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I am little tired of this. The research is interesting but there should be more consideration for alternate hypotheses. There is lot of evidence that girls are
by js8 10y ago
I am little tired of this. The research is interesting but there should be more consideration for alternate hypotheses.
There is lot of evidence that girls are biologically wired to prefer people jobs, while boys prefer jobs with things. I really recommend Steven Pinker talk: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n691pLhQBkw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n691pLhQBkw
But even if this was cultural, who are we to dictate preferences of people? I think the whole nature vs nurture debate is a non-sequitur.
The article talks specifically about three reasons:
1. Self-doubt. It's well known that it affects girls more. But maybe it's how the brain presents risk-aversion to us? Or maybe it's actually needed for the job? Computers can be unforgiving.
2. Assholes. Sexism goes both ways. I label an asshole as an asshole, a girl might generalize it to "men are sexist".
3. Interesting work. Not much people in computing do world-changing work, you have to fight for it. It seems to me that there was a tacit expectation that someone will bring interesting work to you, which is IMHO false. The fact is nobody is preventing those girls to have a Github account.
I am all for removing barriers, but at some point, when we just can't see any, we will have to declare that it is a matter of personal preferences. If people are indeed happier in some other job, why not just call it a day?
- js8 10y agoBy the way, research shows that guys think they are more intelligent while girls think they are less intelligent than they really are. I would like to propose a theory of why intelligent girls have more doubts about their intelligence than intelligent guys. High intelligence is an asset. You don't want your competition (in social situation) to know that you're smart. So it's generally better for you to believe you're not that smart, yet be in reality. However, for males, this is different; they need to show off to attract females. So they need to display their intelligence (because it's a desirable trait) despite the above. That's why they act as they were smarter than they really are. It's similar to why in many birds, males are often wildly colored, while females have masking similar to the environment.