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it's hard to give a non-political answer because it's really about money and who gets it. on average, men make more money than women. a lot of people (especiall

it's hard to give a non-political answer because it's really about money and who gets it. on average, men make more money than women. a lot of people (especially women) consider this to be unfair. software engineer is one of the highest paid roles for someone with only a bachelor's degree. most software engineers are men. if your goal is to decrease the income gap between men and women, it probably seems easier to get more women into the lucrative subset of male-dominated professions than to increase the wages of female-dominated roles above market. no one is particularly interested in increasing "representation" in poorly compensated (or dangerous, see "oil rig") roles.

makapuf 5y ago
This may not be the case in Europe. Sw engineer profession is roughly as male dominated, but I think you'll need a msc/PhD level in EU and with that kind of diploma IT pays vastly less than in US.
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  This has always struck me as strange. Software is surely one of the most easily exported commodities, so surely Europeans can easily play in the same global software market as Americans and moreover, I’m of the impression that software engineers in Europe are largely unionized so one would think they’d be able to bargain more effectively for better salaries.
  - detaro 5y ago
    > of the impression that software engineers in Europe are largely unionized That somewhat varies by country (i.e. a bunch of Swedish developers I know are, just because it's so common there for entire companies to have blanket union contracts for everyone), but in general: no.
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    For Finland. Even if they are unionized, the unions only set the minimum rates and very reasonably inflation raises. Ofc, there is some perks negotiated, but these really aren't too major things. With IT the actual wages are much higher than union rates, and employers will have hard time to find anyone outside fresh graduates at those rates. And this system has broken down this year, so things might go different.
throwaway894345 5y ago
> it's hard to give a non-political answer because it's really about money and who gets it. on average, men make more money than women. a lot of people (especially women) consider this to be unfair. I doubt women are significantly more inclined to think this arrangement is unfair. I believe social progressives think it’s unfair, and the media would have us believe that women and racial minorities are largely socially progressive when in fact they aren’t (consider that only a small minority of blacks support defunding the police and women’s and men’s views on abortion are very similar). In any case, not all compensation is monetary, and it’s widely understood that women prioritize flexibility and other perks over money directly, while men optimize for monetary compensation. Further, much of the money made by men is spent by women anyway—in married households, women spend the majority of the money.

makapuf 5y ago

This may not be the case in Europe. Sw engineer profession is roughly as male dominated, but I think you'll need a msc/PhD level in EU and with that kind of diploma IT pays vastly less than in US.

throwaway894345 5y ago
This has always struck me as strange. Software is surely one of the most easily exported commodities, so surely Europeans can easily play in the same global software market as Americans and moreover, I’m of the impression that software engineers in Europe are largely unionized so one would think they’d be able to bargain more effectively for better salaries.
- detaro 5y ago
  > of the impression that software engineers in Europe are largely unionized That somewhat varies by country (i.e. a bunch of Swedish developers I know are, just because it's so common there for entire companies to have blanket union contracts for everyone), but in general: no.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  For Finland. Even if they are unionized, the unions only set the minimum rates and very reasonably inflation raises. Ofc, there is some perks negotiated, but these really aren't too major things. With IT the actual wages are much higher than union rates, and employers will have hard time to find anyone outside fresh graduates at those rates. And this system has broken down this year, so things might go different.

throwaway894345 5y ago

> it's hard to give a non-political answer because it's really about money and who gets it. on average, men make more money than women. a lot of people (especially women) consider this to be unfair. I doubt women are significantly more inclined to think this arrangement is unfair. I believe social progressives think it’s unfair, and the media would have us believe that women and racial minorities are largely socially progressive when in fact they aren’t (consider that only a small minority of blacks support defunding the police and women’s and men’s views on abortion are very similar). In any case, not all compensation is monetary, and it’s widely understood that women prioritize flexibility and other perks over money directly, while men optimize for monetary compensation. Further, much of the money made by men is spent by women anyway—in married households, women spend the majority of the money.