense.
The interest part is not nothing. Most women programmers I've known were on their way to something they considered better. My wife, for example, slung C++ and Java while getting her MBA in evening classes. For her programming was a path to earn a living until she got her 'real' job on the executive track. Another woman I worked with only wrote code for a while and moved on to run her father's machine shop. In both ca…
But how much of that "lack of interest" is due to the person not finding the thing interesting, or not finding the industry/their peers interesting? If there are sexists in a group, then people who are the target of that sexism are less likely to enjoy that group. As the number of women decreases in a group, then the remaining women experience more sexism. Negative feedback.
Re: I code like a girl
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not nonsense. Modern women are statisticaly less interested in programming. That's because boys 20 years ago got c-64 or PC because they wanted to play games, and girls 20 years ago got barbies. Turns out barbie doesn't have the same side effects.
I got basketballs and golf clubs. I had to beg my dad to get me my first amiga 500. He agreed only because he thought I'd might get rich from it one day. So my interest, to the best that I can tell, was self originated.
Exactly. Geeks used to be picked on, and bullied. Maths and science wasn't cool.
Re: I code like a girl
#74the title is provocative, but the content is better. it's funny how grown women are referred to as girls, yet it's less common that grown men are referred to as boys - in my experience.
Grown men are not referred to as boys except ironically: "old boys", "boys' club", "boys and their toys", "the boys in blue", "bring our boys home".
In other ways, to be a boy is to be like a girl, as in "the hardships in this remote camp separate the men from the boys" (i.e. the hardy and able from the weak and effeminate).
Re: I code like a girl
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes people claim that women are biologically, statistically, just not as good/interested as men at programming/technology, and point to current gender balance in tech as evidence of this ("There's a reason there's lots of male programmers, men must be just better!") Remembering some of these women, and the early history like this, is very relevant today to show that that's nonsense.
It's not nonsense. Modern women are statisticaly less interested in programming. That's because boys 20 years ago got c-64 or PC because they wanted to play games, and girls 20 years ago got barbies. Turns out barbie doesn't have the same side effects.
20 years ago was 1995, when Windows 95 was released. You might be off by a decade with the C64.
Re: I code like a girl
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not nonsense. Modern women are statisticaly less interested in programming. That's because boys 20 years ago got c-64 or PC because they wanted to play games, and girls 20 years ago got barbies. Turns out barbie doesn't have the same side effects.
20 years ago was 1995, when Windows 95 was released. You might be off by a decade with the C64.
I got mine in 1993 IIRC. My uncle got ZS Spectrum in 89 for more than 2 monthly salaries.
Ex communist countries worked differently.
Re: I code like a girl
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Women often refer to each other as girls. Men don't usually to each other as boys.
interestingly this might be because girls like to retain some semblance of youth. anecdotally my girlfriend (Russian if that makes any difference) absolutely hates when I refer to her as a young woman, or use the word "woman" at all. She much prefers to be referred to as a girl. I have no issues with being called a man.. not saying that this pattern is everywhere but it's very apparent with her and her family.
"girls like to retain some semblance of youth"
No critical thought here is necessary, I suppose? It just... so happens that women "like" to look youthful? Maybe it's biological? Just the natural order of things? I am reminded of the ads from the National Geographic I own from 1940.
Re: I code like a girl
#78By the way, note that a "woman's work is never done"---aha! I missed this obvious connection to software at first. :)
Re: I code like a girl
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes people claim that women are biologically, statistically, just not as good/interested as men at programming/technology, and point to current gender balance in tech as evidence of this ("There's a reason there's lots of male programmers, men must be just better!") Remembering some of these women, and the early history like this, is very relevant today to show that that's nonsense.
It's not nonsense. Modern women are statisticaly less interested in programming. That's because boys 20 years ago got c-64 or PC because they wanted to play games, and girls 20 years ago got barbies. Turns out barbie doesn't have the same side effects.
The kids probably got what they wished for.
Re: I code like a girl
#80It's a damn shame that ENIAC's programmers and those that followed them get no greater mention in the annals of history than the footnote that "computers before 1945 were women". I had a really good CSSE education, yet until recently, if you asked me to name a notable female computer scientist, Countess Lovelace or Grace Hopper would be the only person to come to mind, and I would be a little hazy on their accomplish…
You can also add a couple more in somewhat more modern times:
* Lynn Conway, who co-launched the Mead & Conway revolution that made VLSI feasible for the first time
* Sophie Wilson, who developed the ARM architecture