

Rails Girls - spicerunner
http://www.kiwiluv.com/techblog/?p=1079
Nice initiative to get more girls (and women) involved in web development.
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jamesbritt
"There aren’t enough women in software development so I hope this kind of
thing spreads beyond Helsinki!"

I'm thinking that if you want to attract women, you should refer to them as
"women", not "girls."

~~~
pohl
If you attract girls to the field then eventually you'll have women in the
field. Just look at me: I was attracted to the field as a boy. Now, I am a
man.

~~~
jamesbritt
"Just look at me: I was attracted to the field as a boy. Now, I am a man."

But were you attracted to the field because it was presented as an activity
for boys?

~~~
pohl
Is whether or not I was as pertinent as whether or not I might have been -
because I may have been.

You might also ask (as the proper counterpart to your advocacy for using
"women") whether I might have been had it been presented as an activity for
men. Probably not, because I didn't identify as a man when I was a boy.

All I'm saying is that there's no reason to be hypersensitive about using the
word "girls" if your target audience actually includes them. Is there a reason
to believe that they were using the word "girls" but excessively trying to
appeal to women? I took the unicorn and the kitty as a dead giveaway, myself.

