
On Ada Lovelace Day, how diverse are tech companies? - jscholes
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/11/ada-lovelace-day-tech-company-diversity-equality?CMP=edit_2221
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apsec112
This problem cannot be fixed by changing hiring policy or corporate diversity
training. 18% of computer science graduates are women. If women are 18% of
programmers, then arithmetic dictates that most software companies cannot
reach gender parity. If one company has more than 18%, another company has to
have less than 18%. It's just simple math.

I applaud companies who try to increase the diversity of people learning
computer science. But they cannot, by changing _internal_ policy, reach gender
parity - not without making some other company even more male-dominated. It is
pointless and counter-productive to continually whack Google and Facebook over
the head for their inability to make two plus two equal five.

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eveningcoffee
But they can still point to other companies and call the names. :)

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eveningcoffee
When I first saw a first computer I knew that I want to know more about these
mysterious machines. I still remember the joy and happiness on a day of the
first snow when I realized what the double for cycle does. I think I was 13
then. I also remember the passion in reading the only accessible book about
object oriented programming in C++.

My passion became my profession and therefore it is hard for me to relate with
this dance around the diversity.

People should do what they feel passionate about regardless of their gender
(or skin color or other nonsense there is possible to come up with).
Everything else is a moot point.

It still does not follow that we should not make something more accessible for
anyone, or that we should tolerate a discrimination. But if people do not
share the passion then for me it does not matter what special body parts they
have or have not, there is no place in my heart for them.

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amelius
> People should do what they feel passionate about regardless of their gender
> (or skin color or other nonsense there is possible to come up with).
> Everything else is a moot point.

Yes. This is why I believe children should be raised in a gender-neutral way.
It helps in steering clear of premature expectations.

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LoSboccacc
Setting premature expectations seems orthogonal to me than gender neutrality.
As in, it can be as well a product of being in a successful
lawyer/engineer/politicians family than gender by itself and generally more a
result of parent projections than gender determinism.

edit: see also this comment about Ada parents
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12683739](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12683739)

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peruvian
An interesting tidbit is that Ada's mother "forced" (maybe too strong a word,
but obsessively encouraged her) to study the opposite of what Lord Byron did
(poetry, arts) in fear that Ada would turn out like him and thus she studied
mathematics and logic.

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atom-morgan
A good point you bring up. Similar to Ada's mother, a lot of Asian parents are
very involved with their child's academics and often push their kids towards
studying STEM. Yet, even as a minority in America, Asians are never included
in discussions related to diversity and inclusion within tech - and it isn't
because this point is addressed. If we're going to attempt to find the root
cause of why there may be a disparity in tech, race or gender, what good does
it do to ignore the differences in upbringing?

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ttflee
“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study
mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy,
geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and
agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting,
poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.” - John Adams
(1735 - 1826)

~~~
jarmitage
No one needs to be given the right to study music.

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retox
On Tuesday, how diverse are garbage/sewer workers?

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xienze
Ahh they don't care about the dirty jobs. It's OK for men to dominate those
fields.

A better example would be teachers. Female dominated, and there's some half-
hearted "concern" about the gender imbalance, but get back to me when the
media and the president are harping on the issue constantly.

