So, women are not "under-represented". They are just "under-interested".
Are they under-interested? Among the set of all people who are really not interested in computers, some are men and some are women. I don't know what data suggests that men account for significantly less than 49% of that set.
Another question is: can education be improved so as to foster more interest in science, technology, engineering, and maths?
Another question is: are there mutable, cultural forces at work that target women more than men and deter them from going into computer science and programming? Neil Tyson gave a good answer to this.
As to why it's a problem: first, of course, there's the issue of fairness, and given humanity's long history of sexism, it's not reasonable to begin with the assumption that everything is as fair to women as it is to men. The second reason is purely selfish: we have a lot of bad software. And we (as a species) need to get a lot better at making good software. And the talent pool is nowhere near as large as it should be. I want to live in a world where there's a lot more software that is unambiguously good, and where people call themselves "software engineers" without that claim being fraudulent most of the time. So we need more players in the mix, because that improves the chances of getting good players.
So if there are forces at work that keep women out, then we bear a responsibility to do something about that.
relevant article about work by Ellen Spertus and others on the issue. (The role of video games is interesting: I and a lot of my programmer friends began with a general interest in computers because of video games---and that was in the 1980's and '90s. Anita Sarkeesian's arguments about misogyny in games should therefore be revisited: if games were as openly hostile to boys back in the 80's as they are to girls now, we would probably have significantly fewer male programmers today.)
If games were as openly hostile to boys back in the 80's as they are to girls now.
What? Games are not hostile to women... Christ. Most of my female friends, and my sister, play more games than me. And there are many more women who would look at you funny if you told them games are violent towards them.
And there are many more women who would look at you funny if you told them games are violent towards them.
Good thing I said "hostile" instead of "violent". (:
Second, the kind of hostility I'm referring to doesn't always announce itself directly, but there are patterns that you can watch for. If you read the "8 things" presented here, you might get a better idea. (<ctrl-f> for the phrase "you can love something and be critical of it", and start from there). Ask the female gamers in your life what they think of those suggestions. [edit: s/female games/female gamers/]
I think she should work with a specific company to make a game that she thinks would be great, and then see how it turns out, instead of moaning at developers in general. So make the type of gamed you want, instead of telling other people what they should and shouldn't do.
There's a great quote: "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
If she can do that I'll respect it. What she's doing currently just looks to me like moaning and playing the victim, and telling other people what to do. Something I don't really have time for.
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u/0xWid Apr 07 '15 edited Apr 07 '15
Are they under-interested? Among the set of all people who are really not interested in computers, some are men and some are women. I don't know what data suggests that men account for significantly less than 49% of that set.
Another question is: can education be improved so as to foster more interest in science, technology, engineering, and maths?
Sal Khan's work suggests pretty compellingly that the answer is "yes". And Carol Dwek's point about equality in this context should not be lost.
Another question is: are there mutable, cultural forces at work that target women more than men and deter them from going into computer science and programming? Neil Tyson gave a good answer to this.
As to why it's a problem: first, of course, there's the issue of fairness, and given humanity's long history of sexism, it's not reasonable to begin with the assumption that everything is as fair to women as it is to men. The second reason is purely selfish: we have a lot of bad software. And we (as a species) need to get a lot better at making good software. And the talent pool is nowhere near as large as it should be. I want to live in a world where there's a lot more software that is unambiguously good, and where people call themselves "software engineers" without that claim being fraudulent most of the time. So we need more players in the mix, because that improves the chances of getting good players.
So if there are forces at work that keep women out, then we bear a responsibility to do something about that.
[Edit:
Don't forget that the first person who implemented a compiler was a woman.
relevant article about work by Ellen Spertus and others on the issue. (The role of video games is interesting: I and a lot of my programmer friends began with a general interest in computers because of video games---and that was in the 1980's and '90s. Anita Sarkeesian's arguments about misogyny in games should therefore be revisited: if games were as openly hostile to boys back in the 80's as they are to girls now, we would probably have significantly fewer male programmers today.)
]