

When Women Stopped Coding in 1980’s: As we repeat the same mistakes - spenrose
http://computinged.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/npr-when-women-stopped-coding-in-1980s-are-we-about-to-repeat-the-past/

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pc2g4d
Am I the only one that feels like insisting that every occupation has 50/50
gender representation is an odd policy goal? Can't there be things that women
prefer and things that men prefer and that be okay?

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laurengolem
I don't think the point of these pieces of journalism (the podcast and this
response) are advocating 50/50 gender split in CS. It's examining a phenomenon
where females fell off the map, and it is trying to understand the factors
that went into that shift.

It's pretty clear that in today's society women make up a smaller portion of
the workforce in general, so achieve a 50/50 split in all professions is
simply impossible. And there may be anomalies in some professions where one
gender is more represented, but there is no inherent reason that men should
outnumber women so greatly in a profession like computer science. It's
important to examine the impact social influences like marketing and
advertising, etc. have.

Rather than caring what a gender quota number says, and trying to argue that
it's unfair to women, it's exposing the underlying societal factors, thus
suggesting a direction for change.

