What Really Keeps Women Out of Tech

[MsAmerica]

Interesting - and maybe unexpected - article

www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/what-really-keeps-women-out-of-tech.html?_r=0

to MNHQ for being so shit hot on the goady fuckers.

Manners? This is mumsnet.

learn some manners unless you want them taught to you ODFOD

I've worked in IT for years and never had issues with my colleagues. The main problem was when you got an ambitious knob who was willing to trample everyone fown to rise to the top. I suspect that may happen in all fields though.
One guy asked me if my kids missed me while I was at work.

There are many reasons why bigger brains don't mean more intelligence. I would expect someone as 'intelligent' as you to be aware of that but clearly, not.

Arf. What a wally.

Here's one for you; encephalization quotient.

I'd normally not feed the trolls but since I'm sure you're on course for your second banning in less than an hour and a half on MN I'll bite. What the fuck are you doing here? Is trying to wind up women your idea of fun? Have you seriously not got anything better to do with your life? Did your mother not give you enough cuddles? Do the few women that you manage to get into bed with laugh at your micropenis?

Arrow, I not only call bullshit, I can hardly stop laughing at the banal simplicity of your argument. Boys like numbers and quantifiable stuff, girls are emotional, and boys have bigger brains. That's it? That's the sum total of your 'scientific' argument? bahahahahahaha.
Sadly, you have just demonstrated the puerile logic that causes women in STEM to be treated like shit. Way. To. Go.
You know, it is indeed possible to question whether that shit is even true, rather than swallow it whole because culturally we are told it is... But why bother, if it's handy for the male superiority complex, eh?

Oh, and Einstein showed that it's not the size it's what you do with it.

Arrow201, so here are the children on my family of my generation -

Cousin 1 - professor of particle physics, female
Cousin 2 - criminal lawyer, female
Cousin 3 - Me, university lecturer, female
Cousin 4 - Uhm, not sure what... Male
Cousin 5 - finishing up PhD on Alzheimer's medication pathways, female
Cousin 6- Civil Engineer, building bridges, female
Cousin 7 - student, male.

Hmm. And thinking of my three aunts - botanist, biologist and mathematician. My own poor mum is a silly little Professor of literature. She has the smallest brain of all these women in my line. Literature. Pfffft. Followed by me. Social sciences. Another female. Bah.

Small brains yuh? Mmmm-Kay.

Awwwwww, can't we keep him. 'Snot fair.

Fraid it is past his bedtime and his mummy is tucking him in as I type. He had had such a busy day, after all.

I've worked in I.T. for a fair few years - Degrees in Computer Science etc and to be honest, 99% of men have been incredibly, well.. normal? My currently role, I've not had a single man patronise me and will talk at the same technical level that they do to other men.

It's odd, as it's an Insurance firm in the City, so they're incredibly... polite? Hold open doors, offer to carry things, but when it comes to the actual 'work', they treat me exactly the same as they would anyone else and it's very pleasant.

They also talk about their wives with incredible respect - I've never heard them talk about women in a disparaging way.

I have dealt with a few sexist morons, but probably as many as I would in other industries.

Yes i have a,ways found them very respectful, i always jokingly put it down to "they found someone willing to marry them, not willing to risk that", but i feel the divorce rate in IT is a lot lower than the rest of my life.

I've not had a single man patronise me

Lucky you. My favourite one was, "You can think logically because you don't have enough female hormones." But even the ones who comment on it being unusual to see a woman in the datacentre and things like that, it still emphasises that I am different and not their version of "normal". (Not surprised - in two decades, I've only ever dealt with two female field engineers from vendor support.)

Most men are normal and respectful, but I've certainly heard objectifying talk - they don't all talk about their wives respectfully. When I've pulled them up on it, I've been told, "You don't count, you're one of us." That still doesn't make it okay to objectify any other women.

I think it can depend partly on which area of tech you're in. Unix and networks techies are generally more sexist than those in development, customer support, project management and so on, although there are individuals in all areas which will be away from the norm to one side or another.

I saw Gina Rippon speak about 10 days back - she was very good, and the main them of the talk was that there's no real difference between male and female brains. There are differences in size - but not in performance.