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> a company should be focused on acquiring the best developers they can, not finding ones of a specific gender I respectfully disagree. This position doesn't t
by coldpie 9y ago
> a company should be focused on acquiring the best developers they can, not finding ones of a specific gender
I respectfully disagree. This position doesn't take into account how existing gender biases affect those who are choosing which field to enter. If a field is primarily composed of men, then young women may not feel welcome in the field and may go elsewhere, meaning there are fewer good developers in the pool to begin with. This leads to lower quality overall in the field than if there were no bias.
It becomes a tragedy of the commons situation: if everyone hires the best regardless of gender, then we continue to repel half of the population. But if one company biases towards hiring women even if they're somewhat less skilled, then they are at a disadvantage to companies that don't do this. This is why things like hiring quotas and other forms of affirmative action exist.
- dcow 9y agoAre you suggesting that "half the population" is not as capable? That's the only way they would be excluded according to the parent post.
- coldpie 9y agoI don't follow. I was explaining why the "hiring only the best" strategy perpetuates a gender imbalance. If there is an 80:20 gender ratio in the industry, and assuming an equal skill distribution, then there will be about 4 times as many men as women in the "hiring only the best" work force. It's not hard to imagine that this could dissuade some young women from choosing this industry, regardless of their aptitude for it. As a result, we have fewer high quality candidates in the industry as a whole. One way to change this is to correct the imbalance in industry, giving young women a more welcoming environment, role models, etc. However, this actively requires a different hiring strategy than "only the best." As I said, this gets into a "tragedy of the commons" situation, which can only be resolved through collective action, whether voluntarily within the industry like hiring quotas and outreach to women or enforced by the government through affirmative action-style laws.
- antonll 9y agoI feel that any sort of quotas will be worked around by restructuring the employment relationship as a business-to-business contract - and there will be pressure on companies to do that if there's significant competitive advantage.
- Shorel 9y agoHalf the population is below average in a bell curve distribution. Now it is up to you to decide if "below average" is the same as "not as capable".