Girls Go Geek Again

nessus42 writes "Computer science has always been a male-dominated field, right? Wrong. In 1987, 42% of the software developers in America were women. And 34% of the systems analysts in America were women. Women had started to flock to computer science in the mid-1960s, during the early days of computing, when men were already dominating other technical professions but had yet to dominate the world of computing. For about two decades, the percentages of women who earned Computer Science degrees rose steadily, peaking at 37% in 1984.... And then the women left. In droves. ...it looks like women are now returning to computer science."

Re:Women Were Driven Out

[ElectricTurtle]

Boo hoo. I'd feel a lot worse about this if it wasn't being overtly done in the opposite direction in other industries. Who is complaining about the over representation of women and the active discrimination against men and masculinity in the health services industry eh? I once applied for a job at a hospital, and even though it was an IT support position they still ran me through a personality test. Apparently I failed it because I valued truth over compassion and was more inclined toward introspection than socialization. Clearly that invalidated my adequacy as candidate. Most ironically, while the test said something to the effect that the questions should be answered as honestly as possible, when the interviewer saw that I had 'failed' their test for suitability in their monolith, she asked if I wanted to change things. I said straight up that the test said it wanted the most honest answers possible, so if I changed anything I would either have been lying before or lying now, and what purpose would either serve? They didn't even value their own nonsense. They just want people to fit in or get out.

So yeah, I'll be more sympathetic when I see people trying to change unjust systems in both directions. Until then it's just sexist hypocrisy.

Re:Oh I'm sorry

[DeciDigi]

I left the industry in the late 90's in part because of misogynistic assholes. When the guys in the dept have one dress code, and I as the only female in the dept have another (that applies to all the secretaries) it gets really difficult to do your job. After a while you begin to suspect that the only reason your boss wont let you wear jeans and a company polo like the guys is because he really gets off on looking up your skirt when you're up a ladder...

I still like to geek, and am raising a pod full of little geeklings, but now I'm a midwife rather than a network engineer. I find I prefer working with wetware over hardware any day ;-p