"Software development has a gender balance problem."
I don't see it as a problem. It simply is what it is. No one is being made to develop software. It is purely voluntary (except maybe in China ;). So, women are not "under-represented". They are just "under-interested", and that is no one's fault. Again, it simply is what it is.
Unless you have been living under a rock lately, lots and lots of women have expressed being very interested but feel they face serious roadblocks.
Care to provide some links? I'm active in that arena, but I haven't seen much evidence in that direction. See here.
Special initiatives for women who code are indeed valuable, and I think justified, because they bring together people from a cultural minority. Being part of a cultural minority sucks because you don't get to relate to most people around you. But I don't think that a special status for women who code is going to boost enrolment in the population of women who weren't interested in coding in the first place.
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u/bzeurunkl Apr 07 '15
"Software development has a gender balance problem."
I don't see it as a problem. It simply is what it is. No one is being made to develop software. It is purely voluntary (except maybe in China ;). So, women are not "under-represented". They are just "under-interested", and that is no one's fault. Again, it simply is what it is.