
University of Washington Computer Science Lecturer Explains Why Women Don't Code - Yhippa
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/06/26/28210971/university-of-washington-computer-science-lecturer-explains-why-why-women-dont-code-chaos-ensues
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buahahaha
All these defenses are laughable when put in any other context. Try answering
"why black people don't code" with a straight face and ignoring systematic
disadvantages. I have not seen it down without exposing a bigot.

I've seen the "each group has its reasons" fluff as well, but those defenders
are happily living in a world where only one type of group makes good
programmers. Out of a whole world of groups, only this type of person can
write code.

The narrative that this lecturer understands all disadvantaged groups because
he's from one himself is a false narrative. Using that to build credibility
for his arguments is laughable journalism.

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dnissley
> _The narrative that this lecturer understands all disadvantaged groups
> because he 's from one himself is a false narrative. Using that to build
> credibility for his arguments is laughable journalism._

I think that was in there to show that he's likely not a bigot, because that
seems to be the default assumption about anyone that doesn't go along with the
dogma of the far left these days.

Your comment gets me wondering though, in the case of the question about "why
black people don't code": Are we able to pick apart the causality of
"systematic disadvantages" vs "each group has it's reasons"? I ask because the
"systematic disadvantages" narrative is seductive and there is a lot of
anecdotal evidence, but I'm not sure I've seen a nice data on the subject that
could prove one way or the other why it really is that "black people don't
code".

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buahahaha
There's no single smoking gun - for any group.

It's a lifetime of small or direct disadvantages working towards the overall
trend.

There are data-based studies showing how individual factors impact.

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brenschluss
Usually most of these questions are asked with horrible methodology and
pseudoscience wrapped around bigotry.

I would like to see someone answer the ‘question’ of “why women dont code” and
“why mass shooters are mostly white men” with the same methodology.

One could say:

Devil’s Advocate: “After all, 58% of mass shootings in the past 35 years were
committed by white men. The data is clear. Is this not due to probably the
inherently violent and psychopathic nature of white men?”

If you have problems with this statement, then why, and why aren’t your
methodological concerns similarly mappable on simplistic “why women don’t
code” arguments?

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staikken
Yes, self selection as a response to perceived discrimination, or "lack of
fit", is different from outright discrimination. But no less a problem, and
certainly not unchangeable!

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SpaceFarerUniz
perceived discrimination can be anything.

Personal choice in a clearly gender egalitarian society is still personal
choice.

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brenschluss
Which society is as “clearly gender egalitarian society”?

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AnimalMuppet
Would you settle for "close enough"? I would guess that Sweden is probably
close enough. So, what's the fraction of CS students in Sweden who are female?
If it's close to the fraction in the US, then the US is also probably "close
enough" (in that specific way, by that measure).

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danharaj
> that while males are more fundamentally interested in things, females are
> more fundamentally interested in people.

Even assuming this, code is about people and getting more people into it that
center their work around people is how tech is going to advance in the long
term.

The way software engineering is taught gives people the wrong idea. The
hardest problem in tech is "what does my user want and how is that different
from what they need?"

