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My main problem with this has always been that it's treating the symptom, rather than the root cause. The idea is that if you throw enough money, you can magica

My main problem with this has always been that it's treating the symptom, rather than the root cause. The idea is that if you throw enough money, you can magically cause radical paradigm shifts in how the professional interests of the genders and sexes. This might be so, in the short term. You'll likely have a nice boost in numbers, which I'm sure will look really good. But you should really be striving for long-lasting and meaningful change. You want girls to actually be passionate about programming as a craft, and not just create more disposable cogs who can churn out high-level instructions. I'm sure a lot of employers would salivate at the latter prospect, but it's not something we should be encouraging. Even the incessant use of the word "code" and the mystical cult of personality that is being erected around this abstract concept is cause for concern. I don't think having more women coders is enough, we need more women hackers to get something more meaningful. And when you start looking for that, you'll quickly find that the issue goes deeper than something flashy campaigns and cash can just swiftly solve. It's societal. Once you pin down the causes, you shouldn't just hurry to turn the tides, either. You should analyze the cost and benefit of doing so.

nfoz 12y ago
I expect a short-term boost in the number of girls in CS will lead to a long-term boost. But I guess that's the sort of thing a sociologist might study?
- jmromer 12y ago
  Perhaps. I think it'd be beneficial to have more women in CS, but there are ways to go about effecting that kind of positive social change that also corrupt or blunt social feedback mechanisms in such a way that vulnerable people will be led to pursue ends which aren't in the cards for them, or which are suboptimal for them. Effectively, such schemes transfer wealth to the vulnerable from the even more vulnerable. That should give people pause, I think.

nfoz 12y ago

I expect a short-term boost in the number of girls in CS will lead to a long-term boost. But I guess that's the sort of thing a sociologist might study?

jmromer 12y ago
Perhaps. I think it'd be beneficial to have more women in CS, but there are ways to go about effecting that kind of positive social change that also corrupt or blunt social feedback mechanisms in such a way that vulnerable people will be led to pursue ends which aren't in the cards for them, or which are suboptimal for them. Effectively, such schemes transfer wealth to the vulnerable from the even more vulnerable. That should give people pause, I think.