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>I've always wondered if the answer to this was due to the culture and class demographics. The answer is simple. Women are naturally inclined toward social fie

>I've always wondered if the answer to this was due to the culture and class demographics. The answer is simple. Women are naturally inclined toward social fields. There are few women who want to do something highly technical and not people-oriented. Men do not have the same strong social inclination. The physiological differences between male and female affect their psychology as well as their superficial appearances; let's not kid ourselves. These are tools called "generalizations", which means they're not universally applicable, but they are helpful for understanding the world.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Hasn't that been demonstrated false? Women (girls) start out just as interested in everything including technology. They are socialized away from math and science. Any physiological bias is in the noise.
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  a) it's hard enough to demonstrably prove anything in real sciences, data from social sciences rarely reflects anything other than the author's bias. One's ability to contrive a desired result with opaque language should not be used as evidence contrary to the easily observed, near universal reality. Don't let someone else's agenda send you into denial. b) a loss of interest as a person matures does not necessarily imply that loss is artificial. That unique psychology may emerge naturally over the developmental / maturation process, just as some physical features emerge.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    We must all understand that we have our own biases. I'm having a hard time believing anybody can use personal observation to separate physiological differences from socializing influences. In fact I don't believe it at all. It sounds the same as making up comfortable stories, denying the science that is done so as to absolve oneself of doing anything about the current state of affairs.
  - SolaceQuantum 11y ago
    Do you have a source that indicates that something in female brain structure during maturation/puberty or hormones associated with puberty causes more socially inclined behavior and career choices?
- drumdance 11y ago
  Once upon a time the vast majority of nurses and veterinarians were men. Now they're dominated by women. Is that a problem to be solved or just the nature of reality?
- Al-Khwarizmi 11y ago
  Actually, serious research tends to point to the opposite of what you say... it's pretty much biological. Even studies with monkeys show that female baby monkeys prefer dolls while males prefer cars as toys... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/gender-toys-children-toy-preferences-hormones_n_1827727.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/gender-toys-childre... Unfortunately, there are so much political agendas and sensitive issues at play here that this kind of science is not disseminated too much.
danso 11y ago
Then why do women make up a large proportion of life sciences and medical degrees?
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  Because medicine is a social thing that involves meeting and interviewing patients on a daily basis in order to restore and nourish them back to health. It involves a lot of daily interaction with the outside world (it's not an isolated, non-human field; there's a lot of society in it, even as you get increasingly technical). That matches female predispositions exactly.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    Imaginary female dispositions. Because guys do it too. So not strictly female at all.
  - douche 11y ago
    And yet surgeons are still primarily male. This article[1] I found interesting, since it trots out just about all of the same rationalizing explanations that the programming discussion uses. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706651/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706651/
    - facepalm 11y ago
      Because you can not walk away in the middle of a surgery to pick up your kids from school. Simple as that...
    - Al-Khwarizmi 11y ago
      The example of surgeons helps your parent comment's point... among doctors, surgeons (together with radiologists and a few others) are among those with the smallest social contact with patients and their families. During most surgeries, the patient can't even speak!
  - danso 11y ago

JoeAltmaier 11y ago

Hasn't that been demonstrated false? Women (girls) start out just as interested in everything including technology. They are socialized away from math and science. Any physiological bias is in the noise.

cookiecaper 11y ago
a) it's hard enough to demonstrably prove anything in real sciences, data from social sciences rarely reflects anything other than the author's bias. One's ability to contrive a desired result with opaque language should not be used as evidence contrary to the easily observed, near universal reality. Don't let someone else's agenda send you into denial. b) a loss of interest as a person matures does not necessarily imply that loss is artificial. That unique psychology may emerge naturally over the developmental / maturation process, just as some physical features emerge.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  We must all understand that we have our own biases. I'm having a hard time believing anybody can use personal observation to separate physiological differences from socializing influences. In fact I don't believe it at all. It sounds the same as making up comfortable stories, denying the science that is done so as to absolve oneself of doing anything about the current state of affairs.
- SolaceQuantum 11y ago
  Do you have a source that indicates that something in female brain structure during maturation/puberty or hormones associated with puberty causes more socially inclined behavior and career choices?
drumdance 11y ago
Once upon a time the vast majority of nurses and veterinarians were men. Now they're dominated by women. Is that a problem to be solved or just the nature of reality?
Al-Khwarizmi 11y ago
Actually, serious research tends to point to the opposite of what you say... it's pretty much biological. Even studies with monkeys show that female baby monkeys prefer dolls while males prefer cars as toys... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/gender-toys-children-toy-preferences-hormones_n_1827727.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/gender-toys-childre... Unfortunately, there are so much political agendas and sensitive issues at play here that this kind of science is not disseminated too much.

danso 11y ago

Then why do women make up a large proportion of life sciences and medical degrees?

cookiecaper 11y ago
Because medicine is a social thing that involves meeting and interviewing patients on a daily basis in order to restore and nourish them back to health. It involves a lot of daily interaction with the outside world (it's not an isolated, non-human field; there's a lot of society in it, even as you get increasingly technical). That matches female predispositions exactly.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Imaginary female dispositions. Because guys do it too. So not strictly female at all.
- douche 11y ago
  And yet surgeons are still primarily male. This article[1] I found interesting, since it trots out just about all of the same rationalizing explanations that the programming discussion uses. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706651/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706651/
  - facepalm 11y ago
    Because you can not walk away in the middle of a surgery to pick up your kids from school. Simple as that...
  - Al-Khwarizmi 11y ago
    The example of surgeons helps your parent comment's point... among doctors, surgeons (together with radiologists and a few others) are among those with the smallest social contact with patients and their families. During most surgeries, the patient can't even speak!
- danso 11y ago