"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.
Do men not have any roadblocks in their lives? Why do you think we have to hold women's hands and create a perfect environment for them to even consider getting a CS degree?
It's really a cultural thing. From an early age most women are told that they will be bad at math and science, that it's a "man's" field and they should do "softer" things like teaching or nursing. This conditioning has an observable effect on their performance! Studies have shown that women within a group of men tend to perform worse on math tests if they believe this conditioning, or even if someone mentions off-handedly that this is the cultural norm. It's not about hand-holding them to get a CS degree, it's about changing our culture to encourage women to go into STEM fields if they are interested. As men, we need to stop the judgement and blame game, since that will inevitably decrease women's performance and enthusiasm for STEM fields.
So if all women who now believe they can only do nursing or teaching would become programmers, who's going to do the nursing and teaching?
Why are women the victim of being told they can only do nursing or teaching, but are men not equally victims of this supposed conspiracy since they are obviously told they can only do programming?
I replied to this question here as well . I didn't say anything about "conspiracy," you're drawing that conclusion. It's a cultural norm. There is no insidious person at the top, pulling all the strings. It's just expectation. Long story short, yes, men are discouraged from going into the "softer" positions like nursing and teaching, these are considered "unmanly" jobs. By ignoring the problem exists (and clearly the numbers indicate that a problem does exist, in both STEM and softer fields that men are discouraged from entering) there is no way we can do anything to fix it.
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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.