> How can this kind of assertion lead to intellectual and open debate when Damore's argument: there exists jobs are just not suited/optimal for women.
Truly: Is there any valid way to say anything about women in general, at a macro level, that won't be twisted as explicitly meaning all women like has been done here?
Like, if one suggestion were to start serving salads at the company cafeteria because that is likely to appeal more to women, would this prompt claims that all women only like salads, or that women aren't suitable for eating burgers?
We can discuss how to make a restaurant appeal more to women, or an apartment building, or a car. And we can do it without jumping down each other's throats, because we all acknowledge we're not talking about all women--we're targeting general preferences to apply to a general audience. Why is it that the same can't be acknowledged for software engineering or leadership roles?
First of all, I acknowledge that Damore premises his argument on populations and distributions. My example here was to point out that he jumps into assertions that make no specific reference to populations. In his criticism of Google's initiative to teach coding to females (students, employees), Damore says:
> "Unfortunately, there maybe limits to how people-oriented certain roles at Google can be and we shouldn't deceive ourselves or students into thinking otherwise (some of our programs to get female students into coding might be doing this)."
How does population distributions apply here? Is Google attempting to push coding (and at what sophistication) onto far more women than is statistically sound? I had heard that Google had such classes, but that their enrollment was self-selecting and seemingly not at a scale that included the majority of girls/women. So what is the delusionary practice that Damore refers to?
I'm genuinely interested in the answers to these specific (albeit) minor questions. But I brought this up as one aggravating example of how open, intellectually honest discussion is difficult when the claims are unspecific and unsupported.
To apply my previous metaphor: We shouldn't be trying to get more women to like burgers. We should make the food we serve appeal more to women.
To step out of the metaphor: Perhaps we shouldn't be having software engineering roles that put so much emphasis on the parts that don't seem to appeal to women (generally) as much. We might have more success modifying the roles so that they appeal more to women (generally).
He's also acknowledging that some roles might inherently have facets that appeal more to men in a way that can't be easily changed. Just like a role that's inherently very social and perhaps deals heavily with small children might be difficult to make appeal more to men (generally). That in no way implies men aren't suited to be kindergarten teachers, or that the men who are kindergarten teachers aren't good at it. It just means trying to make it more competitive or take the focus off the interaction with the children isn't likely to work well.
> I'm genuinely interested in the answers to these specific (albeit) minor questions. But I brought this up as one aggravating example of how open, intellectually honest discussion is difficult when the claims are unspecific and unsupported.
Respectfully: It's difficult when any opposing claim is assumed to be sexist. Like I said, it's in fact very easy to have an intellectually honest discussion about how to make a restaurant, car, or apartment building appeal more to women--even without explicit scientific studies backing up every statement!
It is because people are choosing to infer meaning that wasn't there in order to be offended and virtue signal that it is difficult to have this discussion.
Truly: Is there any valid way to say anything about women in general, at a macro level, that won't be twisted as explicitly meaning all women like has been done here?
Like, if one suggestion were to start serving salads at the company cafeteria because that is likely to appeal more to women, would this prompt claims that all women only like salads, or that women aren't suitable for eating burgers?
We can discuss how to make a restaurant appeal more to women, or an apartment building, or a car. And we can do it without jumping down each other's throats, because we all acknowledge we're not talking about all women--we're targeting general preferences to apply to a general audience. Why is it that the same can't be acknowledged for software engineering or leadership roles?