Comments

1

The numbers of women in tech roles at tech companies closely mirrors the number women in tech-feeding majors, which follows self-ID'd interests of high school students. It seems unlikely that it's the fear of potential sexual harassment that's the lever here.

2

Also, this subject is closely related to the pay gap issue:

Cash is not the be-all-end-all of quality of life. Free time, stability, health, happiness, all those should count just as well. Cash is just a means to other ends.

3

Yes, tax the sh$t out of businesses until they go away and then we'll see what's left.

4

@3 Your dog .... on the BBQ.

6

Yeah, we also need women equally represented in coal mining, deep ocean fishing, and working on oil rigs! Equality after all!

8

Who is making $100k after a six month trip to "coding school"? No one.

11

Perhaps this has been mentioned before (as part of the study) but I don't think you can ignore the role that class plays in the developing world. In a country like Sweden, just about anyone (male or female) can become a scientist. But in the developing world, those in the upper classes are the only ones with the degrees. Obviously that is an oversimplification, but you get the idea. The reason why Algeria has so many female tech graduates is because the ruling class basically said it is a good idea for all the kids (male and female) to learn those skills.

This sounds more or less like what has been said, but the emphasis is different. It is not that so many women choose to do other things in the developed world. It is the opposite. My guess is there are still very few female engineers in those countries. It is just that there are also very few male engineers, as the only engineers in the developing world are those who were born into wealth.

As to why the developed world has so few engineers, the answer is complicated. It is like asking why America is so fucking fat. Is it lack of exercise, diet, the changing nature of work, suburbanization, the increase in processed foods? In short, yes. They all play a part. Tech is ridiculously masculine, and the reasons why are complicated.

The good news is that other professions used to be ridiculously masculine, and they changed. My wife is a damn good (retired) nurse practitioner, and when she went to school (years after my mom and I marched for civil rights and women's liberation) she was told by her professor that "women just don't make good doctors". This wasn't the Deep South, either, this was the University of Iowa (a very good school). Times change, obviously. Now more women are enrolled in medical school than men. So fuck off, old (probably dead) professor!

You get my drift. I'm not saying that tech will naturally progress the way that medicine did. I think having a very advanced (and largely female) nursing system in the U. S. played a big part in the transition. Damn good daughters of nurses became damn good physicians. I'm just saying that I agree with Katie, the problem isn't inherent. It is quite possible that the problem will go away, as it has in other professions. It will probably just require a lot more work.

But that doesn't deal with the bigger problem mentioned in the article. There is a tendency to focus on problems that effect the well to do (the upper middle class in this country). If your daughter becomes a truck driver, either you are disappointed (because she was so smart, and could go to any school she wanted) or you figure she is doing the best she can. Either way you accept the crap that comes with it. But if your daughter becomes an engineer and someone treats her like shit, well than, it is a different story. She worked hard, came from a good (well to do family) or better yet, was the first one in her family to go to college. She deserves to be treated well. She is now part of the upper middle class, and goddammit, that kind of shit shouldn't happen there.

So, yeah, can't ignore the role of class in sexism. This is the new America, after all. We used to treat all women and minorities like shit. Now it is mostly just poor women and minorities.

13

@10, service jobs pay well? What do you consider "well", $11/hr?

14

"Frankly, other than taxing the shit out of corporations to subsidize publicly-funded jobs, I don’t know."

This is why you fail. Taxing corporations only leads to higher prices for everyone, just another form of tax on all.

@8, they are making $75k if they're an entry-level web developer with some full-stack skills, and $100k in a few years.

15

@14 So you agree with me. No one is making $75k after 6 months in coding school, let alone $100k as the author states.

16

Christ almighty. That was a looooong boring False Dichotomy Fallacy. And like flies to shit in buzz Katie's Trolling Alt-Right Fan Army.

17

"At 35 years old, I’ve committed far more sins than I can remember. I’ve quit jobs without notice, cheated on girlfriends, been complicit in other peoples’ cheating on their girlfriends, stolen stamps from an employer, and used the HOV lane without a passenger." - Katie Herzog, March 22, 2019

So Katie, can we now assume you're a sexual predator in the workplace? Because that's what you and Alice are implying. Should "The Stranger" fire you and everyone else who works there and did something immoral outside of the workplace?

Whoever Alice is absolutely disgusts me as a woman, person, and a human. Unless someone's performance in the workplace suffers, it is no one's fucking business what they do outside of it, and she is not the moral arbiter of the fucking free world. I've cheated on men and women, and they've cheated on me. It doesn't affect my ability to do my job or run my department with professionalism. I'm a female leader in tech and haven't sexually harassed anyone, and neither has Nathan, and as a female leader in tech, it's women like Alice that continue to perpetuate gender-bias against us and keep the rest of us from moving forward.

You should both be ashamed.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.