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Published 8 years ago by mtnrg with 4 Comments

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  • idlethreat
    +8

    Why is it not a disaster that there are not more women carpenters, garbage collectors, plumbers, truck drivers, etc.? For that matter, why is it not a disaster that there are not more male hair stylists, manicurists, house husbands, etc?

    This whole "oh, poor women need help" crap's just gotta stop. It's stupid. If a female wants to be in the IT industry, she will be. If not, then she won't. Stop treating women like they're precious artifacts that need to be convinced and cajoled into something. They're fully self-actualized human beings with their own plans and self-interests. Present equal opportunity, but don't go out of your way and slobber and bitch on stage about it.

    • picklefingers
      +5

      I agree. The tech industry has become a sort of scapegoat for fields with a disproportionate number of women. Virtually nobody is turning women away. In fact, the industry is doing practically everything possible to get more women into tech. There are tons of scholarships and coding events specifically for girls. I see almost everybody encouraging women to get into tech and almost nobody discouraging them. Tech companies shouldn't come under fire for their lack of gender diversity if the women just aren't there to make it diverse. We should try to find the real causes of the lack of diversity in the tech industry instead of just branding these companies as sexist.

    • blitzen
      +5

      I agree. We need to stop giving people differing hats and calling everybody equal height, and start making sure the playing field stays truly level.

      An argument or accusation that the STEM fields systematically keep women are would be valid. Simply stating that there aren't enough women in any given field is only half an argument.

    • VerteDinde
      +4

      Enh, I disagree. I do agree that the tech industry is being specifically scapegoated - I actually find the tech environment much more welcoming to women because people are willing to speak openly about inequality - but I don't think we're quite at the stage where we can say we have total equality of opportunity.

      Unconscious biases are very real, and they do affect the career choices for both men and women at an early age. Google's Director of HR, Brian Welle, did a really excellent presentation on unconscious biases and how we can respond and adjust to them. If you have a lazy afternoon, I really recommend a good watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLjFTHTgEVU

      I think it would be great to have more lady plumbers and even better to have more house husbands! There's been a rise of house husbands among the Millennial generation who are incredibly fulfilled by the fact that they get to bound with their children, and I think that's great! But those house husbands - and the working women that support them - are unfortunately still often being shamed for their choices. Hopefully, by having open and constructive conversations like this one about it, we can slowly change that.

      I would like to see a little more conversation and research and a bit less hand-wringing on stage, I will give you that. :)

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