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The thing that struck me was the data, not the attempts to explain it. Assume the graph is right. From the 60s to the 80s, the gender mix in male dominated de
by thisrod 10y ago
The thing that struck me was the data, not the attempts to explain it. Assume the graph is right. From the 60s to the 80s, the gender mix in male dominated degrees was equalising slowly but uniformly. Then, after 1983, computer science very suddenly became a lot more sexist, while the other technical degrees kept improving as before.
I don't really buy the explanation. The change happens too early: neither schoolboys nor schoolgirls had their own computers in 1982.
- jasonm23 10y ago> neither schoolboys nor schoolgirls had their own computers in 1982. Yes we did
- kpil 10y agoYes, but you where not attending to university at the same time. I too think that the article got the timing wrong somehow. But it was probably computers as (and in) pop culture that turned away many that saw computer science as a career path just as law school and medicine. In the early 80s the white coat scientists where gone in the media, and replaced by neerdy kids, culminating with the unlikly tale of Bill Gates. The message was that you had ti be incredibly smart and geeky to be able to work with computers. --- The reality is that you probably have to be just a bit over average, but mainly just very stubborn and won't mind spending hours and hours solving very stupid problems... Edit: One way to get stubborn is to be inherently fascinated by computers and self-controlling systems. At least it works for me....