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While I share your first hand observations here, I'll note that (from my limited perspective) there was nothing obviously catering to non-females or any particu

While I share your first hand observations here, I'll note that (from my limited perspective) there was nothing obviously catering to non-females or any particular gender in these groups. Many of the groups I've attended also had 'professional standards'. So what is the discrepancy? What has changed and what is being done differently between the groups where 'boys' can optionally attend and ones that 'girls' appear to self select against attendance? We should reach for a world that doesn't require discrimination.

jms55 5y ago
1. Women aren't going to want to join a group where they're the minority 2. Given a brand new group with 0 members yet, it's still likely that women will avoid it, because of their past experiences with 1. putting them off joining groups in general 3. Women are less common than men in general in CS. Any group that accepts the average person will statistically end up with more men than women. The groups that "advertise" to women avoid these problems, which is why they tend to work. I agree that we shouldn't need specialized groups, but I haven't seen any other solution, at least in the immediate term. Likely society will improve simply due to the passing of time, and in 50 years from now and it won't be a problem anymore.