Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
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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
#2I'm sure black people just aren't genetically apt for STEM either?
Just because there's evidence for a correlation between gender and math scores doesn't mean there's a genetic reason for the disparity.
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#3I'm sure black people just aren't genetically apt for STEM either? Just because there's evidence for a correlation between gender and math scores doesn't mean there's a genetic reason for the disparity.
The male advantage in mathematical and spatial orientation has been replicated in many different countries. So that pretty m uch rules out the cultural explanation.
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#4I'm sure black people just aren't genetically apt for STEM either? Just because there's evidence for a correlation between gender and math scores doesn't mean there's a genetic reason for the disparity.
And just because a correlation is politically incorrect doesn't mean it's not caused by causation.
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#5I'm sure black people just aren't genetically apt for STEM either? Just because there's evidence for a correlation between gender and math scores doesn't mean there's a genetic reason for the disparity.
The male advantage in mathematical and spatial orientation has been replicated in many different countries. So that pretty m uch rules out the cultural explanation.
Except that many different countries have a similar cultural attitude towards females.
And again, taking a correlation between gender and math scores and extrapolating a genetic predisposition of a gender to fail in an entire class of industries is a stretch to say the least.
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#6One consequence is that many people don't understand just how hateful the WWW is for some other people.
Sure, anyone can be the victim of really unpleasant attacks from others on the Internet, and it's been going on for years. But try creating different online characters. Give one a male name, give the other a female name. And make that the only difference. Now see the different ways people interact with you.
Having more diverse workforce can help you understand the problems of not having good blocking tools or reporting tools or privacy controls.
But then again, Google has a ton of women working for them and they've fucked up real names and G+ integration. So maybe I'm wrong.
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#7Mandatory related non-xkcd comic: www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1883
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#8Just 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.
Over the course of history, far more bad has been wrought by assuming differences were innate than assuming they were the result of bias. Given that, we should assume and act as though differences are due to bias long after the differences are well proven to be natural. It is a case where being wrong in one direction is not very costly, but being wrong in the other direction (and thus institutionalizing bias) is disastrous.
Tldr: we should err on the side of caution.
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#9I'm sure black people just aren't genetically apt for STEM either? Just because there's evidence for a correlation between gender and math scores doesn't mean there's a genetic reason for the disparity.
If I understand correctly, the idea here is that IQ is measurable (even if the measurement is noisy) and real (has predictive power, doesn't change). This is accomplished by studies that look to test individuals at different points in life. Secondly, IQ is mostly genetic. This is evidenced mostly by twin studies. Thirdly, math tests are okay IQ tests.
Note that I'm not saying that things are one way or another, or that the reason there are so few women in tech is genetic. Just explaining how the ideas go together. It COULD be that way.
Re: Why There Are No Women on Twitter’s Board, and So Few in Technology
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
The male advantage in mathematical and spatial orientation has been replicated in many different countries. So that pretty m uch rules out the cultural explanation.
Except that many different countries have a similar cultural attitude towards females. And again, taking a correlation between gender and math scores and extrapolating a genetic predisposition of a gender to fail in an entire class of industries is a stretch to say the least.
But then you have to go back to the original question: what is it about maleness and femaleness that makes it possible that in so many societies around the world, the same patterns exist? You can't have culture without brains to create it. And the brains of males and females in different cultures seem to be producing similar patterns.