
Y combinator, X chromosomes - e15ctr0n
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21720621-venture-capitalists-are-bright-clannish-and-almost-exclusively-male-silicon-valleys-sexism
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wooshy
I agree that an equally qualified woman should be compensated the same as a
man. What I fail to understand is why anyone cares that the tech industry has
more males than females. If more males are interested in working with
technology than females are then of course there will be more males in the
industry. Why do people see this as some kind of problem that needs to be
fixed? I understand that having a diverse team brings different viewpoints
that might allow for solutions to be found that may not have been found
without that other viewpoint. Is that all that this is about? (besides pay
differences)

~~~
scandox
> If more males are interested in working with technology than females

You put the "If" at the beginning of that sentence. It's a big "If". Imagine
if that's just not true. Then just keep imagining that.

~~~
824ueirwfjd
? imagine if it's not true? the numbers say that it is true...

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sluggg
Don't you agree that the numbers are the way they are because of cultural
stereotypes? If there were more female tech role models that females with a
budding interest in tech can look up to, that would move the needle. I don't
think you can simply say "look men are more interested in tech than women" and
wipe your hands of the situation. We have to change our culture in order for
more women to excel and therefore become role models for the next generation.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
> Don't you agree that the numbers are the way they are because of cultural
> stereotypes?

 _Partly_ because of cultural stereotypes. And partly because there actually
are differences between males and females. The part that's because of cultural
stereotypes, yes, we should fight. And the part that isn't, we should accept.

~~~
824ueirwfjd
+1

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Mz
Ah, what assholes. I may yet have to write that piece about Jessica Livingston
-- you know, the sole female co-founder of Y Combinator. (I keep hesitating to
write it because I am concerned about it being seen as gossip and as saying
not nice things about people. Oh, ha ha. Compared to tripe like this, it would
likely amount to ass kissing.)

The piece that everyone seems to fucking miss is that Jessica Livingston and
Paul Graham were the original two and he soon brought on his previous
cofounders from Via Web. So, really, a woman is about one half of the success
story here. And everyone just ignores that while they bitch endlessly about
sexism.

I will just leave this here for now:

[http://paulgraham.com/jessica.html](http://paulgraham.com/jessica.html)

Can we talk about something else for a change? I am really tired of this old
saw. My mother used to say "When you point fingers, three more are pointing
back at you." I would like to know what constructive thing this article, its
author and the publication it is in are doing to actually fix this while
closing their piece with _Silicon Valley is a remarkable place. But it is time
for the boy’s club to grow up._

You first, dumb ass.

(So I did go ahead and clean up that draft about Jessica and posted it here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14102279](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14102279))

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princeb
> everyone just ignores that while they bitch endlessly about sexism

the economist is probably aware of the existence of female partners/co-
founders; from the article:

> 6% of partners at venture-capital firms are women

> 40% of the top 100 venture-capital firms have a female partner charged with
> investing

~~~
Mz
Title: _Y combinator, X chromosomes_

Sounds like a great lead in for "Hey, didja know that one half of the original
team that actually founded this is really a woman who kind of isn't getting
the credit she really deserves while people run around talking overly much
about Da Menz."

Furthermore, Y Combinator seems to do a fair amount of stuff in terms of
promoting female founder conferences and participating in them, and they have
a regular thing here on HN here lately where they do something like "Ask a
female engineer." So the title is basically smearing Y Combinator for what all
of SV is doing instead of actually recognizing what is going on here.

It is sort of like saying "We are going to hang the only guy in town who is
not a member of the KKK because he is white and we need a scapegoat."

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DanBC
> Title: Y combinator, X chromosomes

That's the title on HN. Where does it appear in the Economist article?

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tomhoward
It's a section heading near the end. Obviously it still shouldn't have been
used as the submission title.

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sweetishfish
The economics behind women earning less just don't add up. If I'm a CEO and
know I can hire women who do the same work as men for 20% (or whatever the
figure is) less money, I'd only be hiring women. If the pay discrepancies are
that great, why isn't this happening?

~~~
DanBC
You assume economic actors are rational, when all the evidence shows that they
aren't.

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rectang
Since Uber won't punish Travis Kalanick, I want the marketplace to punish
Uber.

~~~
824ueirwfjd
what if the marketplace doesn't care? they only care about cheap rides

