NPR: '80s Ads Are Responsible For the Lack of Women Coders

gollum123 writes: Back in the day, computer science was as legitimate a career path for women as medicine, law, or science. But in 1984, the number of women majoring in computing-related subjects began to fall, and the percentage of women is now significantly lower in CS than in those other fields. NPR's Planet Money sought to answer a simple question: Why? According to the show's experts, computers were advertised as a "boy's toy." This, combined with early '80s geek culture staples like the book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, as well as movies like War Games and Weird Science, conspired to instill the perception that computers were primarily for men.

Comments

Solving the problem wrong

[Tablizer]

Who cares! Coding is on average a dead-end job with long hours. Why not talk about good long-term careers for women instead, rather than high burn-and-churn jobs? Coders happen to be demand right now, but we've seen bubbles before, and will probably see them again.

Re:What?

[xanthines-R-yummy]

Correct, you aren't a feminist. News flash: women have brains and they do what they want. They don't want to code, because they are passively (mostly) discouraged from pursuing that hobby/career. Deal with it.

There, FTFY.

Re:Can we stop trying to come up with a reason?

[internetcommie]

But do you want your daughter in a career where she is seen as less capable just because she is female? Where she will be subjected to daily microaggression from male coworkers who know they will get away with it because the bosses are all male? And nobody can prove a thing!

This is what is happening today. For a large group of men, it seems to be important to portray women as incapable of programming a computer, or doing anything "technical" at all. I have no idea why, but I see it every day.
If a young woman asked me for advice about studying computer science or related fields, I would be very conflicted about how much of the misogyny in the field I should tell her about, because it is massive. At the same time I know many women have more talent for "technical" work than for more traditional "women's" work, and should not be scared away from doing something they want to do.

Re:Boy toy

[popo]

Men and women are interested in different things. The feminists are beginning to look both silly and desperate in their efforts to come up with social explanations while ignoring the obvious truth: male and female brains are different.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p...