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Comment by vcarl | Hacker News Reader

But this isn't a post written by a women nor is it part of a walled garden, it's a question posed to several women, with their longform responses.

If it were titled "Ask an engineer" and all the people asked were women, I wonder what the response would be? I ask that without any snark or presupposition, I'm not sure and I'm curious.

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> If it were titled "Ask an engineer" and all the people asked were women, I wonder what the response would be?

Well, it should be (and I assert would be) considered "normal" because women can be engineers too (obviously).

By putting the "woman" qualifier in the title, it immediately discriminates against half of the viewership... which is particularly infuriating because the information is good and valid, regardless of who's telling it.

It is laughable to assert "half of the viewership" would be male when they make up the majority of the workforce in engineering roles.

Right? Women in comp sci is a statistical anomaly [1] at this point, and it's interesting to see how this influences their experiences in the industry.

[1] http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-...

In Sweden, only 10% of people work in a profession with a minimum of 40% men and women. ie, using similar language, working with someone thats not the same gender is a statistical anomaly.

> It is laughable to assert "half of the viewership" would be male when they make up the majority of the workforce in engineering roles.

Does that not make my point even better?

Sure, all men should be interested in hearing a woman's perspective on being in the engineering field, but if we're honest with ourselves, most likely skipped right over this thread after reading the title.

To be even more honest with ourselves, we must admit if the title was "Ask a Male Engineer", most women would skip the article as well. It's simply because you either belong to the mentioned group or you do not... some will be curious enough to read anyway, but the rest... it just serves to alienate.

This thread largely turned into a flame war instead of commenting on the content of the post... all because of a word in the title.

If the presence of the word "female" in the title prevents males from reading it then, in my opinion those males are being dismissive based on gender. I believe that's a bit sexist. I also believe it is a ridiculous generalization and as a male find it a bit insulting. I mean, this isn't like saying people who aren't TypeScript programmers will more often than not avoid a blog about TypeScript...with the exception of a few curious ruby hackers might. Maybe a devops engineer here or there...

...you are talking about being disinterested in an article titled "Ask A Female Engineer"...because it has the word "female".

Speaking as a dude who pays attention to things, I certainly do not feel discriminated against.

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