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I see that tech companies are trying to get more diverse, and diverse is good without a doubt. Isn't it likely that males are just more interested in technology

I see that tech companies are trying to get more diverse, and diverse is good without a doubt. Isn't it likely that males are just more interested in technology than woman? For example trying to diversify a ballet team.. I find it unlikely that any significant percentage of males can be reached. Is tech different than ballet?

catenthusiast 9y ago
> Isn't it likely that males are just more interested in technology than woman? Why would that be likely?
- 08-15 9y ago
  Because if you give children a set of toys that includes both cars and dolls, the girls tend to play with dolls and the boys tend to play with cars. Many boys play with both---they use the cars to run over the dolls. And that happens even in African tribes where most people have never seen a car in their lifes, which pretty much falsifies the modern theory that all differences are due to boys wearing blue and girls wearing pink.
  - collyw 9y ago
    It happens in monkeys as well. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13596-male-monkeys-prefer-boys-toys/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13596-male-monkeys-pr...
- tzs 9y ago
  I have a guess on that. I've not been able to find any research on whether it is correct or not. (Clarification: it is whether or not the age difference in brain development could affect interests in technology, not the existence of the difference, that I have not found any research on). One of the things that happens when a human brain matures from a child's brain to an adult's brain is that it undergoes significant reorganization. It prunes a lot of old connections and starts focusing on more important adult things. In girls this reorganization starts at age 10-12. In boys it starts at 15-20. My guess is that it is easier for a brain that is still in child mode to develop and maintain an interest in technology. But it isn't until high school that you start to get the education that lets you really move beyond just an interest in tech as a user to a serious interest in going into tech as a career. I think it may be that getting that high school education while you still have a mostly child's brain greatly increases the chances you'll go into technology. In the US you typically start high school at 14 or 15. That means that in high school most girls will already be well on their way to adult brains, but a lot of boys will still have child brains or be early in the transition to their adult brains. That could greatly skew things toward boys going into technology.
  - SamReidHughes 9y ago
    I don't buy this because among my friends, all sorts of boys did technical stuff or had technical interests. In elementary school the only kids that checked out books on machines or science stuff from the library were boys. And this was starting in 2nd grade, the books were about construction equipment or feats of bridge building. It was in at least two cases, me and one friend, obviously self-generated interest. Also in 2nd grade, we had a teacher who was a bit crazy and decided to turn the classroom into a set of autodidactic learning paths that students could take on their own volition, with little oversight. I remember one kid being super-excited about getting through the math stuff and learning exponents. Of course it was a boy. Many of the girls spent the time writing acrostics about each other. Though I had a similar theory at one point that math ability was affected by how much you thought about math before puberty. The relative abilities of my classmates went through a reshuffling in that period.
kwhitefoot 9y ago
> I find it unlikely that any significant percentage of males can be reached. But is it actually so? The proportion of the population involved in ballet at all is vanishingly small so it seems likely to me that the supply of both male and female candidates must be greater than the demand. Or at least would be if men and boys were not given the impression that ballet is somehow unmanly. > Is tech different than ballet? In this respect, no. Both suffer from sex related prejudice.
- metaphorm 9y ago
  > In this respect, no. Both suffer from sex related prejudice. that is misunderstanding or mischaracterizing the point made by OP, who as asking about differences in job preference. is it because of prejudice that there are many fewer male ballet dancers than female ballet dancers? I don't know much about ballet but I suspect that the major contributor to the difference is that there are many many many more women interested in ballet dancing than there are men interested in ballet dancing. if we expected a 50/50 split in ballet dancer gender representation we would have a problematic expectation for obvious reasons. is programming similar? seems like it might be.

catenthusiast 9y ago

> Isn't it likely that males are just more interested in technology than woman? Why would that be likely?

08-15 9y ago
Because if you give children a set of toys that includes both cars and dolls, the girls tend to play with dolls and the boys tend to play with cars. Many boys play with both---they use the cars to run over the dolls. And that happens even in African tribes where most people have never seen a car in their lifes, which pretty much falsifies the modern theory that all differences are due to boys wearing blue and girls wearing pink.
- collyw 9y ago
  It happens in monkeys as well. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13596-male-monkeys-prefer-boys-toys/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13596-male-monkeys-pr...
tzs 9y ago
I have a guess on that. I've not been able to find any research on whether it is correct or not. (Clarification: it is whether or not the age difference in brain development could affect interests in technology, not the existence of the difference, that I have not found any research on). One of the things that happens when a human brain matures from a child's brain to an adult's brain is that it undergoes significant reorganization. It prunes a lot of old connections and starts focusing on more important adult things. In girls this reorganization starts at age 10-12. In boys it starts at 15-20. My guess is that it is easier for a brain that is still in child mode to develop and maintain an interest in technology. But it isn't until high school that you start to get the education that lets you really move beyond just an interest in tech as a user to a serious interest in going into tech as a career. I think it may be that getting that high school education while you still have a mostly child's brain greatly increases the chances you'll go into technology. In the US you typically start high school at 14 or 15. That means that in high school most girls will already be well on their way to adult brains, but a lot of boys will still have child brains or be early in the transition to their adult brains. That could greatly skew things toward boys going into technology.
- SamReidHughes 9y ago
  I don't buy this because among my friends, all sorts of boys did technical stuff or had technical interests. In elementary school the only kids that checked out books on machines or science stuff from the library were boys. And this was starting in 2nd grade, the books were about construction equipment or feats of bridge building. It was in at least two cases, me and one friend, obviously self-generated interest. Also in 2nd grade, we had a teacher who was a bit crazy and decided to turn the classroom into a set of autodidactic learning paths that students could take on their own volition, with little oversight. I remember one kid being super-excited about getting through the math stuff and learning exponents. Of course it was a boy. Many of the girls spent the time writing acrostics about each other. Though I had a similar theory at one point that math ability was affected by how much you thought about math before puberty. The relative abilities of my classmates went through a reshuffling in that period.

kwhitefoot 9y ago

> I find it unlikely that any significant percentage of males can be reached. But is it actually so? The proportion of the population involved in ballet at all is vanishingly small so it seems likely to me that the supply of both male and female candidates must be greater than the demand. Or at least would be if men and boys were not given the impression that ballet is somehow unmanly. > Is tech different than ballet? In this respect, no. Both suffer from sex related prejudice.

metaphorm 9y ago
> In this respect, no. Both suffer from sex related prejudice. that is misunderstanding or mischaracterizing the point made by OP, who as asking about differences in job preference. is it because of prejudice that there are many fewer male ballet dancers than female ballet dancers? I don't know much about ballet but I suspect that the major contributor to the difference is that there are many many many more women interested in ballet dancing than there are men interested in ballet dancing. if we expected a 50/50 split in ballet dancer gender representation we would have a problematic expectation for obvious reasons. is programming similar? seems like it might be.