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I do generally agree that they're making rather a big deal out of it, but I don't think your comparison to racial minorities is a fair one. Women are going to b

I do generally agree that they're making rather a big deal out of it, but I don't think your comparison to racial minorities is a fair one. Women are going to be roughly half of the population, whereas the amount of racial minorities in a given community might be much, much lower. I guess another way to look at it is a coin toss...arbitrarily assign male to heads, female to tails...at what point does it start getting alarming for a given run that you're not getting any tail flips? When a person has roughly a 50% chance of being either gender, and your board gets big enough, there's definitely something going on. The same even goes with the racial minorities, if the board is huge.

parennoob 13y ago
"I guess another way to look at it is a coin toss...arbitrarily assign male to heads, female to tails" You lost me there. Males and females typically tend to have broadly different interests, life choices, and career goals. So it is nothing like a coin toss. There is a disproportionately low female participation in the tech industry, and we should personally recognize our biases when recruiting and try and avoid them, because we would like a more diverse workforce. At the same time, I don't see the nursing industry (90% women) or the teaching sector (80% women) complaining about low male participation.
- cupcake-unicorn 13y ago
  They're not as different as you may think, the different life choices and career goals may very well be due to stigmatizing women in the fields they were once interested in. So when things like this happen (or more serious cases on larger boards), it's crucial to take into account if this is happening due to a real lack of qualified applicants, or a cultural issue within the organization. I've noticed myself, as being introduced as the only woman to a formerly completely male team, that it's really important to have a mixed gender workplace. I didn't experience sexism, but there were little things here and there that were no longer acceptable in a mixed gender environment, and they adapted, which was in the end positive for everyone. While having a racially mixed office could also provide these benefits, I think the potential is much less, since societally latent sexism is considered much more acceptable than latent racism, and I'd argue may have more chances to come to light. I have to point out that your nursing/teaching example is a terrible one, as nurses and teachers aren't considered the "professionals" in their field - that would go to the traditionally male dominated fields of doctors and professors. I can't think of any female dominated industry that doesn't have a higher level male dominated one associated with it.
  - vdaniuk 13y ago
    What were those little things that you talk about?
  - parennoob 13y ago
    > I have to point out that your nursing/teaching example is a terrible one, as nurses and teachers aren't considered the "professionals" in their field - that would go to the traditionally male dominated fields of doctors and professors. I would disagree -- both doctors and nurses are considered every bit as professional as each other (these days nurse practitioners are getting more responsibilities than ever before), and both work in a field where science and technology are widely used. Are you saying that somehow, all the nurses were told when they were younger, "You can't become a doctor, you have to become a nurse?" Or could it be that they chose the nursing profession because they can work part-time more, and have slightly more defined work hours and less middle-of-the-night calls than doctors?

parennoob 13y ago

"I guess another way to look at it is a coin toss...arbitrarily assign male to heads, female to tails" You lost me there. Males and females typically tend to have broadly different interests, life choices, and career goals. So it is nothing like a coin toss. There is a disproportionately low female participation in the tech industry, and we should personally recognize our biases when recruiting and try and avoid them, because we would like a more diverse workforce. At the same time, I don't see the nursing industry (90% women) or the teaching sector (80% women) complaining about low male participation.

cupcake-unicorn 13y ago
They're not as different as you may think, the different life choices and career goals may very well be due to stigmatizing women in the fields they were once interested in. So when things like this happen (or more serious cases on larger boards), it's crucial to take into account if this is happening due to a real lack of qualified applicants, or a cultural issue within the organization. I've noticed myself, as being introduced as the only woman to a formerly completely male team, that it's really important to have a mixed gender workplace. I didn't experience sexism, but there were little things here and there that were no longer acceptable in a mixed gender environment, and they adapted, which was in the end positive for everyone. While having a racially mixed office could also provide these benefits, I think the potential is much less, since societally latent sexism is considered much more acceptable than latent racism, and I'd argue may have more chances to come to light. I have to point out that your nursing/teaching example is a terrible one, as nurses and teachers aren't considered the "professionals" in their field - that would go to the traditionally male dominated fields of doctors and professors. I can't think of any female dominated industry that doesn't have a higher level male dominated one associated with it.
- vdaniuk 13y ago
  What were those little things that you talk about?
- parennoob 13y ago
  > I have to point out that your nursing/teaching example is a terrible one, as nurses and teachers aren't considered the "professionals" in their field - that would go to the traditionally male dominated fields of doctors and professors. I would disagree -- both doctors and nurses are considered every bit as professional as each other (these days nurse practitioners are getting more responsibilities than ever before), and both work in a field where science and technology are widely used. Are you saying that somehow, all the nurses were told when they were younger, "You can't become a doctor, you have to become a nurse?" Or could it be that they chose the nursing profession because they can work part-time more, and have slightly more defined work hours and less middle-of-the-night calls than doctors?