> I grew up in a household where there was no particular attention (that I can recall) given to the fact that as a young woman I could attain whatever career I

> I grew up in a household where there was no particular attention (that I can recall) given to the fact that as a young woman I could attain whatever career I wanted—it was just a given. > I fear that when you say, for example, that “yes, girls can do anything”, it first plants the idea that there is an inequality, before it attempts to combat this idea. From your post it looks like you had lots of encouragement from an early age (or at least no great signs of discouragement). I believe the reason we have women in CS events is to encourage those who have been discouraged already. Women that have been told though movie stereotypes, guidance counselors, and parents that programming is a nerdy boys thing to do need to hear it from us that CS is open to everyone. IMHO those events are a good idea.