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"It's no secret that females in Computer Science, both in academia and industry, are scarce... currently sitting at about 12% to 20%." I wonder how much of the

"It's no secret that females in Computer Science, both in academia and industry, are scarce... currently sitting at about 12% to 20%." I wonder how much of the gender discrepancy in CS can be objectively attributed to personality differences. Populations who participate in certain logical activities have rare personality traits (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=946249 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=946249, http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=112400 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=112...) which are far more common in men than women. If this is the case, is it possible that direct attempts to "increase the number of women in CS" are misguided?

sp332 16y ago
This fits a hypothesis I've been formulating for a while: CS doesn't need to attract more women, it needs to attract more people. It's not a mystery that CS isn't appealing to women. Honestly, the atmosphere and culture of most CS departments just aren't appealing at all. Can anyone answer, for their alma mater: unless you're already coding "10 hours straight, forgetting to eat and losing track of time into the wee hours of the night", what is the incentive to study CS? edited for clarity
- Stormbringer 16y ago
  Even if we accept all of your assumptions, there is an alternative conclusion: that the problem is the CS culture, and the culture needs to change.
  - sp332 16y ago
    Sorry, it's a bit late here so I might not be thinking real clearly but, isn't that what I said?
    - peteforde 16y ago
      No! Your comment only implies that bringing more people will solve the problem. Sadly, that will just reinforce the current social proofs that loud assholes dominate CS.
      - tbrownaw 16y ago
        "CS ... needs to attract more people." "Honestly, the atmosphere and culture of most CS departments just aren't appealing at all." I read this as saying that we need to fix the culture in order to attract more people.
    - Stormbringer 16y ago
      The subtle implication of what you said is that the problem is with the women rather than the culture.
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
- prodigal_erik 16y ago
  Software development is already overburdened with paycheck-chasing dilettantes who are barely capable of cranking out reams of code that sometimes works. Unless there's some reason to think people with even less interest in the field would do a better job than us "wee hours of the night" types, I don't see why anyone should want to draw them in. Instead they should find their calling, and if they're being turned away by trivia, this isn't it.

sp332 16y ago

This fits a hypothesis I've been formulating for a while: CS doesn't need to attract more women, it needs to attract more people. It's not a mystery that CS isn't appealing to women. Honestly, the atmosphere and culture of most CS departments just aren't appealing at all. Can anyone answer, for their alma mater: unless you're already coding "10 hours straight, forgetting to eat and losing track of time into the wee hours of the night", what is the incentive to study CS? edited for clarity

Stormbringer 16y ago
Even if we accept all of your assumptions, there is an alternative conclusion: that the problem is the CS culture, and the culture needs to change.
- sp332 16y ago
  Sorry, it's a bit late here so I might not be thinking real clearly but, isn't that what I said?
  - peteforde 16y ago
    No! Your comment only implies that bringing more people will solve the problem. Sadly, that will just reinforce the current social proofs that loud assholes dominate CS.
    - tbrownaw 16y ago
      "CS ... needs to attract more people." "Honestly, the atmosphere and culture of most CS departments just aren't appealing at all." I read this as saying that we need to fix the culture in order to attract more people.
  - Stormbringer 16y ago
    The subtle implication of what you said is that the problem is with the women rather than the culture.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
prodigal_erik 16y ago
Software development is already overburdened with paycheck-chasing dilettantes who are barely capable of cranking out reams of code that sometimes works. Unless there's some reason to think people with even less interest in the field would do a better job than us "wee hours of the night" types, I don't see why anyone should want to draw them in. Instead they should find their calling, and if they're being turned away by trivia, this isn't it.