3 ms·
This is historically inaccurate and reads as very dismissive/patronizing towards women computers (in the historical sense of the term). These were people that d
by jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
This is historically inaccurate and reads as very dismissive/patronizing towards women computers (in the historical sense of the term). These were people that did sophisticated calculations, not just simple arithmetic.
While there was a decline during the initial decades of computing, that trend reversed. The fraction of women in computing peaked in the early 80s just before the PC era took off. This is fairly well known stuff you can google for sources on easily (example: https://www.computerscience.org/resources/women-in-computer-science/ https://www.computerscience.org/resources/women-in-computer-...).
There's no simple single factor explanation of this, but it is very clear something changed significantly during the PC era. The socialization of boys and girls surrounding home computers does appear to be one of the big factors, and it likely echoed forward by creating hostile educational environments as this cohort aged. This isn't enough to explain the current situation completely however.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoThere's no winning when discussing these topics. You write a wall of text and someone complains that you missed their favorite detail. You make it concise and someone complains that there's not enough detail. You use strong words and someone complains that you're virtue signaling. You take a mild tone and someone complains that you're being dismissive. This is a slow moving 40yr transition that is intertwined with every sector of the economy at the macro and micro level. If your goal is to find a way that my few sentence comment is not perfectly accurate in describing it I'm sure you can accomplish that.
- jasonwatkinspdx 6y agoMaybe just take a moment and relax. I wasn't attacking you, just pointing out you simply have the history wrong, and that your characterization came across as patronizing.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoI don't have the history wrong. We're just talking about the same people at different points in time. Think about what generations would be in the workforce in 1980.