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In the US at least, I don't think there is any overt activity preventing women from succeeding in CS-related business and in the past 15 years at least I've see

In the US at least, I don't think there is any overt activity preventing women from succeeding in CS-related business and in the past 15 years at least I've seen plenty of women succeed. I think if there are fewer women founders the reason is that fewer women simply choose to go that route. Now outside the US things may be quite different. I am 100% certain that if my 10 year old daughter ever decides to start a CS-related business I'm sure there will be plenty of good role models for her. However her current inclination is to become a school teacher.

curi 19y ago
Why do fewer women choose to go that route? As you say, it is not because they will be less rewarded if they do. Once they are doing a startup, they can get the same rewards men can. So there is still something to explain here.
- bayareaguy 19y ago
  It beats me, but my best guess is that founders get that way first by a) identifying with other founders and b) realizing that nothing is stopping them from succeeding the way they did. I think girls just need more exposure to successful women who can act as role models. It's my belief that time will eventually solve this problem.
  - axod 19y ago
    But as I said before, why do you see it as a problem. It's a problem only if there are women who WANT to be founders, but cannot. Is the fact that fish don't have legs a 'problem'? Only if they long to have legs. (Please don't think I'm likening women to fish, but you get my point hopefuly).
    - bayareaguy 19y ago
      Thats a very good question which probably deserves a better answer than I can offer. But I'll have a go. My first premise is that I think those who achieve success via "fair" competition tend to be better qualified than those who achieve it other ways. My second premise is that over time successful founders should expect to find themselves in positions of power and influence beyond the scope of their initial successes. My last premise is that societies avoid the worst types of social injustice when no single culture or way of thinking dominates the others. While heterogeneous societies may not make as much "progress" as homogeneous ones, they also avoid the worst cases. Based on this, I think we'll have a better society if there are more qualified women at the top, but to have that we need more qualified women at all stages of the competition.

curi 19y ago

Why do fewer women choose to go that route? As you say, it is not because they will be less rewarded if they do. Once they are doing a startup, they can get the same rewards men can. So there is still something to explain here.

bayareaguy 19y ago
It beats me, but my best guess is that founders get that way first by a) identifying with other founders and b) realizing that nothing is stopping them from succeeding the way they did. I think girls just need more exposure to successful women who can act as role models. It's my belief that time will eventually solve this problem.
- axod 19y ago
  But as I said before, why do you see it as a problem. It's a problem only if there are women who WANT to be founders, but cannot. Is the fact that fish don't have legs a 'problem'? Only if they long to have legs. (Please don't think I'm likening women to fish, but you get my point hopefuly).
  - bayareaguy 19y ago
    Thats a very good question which probably deserves a better answer than I can offer. But I'll have a go. My first premise is that I think those who achieve success via "fair" competition tend to be better qualified than those who achieve it other ways. My second premise is that over time successful founders should expect to find themselves in positions of power and influence beyond the scope of their initial successes. My last premise is that societies avoid the worst types of social injustice when no single culture or way of thinking dominates the others. While heterogeneous societies may not make as much "progress" as homogeneous ones, they also avoid the worst cases. Based on this, I think we'll have a better society if there are more qualified women at the top, but to have that we need more qualified women at all stages of the competition.