

Black Girls Code: A cool campaign to reduce gender/race imbalances in coding - Gigamouse
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/black-girls-code-summer-of-code-2013-the-remix/x/2406554
Let&#x27;s face it, coding is full of white dudes. These guys trying to change that
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EugeneOZ
Sometimes I think "black" are more racists than others. Even title of this
project is racist, and we are talking about differences... I'm not american
and I cant be objective, it's just my "outside" opinion. Why "black girls"
only? Poor black girls somehow better than poor white girls? Why not just
"Girls code" (if it's really just about genders)? Isn't it racism?

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coryl
This particular service isn't focused on black girls for the purpose of being
racist or exclusionary.

The short and easy answer is analyzing racial representation and statistical
disparity. Certain groups can be vastly over-represented or under-represented
relative to their populations, and the reasons for these are always complex.
In the software industry, women are under-represented, this is a fact. With
black women in technology, figures are probably even further under-
represented. Why? I don't know, ask an expert.

One day, a black female software dev/tech/entrepreneur/sympathizer saw this
disparity and decided to do something about it. Maybe she saw social patterns,
or had personal experiences that could relate better to this particular group.

Your comments about race and racism are extremely uninformed.

~~~
EugeneOZ
And anyway I don't think it's a reason to create difference in learning
programm. All these stats... It's a shame for any foundation to be racist in
this way.

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ig1
Based on the numbers given on that page 16% of female CS grads are black, but
given the US population is only 12% black doesn't that mean that black female
CS grads are over-represented compared to non-black females ?

Seems to be a pretty good indicator that it's the gender issue that needs
addressing and not the racial one.

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postnormative
Considering all the smart but disenfranchised white boys I knew growing up in
rural oaklahoma who gave up on programming because no one supported their
bizarre interest in something other than NASCAR, and ended up working at
Walmart, I think we have bigger problems that transcend race and sex. But I'm
not opposed to campaigns like this, even if they are based on neandrethalic
logic and all this time and effort would be better spent finding a general
solution to the problem of poor people staying poor while openings for coders
go unfilled.

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andymoe
It's really great to see these fundraising platforms being used to make a
difference in peoples lives in addition to building more tangible products.

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od2m
Is there any data these things actually do any good?

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cowcatcher
Maybe blacks and women just don't like computer programming. Why do we have to
"socially engineer" them to do so?

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kaonashi
> Maybe blacks and women just don't like computer programming.

Maybe black women have fewer opportunities to learn computer programming.

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NicoJuicy
I learned programming on the net, so everyone has the same opportunity for
sure :-)

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kaonashi
Not necessarily. Maybe they don't have a computer at home; maybe they don't
have reliable access to the internet. The more likely a person lives in
poverty, the more likely the above is true. The more likely a person is female
and black, the more likely a person lives in poverty.

~~~
NicoJuicy
Access to a computer is more a geographical / social (=community) problem,
then a gender or racial problem.

If i'm not mistaking, you have social programs to get people cheap internet
access / computers (we have in our country (belgium)).

But i don't know how it really is, but according to my experience, girls just
don't code (much), it's the same generalisation as girls don't game (except
games like 'The Sims').

And if they have any interest, it's more in design, then coding. Of my
Informatics class (4 girls of 20 guys), none of them actually ended up
programming...

I'm curious about the results of your program, pre and after about how much
girls are really coding and are getting interested in it (and doing it after
hours, for example).

None the less, it's a great initiative and i hope you have a success :)

If i generalise 2 jobs by gender:

\- coding = guys

\- nursing / children care = girls

Like the first response: Girls Code, would be a better initiative, in my
subjective personal opinion.

PS. Fighting against racism, is mixing a lot of races together. Not splitting
them up in a class with just one race... You're actually giving a bad example
by not mixing races, other races can also live in poverty, you know ;-)

Nothing is stopping you from actively recruiting "black" girls, but with this
title, you're excluding a lot of other girls who could benefit from this
program, but aren't black. They won't even try to join if they see your
programs title and might feel offended. All your pupils will be influenced to
hang out with only other black people :-)

~~~
kaonashi
> PS. Fighting against racism, is mixing a lot of races together.

The program serves highly segregated communities, your suggestion is rather a
non-starter.

