

When computer programming was ‘women’s work’ - cup
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-08-26/opinions/35268904_1_computer-science-young-women-grace-hopper

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lkrubner
Women tend to get chased out of any industry that is shrinking, especially if
the industry continues to offer good pay to the survivors. The medical
profession has grown, so we have more women doctors. The computer industry has
shrunk, so women are getting pushed out. The number of computer programmers in
America has shrunk by more than 30%. Sources:

Stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (USA):

[http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-
technology/c...](http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-
technology/computer-programmers.htm)

2010 Number of Jobs 363,100

Especially worth a look:

<http://americawhatwentwrong.org/story/programming-jobs-fall/>

"In its 1990 Occupational Outlook Handbook, the U.S. Department of Labor was
especially bullish: “The need for programmers will increase as businesses,
government, schools and scientific organizations seek new applications for
computers and improvements to the software already in use [and] further
automation . . . will drive the growth of programmer employment.” The report
predicted that the greatest demand would be for programmers with four years of
college who would earn above-average salaries.

When Labor made these projections in 1990, there were 565,000 computer
programmers. With computer usage expanding, the department predicted that
“employment of programmers is expected to grow much faster than the average
for all occupations through the year 2005 . . .”

It didn’t. Employment fluctuated in the years following the report, then
settled into a slow downward pattern after 2000. By 2002, the number of
programmers had slipped to 499,000. That was down 12 percent–not up–from 1990.
Nonetheless, the Labor Department was still optimistic that the field would
create jobs–not at the robust rate the agency had predicted, but at least at
the same rate as the economy as a whole.

Wrong again. By 2006, with the actual number of programming jobs continuing to
decline, even that illusion couldn’t be maintained. With the number of jobs
falling to 435,000, or 130,000 fewer than in 1990, Labor finally acknowledged
that jobs in computer programming were “expected to decline slowly.” "

~~~
rayiner
While the other responses to your post seem accurate, I do want to fixate on
one quote in the article: "Instead of seeking to create a level economic
playing field, lawmakers and presidents, Democrats and Republicans, have
permitted foreign governments to set American job policies by eroding the
country’s basic industries."

I think this "level playing field" talk is bullshit. The American government
shouldn't strive to create a level playing field. It should strive to rig the
game in favor of American workers as much as possible. That doesn't mean
protectionism per se, but rather what India and China have the sense to do:
free trade when it helps them, dirty underhanded tricks when they can get away
with it.

~~~
jarek
> free trade when it helps them, dirty underhanded tricks when they can get
> away with it.

Do you think the U.S. doesn't do this today or hasn't done so in the past?

~~~
praptak
Maybe, but rather to favor its corporations than workers.

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Nzen
Funny, a 'women programmer' piece that starts in 1967. How about 1946?
<http://www.topsecretrosies.com/Top_Secret_Rosies/Home.html> In the latter
half of the documentary, we meet the programmers of Eniac. It seems the male
scientists were Electrical_Engineers, first and foremost. They left the
tedious wire plugging demo for the cream of the ballistics calculating
department, Betty Jean Jennings.

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pauljonas
When I first broke into the realm of professional computer programming, after
graduation in the late 80s with a Computer Science degree, the teams I worked
on were populated with just as many, if not more, women than men.

In total contrast to a Ruby conference I volunteered to help out a few years
where the only woman in the conference presence was the SO of the conference
founder.

Can only speculate on the sociological reasons for this shift, other than toss
a personal observation that comparatively, it seems men were the more geeked
out, enamored with technology than women who seemed to hold a more pragmatic
outlook and confined "work" to working hours only.

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jayshahtx
"The numbers suggest that women with aptitude are out there; they’re just not
choosing computer science"

Pretty sure no one thinks women with aptitude aren't "out there".

~~~
walshemj
probably because the average lawyer or doctor has higher status and a more
secure future :-)

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tokenadult
2011\. I think this was discussed here when it was first published. This is
definitely an interesting article.

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seivan
The first day of our CS class was going to the (a) CS museum and showing us
pictures of the early programmers ( who were all cis females)

~~~
camelite
How do you know they were cis?

~~~
seivan
I assumed back then they would not photograph what would (back then) be
considered "not normal".

Just an assumption, I guess it does sound stupid.

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kayman
The word programming causes one to conjure up an image of wizard effect.
Someone sitting in a chair and coming up with awesome ideas. Then they bang on
the keyboard and stuff spews out. How about we relabel programming something
akin with arts. Code is just the utensil. Like oil for painting?

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walshemj
pre electronic computers originally programmers where clerks that did repative
calculations by hand and most of those where women.

~~~
Someone
Those weren't programmers, they were computers
([http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.ht...](http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.htm),
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computing_hardware#D...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computing_hardware#Desktop_calculators))

