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The Hidden Engineering Gender Gap
ifindkarma writes "Joyce Park, CTO of invitation site Renkoo.com, has written a two-part essay exploring why there is no pipeline of self-taught female engineers entering the tech industry via Open Source or other individual efforts. In The Hidden Engineering Gap, she asks why there are so many self-taught male software engineers in startups, but no similar pool of women. In A Modest Proposal, she discusses a potential short-term fix to the problem: a one-year, co-op, certificate-granting program for women set up and sponsored by Silicon Valley companies."
It is not about being 'wired' differently. The reason there are more men in IT, especially self taught ones, is because men simply don't have the choices that women do when it comes to making a living. Most women know that they can choose to have sex for a living, and most women at some time or another have done so. It is often called 'getting married', or 'dating', but there are far more couples where the men pay the bills, and women stay home, or earn spending money, than the other way around. This takes a huge number of women out of the pool of people who are working in technical fields. When the pool of people from a particular demographic are pulled into other ways of making a living, you are not going to get as many in the field. If the option for men to marry a good provider started becoming common (it is getting better all the time), you would likely see an evening out in technical fields.
As for self taught... The stereo type of the nerd in his mom's basement sitting at a computer, didn't come from looking at guys that just didn't WANT to go out and get laid. They were at home teaching themselves because they didn't have a way with the ladies.
To be more blatant, males and females are different; physically, emotionally, intellectually, men and women are not the same. It is silly that people are constantly trying to treat them as if they are.
What the fuck are you talking about? Why do people always say this? Nobody is 'constantly trying' to treat men and women the same. Their separate treatment begins before they are even born, as evidenced by pink versus blue balloons in the hospital, 'it's a boy!'/'it's a girl!' novelties, &c. From there we move to separate names and separate pronouns. Separate diapers. Separate clothing. Separate blankets. Separate toys. Separate expectations. Separate responsibilities. Separate titles. Separate bath rooms. Separate locker rooms. Separate schools. Separate sports. Separate job opportunities. It's a never-ending stream of different treatment. Prescriptive treatment, not descriptive.
And then you want to say that women don't get into IT because they're so obviously different. Well no shit! We're all brain-washed from birth to be different. You can't possibly draw any meaningful conclusions about the true nature of something in the presence of interference like that.
I do agree that patronising women into submission is not really the solution, though. The trend of 'empowering' women through programmes like this is a superficial, condescending band-aid. It is an extension of sexism, not a solution. Fix the problems listed above -- then we'll actually have a level playing field and you'll know whether women truly find IT 'appealing'.
Men and woman are paid the same. You should read a thorough study of the issue. Basically, men and women in the same career with the same qualifications and experience are generally paid the same. However, women tend to value family and pleasant working conditions and hours over raw earning power, so they tend to bring home less bacon, in absolute terms, around 75 cents on the dollar. Many people see this as some sort of a problem, but the only way to change it is to change women's fundamental priorities. I'm not convinced that any brain-washing program will ever accomplish this.
In short, the answer to the question "Why do men earn more?" is "because they deserve to".
That's funny, i've never seen any such research. Have you? I don't even see why you could assume such a ridiculous thing. Women and men aren't separate species, first off. Second, men all carry an X chromosome passed on by their mothers, which they in turn pass to their daughters. Women carry two X chromosomes, one of which passes to both their male and female offspring. So your premise is ridiculous. There's so much intermingling between male and female genetics, that it's absurd on it's face.
Please, go read a basic textbook on biology.
There are lives at stake here!
It sounds like you'd enjoy the soothing sounds of Dave Sim. At least you're pretty up-front about thinking that ownership of a uterus and tits prevents one from being an intellectual.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca