> What this implies is that to expect a 50:50 outcome is hopelessly utopian.
And why exactly do we need a 50:50 ratio of women to men in IT? I don't care who writes my code as long as it does what I want it to do.
And why exactly do we need a 50:50 ratio of women to men in IT? I don't care who writes my code as long as it does what I want it to do.
That's an open question, of course.
Perhaps old friend Hegel is relevant here:
>When ... a man is told, “You (your inner being) are so and so, because your skull-bone is so constituted”, this means nothing else than that we regard a bone as the man’s reality. To retort upon such a statement with a box on the ear … removes primarily the “soft” parts of his head from their apparent dignity and position, and proves merely that these are not the true inherent nature, are not the reality of mind; the retort here would, properly speaking, have to go the length of breaking the skull of the person who makes a statement like that, in order to demonstrate to him in a manner as palpable as his own wisdom that a bone is nothing of an inherent nature at all for a man, still less his true reality.
Regardless of the reasons for the differential, tech has so much impact on society - think about the cultural impact of video games just as one vector - it is meaningfully problematic if a non representative slice of society creates almost all of it.
this can take you down some socially controversial paths. if you apply the same judgements to other identity groups who dominate other extremely influential sectors, you are going to run into serious trouble.
No one cares who writes their code either, but certainly we can agree that if there are systematic reasons preventing women from participating as much we can try to remove them?
If different genders offer such a unique perspective in tech, surely that perspective is even more important in teaching our youth or caring for the sick.
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37552056
- https://www.teachingtimes.com/news/primary-schools-male-teac...
- https://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/mar/23/male-teach...
Additionally, I don't buy that employing 100% of women is actually helpful. Children need a parent at home, and a mother makes more sense for younger children. We should be working towards decentralization of work, and allowing dads and moms to both have more time in the home, rather than racing to lock the entire human race in a cubicle.