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Women in Computing To Decline To 22% by 2025, Study Warns (usatoday.com)
New research warns that at the rate we're going, the number of women in the computing workforce will decline to 22% from 24% by 2025 if nothing is done to encourage more of them to study computer science. From a USA Today report (shared by an anonymous reader): The research from Accenture and nonprofit group Girls Who Code says taking steps now to encourage more women to pursue a computer science education could triple the number of women in computing to 3.9 million in that same timeframe. Women account for 24% of computing jobs today, but could account for 39% by 2025, according to the report, Cracking the Gender Code. And greater numbers of women entering computer science could boost women's cumulative earnings by $299 billion and help the U.S. fill the growing demand for computing talent, said Julie Sweet, Accenture's group chief executive for North America.
Study by Accenture is a pretty big tip off.
I feel very, very bad for the people who are 'encouraged' to go into programming, if it was not their real interest. That is a person being set up for a very dis satisfactory career.
Programming is insanely boring to people who do not have a very high drive/interest in it. I can't think of many worse ways to spend your day, if you are not truly interested.
I work at a University. 70% female enrollment. Female chancellor, female leadership, etc. etc. If the computer science department is 85% men this is not a case of a 'boys club', this is a case of people being drawn to what they are interested in.
The Gender Studies department is about 95% female. They are very active and visible on campus. They spend a lot of time on 'outreach', yet they still can't crack 6% on male involvement. The computer science department also does outreach, and their numbers remain the same, year after year. The women's resource center has special programs to assist women in STEM...as does the computer science department. There is so much support for women in technology it is amazing.
Yet still they have a hard time getting women to graduate with a degree in computer science.
I wouldn't push the males into gender studies, and I wouldn't push the females into computer science. I would push them to study what truly interests them, and where they think they will excel.
At this point, on this campus, women are not avoiding computer science because they are being treated poorly. They are avoiding computer science because they don't have an interest. Pretending otherwise is avoiding the truth.
No reason to lie.
After endlessly repeating the message, "Women need to be encouraged to work in this field because they don't naturally have much interest in it", who could blame them for wanting nothing to do with it? No one wants the first thought people have of you to be, "Is this a professional or just the diversity hire?"
Could also have something to do with not wanting to work unreasonable hours just to eventually be replaced by an H1B.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Women already make up nearly 60% of all college graduates. They already receive favoritism for things like financial aid, grants, and scholarships (except for sports). There are TV ads, commercials, and companies doing everything they can to get more women into STEM and it is all failing. So what, coercion and extortion are not working so we panic?
People should stop trying to bully people into a field and forcing an ideology that people simply don't want. There is equal opportunity, in fact it's white males who today are treated like shit by politicians, academics, and media and every other racial group and gender is receiving preferences.
Also, people in general need to stop pretending like biological differences don't matter. They do, and facts matter.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.