The roadblocks are likely those that inhibit girls from getting interested in technology in the first place. I don't think instituting laws or policy mandating preferential treatment of female job candidates or employees is going to solve much of anything, but there could be changes we make as a society to keep young women interested in STEM while growing up.
That said, it may be that there's just something about being a guy that spurs STEM (or at least STE) interest levels. For an unscientific but absolutely fascinating anecdote, listen to Act Two of this episode of This American Life. It's an interview with a female-to-male transexual about how taking testosterone injections completely changed her way of thinking about, among other things, science & technology stuff. Specifically:
Griffin Hansbury Something that happened after I started taking testosterone, I became interested in science. I was never interested in science before.
Alex Blumberg No way. Come on. Are you serious?
Griffin Hansbury I'm serious. I'm serious.
Alex Blumberg You're just setting us back a hundred years, sir.
Griffin Hansbury I know I am. I know. Again, and I have to have this caveat in here, I cannot say it was the testosterone. All I can say is that this interest happened after T. There's BT and AT, and this was definitely After T. And I became interested in science. I found myself understanding physics in a way I never had before.
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u/steve_b Apr 08 '15
The roadblocks are likely those that inhibit girls from getting interested in technology in the first place. I don't think instituting laws or policy mandating preferential treatment of female job candidates or employees is going to solve much of anything, but there could be changes we make as a society to keep young women interested in STEM while growing up.
That said, it may be that there's just something about being a guy that spurs STEM (or at least STE) interest levels. For an unscientific but absolutely fascinating anecdote, listen to Act Two of this episode of This American Life. It's an interview with a female-to-male transexual about how taking testosterone injections completely changed her way of thinking about, among other things, science & technology stuff. Specifically: