5 ms·
This dynamic is ironic because the very first generation of programmers was very gender-integrated - albeit for sexist reasons: the population drew from "comput
by eszed 3y ago
This dynamic is ironic because the very first generation of programmers was very gender-integrated - albeit for sexist reasons: the population drew from "computers", who were largely women. My mother-in-law had a career as a Fortran and COBOL developer and then instructor in the sixties and seventies (which she doesn't think is nearly as cool as I do). At some point it switched (my guess is when the profession became more highly-remunerated). I'd like it to switch back, more quickly.
- withinboredom 3y agoBased on living in the 80s and pop culture at the time, I have a suspicion: "nerds" weren't cool at all. To do anything with a computer or electronics was seen as the most "non-cool" thing you could do. At the time, women seemed to have all the social control and never did anything (or very rarely, at least) "non-cool." Thus, I suspect any women interested in the field were pushed away from it by their peers, and women's peer pressure is (traditionally) stronger than men's peer pressure (see Mean Girls for reference). Anyway, that's my own two cents colored by a childhood.