7 ms·
Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We
by janwillemb 3y ago
Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We need more women in our field.
See for example https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 and
https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18 https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18
- codetrotter 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace Ada Lovelace, the very first programmer in the world ever, was a woman as well. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation. And she was one of the first to make a program for it.
- nickloewen 3y agoGood links, thank you!
- verisimi 3y agoMaybe the data entry bit was seen as more of a secretarial role, rather than an engineering one?
- KineticLensman 3y agoThere is a long history of involvement of women in these sort of roles, for various reasons. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoThe voice of the Star Trek onboard computers, Majel Barrett, was romantically involved with the executive producer, Gene Roddenberry, and she was also able to land roles as supporting characters throughout her lifetime.
- globular-toast 3y ago> We need more women in our field. Why?
- robin_reala 3y agoOK, I’ll take the question at face value: programmers build systems on computers that interface with the real world and hence real users. If you want to build systems that work well for users then you need to understand the problems those users have. Having a wide spread of life experience in the industry will lead to a greater chance that a greater spread of users will have their problems solved by digital systems.
- globular-toast 3y agoSounds contrived to me but I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Is there any evidence that women have more trouble with computer programs or are less well served compared to men? Even if so, wouldn't that require more female product owners etc rather than more programmers?
- Mountain_Skies 3y agoThings do come up sometimes but it's a question of do you need exact 50:50 representation or is it enough to ensure there's a voice for each sex. danah boyd pointed out to VR researchers she was working with that their product was "sexist" because it made assumptions about vision that were far more true for males than females. But she used the word sexist in a narrow way to just point out that vision fact, not to make a moral judgement or imply any intention. It's worth noting that she was able to point this out on her own. She didn't need the team she was working with to be 50% female for her to have this insight and share it with everyone else.
- doublerebel 3y agoVR/AR/XR is a very good example. Meta’s headsets and most 3rd party straps still default to a top strap that runs along the center of the head front to back. For any woman that wears their hair in a ponytail or bun this is a no-go. That design makes it really hard to demo product to 50+% of the population. I always seek out replacement straps that have an extra front strap instead of a center strap for this reason. And still very few men who work in the industry are aware of this despite that I’ve been working in AR/VR for a decade. This might seem like a product failure, but in a software company there are far more programmers than product managers. It would only take a couple females writing software for the headset all day to point out how uncomfortable it is.
- cjs_ac 3y agoIn this case, they were the 'Wrens' of the Women's Royal Naval Service[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Royal_Naval_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Royal_Naval_Service
- holoduke 3y agoWe need more people in the field. Nothing more Nothing less.
- eh_why_not 3y ago> Women are the ones who invented programming. Hmm?
- dartos 3y agoSpecifically Ada Lovelace described what we’d now call computer programs in her own language while assisting in the creation of adding machines. She’s widely regarded as the first programmer.
- eh_why_not 3y agoSure. The statement quoted above, however, is childish.
- barelyauser 3y agoThe statement that "women invented programming" is as meaningless as "men invented mathematics". It is blind to all the contributions of everyone that preceded and entire field.
- eh_why_not 3y agoPrecisely. The redditization of HN: activism vs critical thinking.
- globular-toast 3y agoExactly. Notice how the two comments calling out the childish comment, one simply asking why and one questioning the claim, were downvoted. "We need more women in the field" really means "we want more women in the field" and they refuse to reflect on why they want this. I assume it must be some kind of guilt that's been drummed in.
- dartos 3y agoI mean, an argument could be made that more diverse life experiences could lead to more diverse approaches to solving problems. So if that’s true, and I think it is, then it’d be a good thing to get more <insert underrepresented group> working in <some field>