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I agree with you that sexism exists in tech, but it seems like a huge leap to say it's the primary cause of the gender gap. Gender imbalances exist in many pro

by biofox 9y ago

I agree with you that sexism exists in tech, but it seems like a huge leap to say it's the primary cause of the gender gap. Gender imbalances exist in many professions (teaching, nursing, social work, counselling). I'm not sure sexism is sufficient to explain all of these.

cmiles74 9y ago
Fair enough, you have a good point: there are many things that contribute to this gender gap. I don't think it's a huge leap, however, to say that sexism in the field of software engineering is a substantial contributor to the gender gap in that field. In my opinion, the regular trickle of articles on this subject could be enough to discourage people who are currently thinking about entering the field, thus widening (or maintaining) the gender gap. To put it another way, I believe we would need to make real and measurable progress on sexism as the cause of the gender gap before we start looking for other reasons or, as Damore would have it, deciding the status quo is as good as it gets.
- manyoso 9y ago
  That is a fair comment. I would not be surprised if sexism turns out to be a substantial contributor. Not surprised in the least. However, I still don't know that it is the primary reason and certaintly have not seen convincing evidence proving the case. It is a hypothesis even if a well motivated one.
- DuskStar 9y ago
  >I believe we would need to make real and measurable progress on sexism as the cause of the gender gap before we start looking for other reasons There is actually another way to move past sexism as the primary cause - show that sexism is comparable in other fields with a much smaller gender gap. If Engineering has 2 "sexism units", Medicine has 2.3 and Law 1.5 for instance, that might imply that sexism isn't the cause of Engineering's gender gap - because otherwise we'd expect similar gaps in Law and Medicine.
twodave 9y ago
I always thought it was obvious that the gender gap in tech begins long before adulthood. Classrooms in high schools and universities that are technical in nature tend to be dominated by males. I think it has more to do with young people fulfilling traditional roles in academia. And I don't think that's inherently "wrong". Why is a gender gap considered "bad"? In and of itself, I think it's neutral. Does sexism exist in tech? Sure, but I'm not sure it's any more pronounced than any other field. I also don't think females are always the victims. Should we try and right moral wrongs where we see them? Yes, I think we should. It's really easy to highlight bad behavior as a cause of a "problem" that might not even be a problem. In other words, if we can focus our attention on eliminating sexism where we see it, the gender gap becomes a non-issue (even if it persists).

by biofox 9y ago

cmiles74 9y ago

Fair enough, you have a good point: there are many things that contribute to this gender gap. I don't think it's a huge leap, however, to say that sexism in the field of software engineering is a substantial contributor to the gender gap in that field. In my opinion, the regular trickle of articles on this subject could be enough to discourage people who are currently thinking about entering the field, thus widening (or maintaining) the gender gap. To put it another way, I believe we would need to make real and measurable progress on sexism as the cause of the gender gap before we start looking for other reasons or, as Damore would have it, deciding the status quo is as good as it gets.

manyoso 9y ago
That is a fair comment. I would not be surprised if sexism turns out to be a substantial contributor. Not surprised in the least. However, I still don't know that it is the primary reason and certaintly have not seen convincing evidence proving the case. It is a hypothesis even if a well motivated one.
DuskStar 9y ago
>I believe we would need to make real and measurable progress on sexism as the cause of the gender gap before we start looking for other reasons There is actually another way to move past sexism as the primary cause - show that sexism is comparable in other fields with a much smaller gender gap. If Engineering has 2 "sexism units", Medicine has 2.3 and Law 1.5 for instance, that might imply that sexism isn't the cause of Engineering's gender gap - because otherwise we'd expect similar gaps in Law and Medicine.

twodave 9y ago

I always thought it was obvious that the gender gap in tech begins long before adulthood. Classrooms in high schools and universities that are technical in nature tend to be dominated by males. I think it has more to do with young people fulfilling traditional roles in academia. And I don't think that's inherently "wrong". Why is a gender gap considered "bad"? In and of itself, I think it's neutral. Does sexism exist in tech? Sure, but I'm not sure it's any more pronounced than any other field. I also don't think females are always the victims. Should we try and right moral wrongs where we see them? Yes, I think we should. It's really easy to highlight bad behavior as a cause of a "problem" that might not even be a problem. In other words, if we can focus our attention on eliminating sexism where we see it, the gender gap becomes a non-issue (even if it persists).