3 ms·

Because $$$. A financial handicap is the worst kind of social handicap.

• leaveyou 12y ago
  oh, it makes sense now. In my area (EU) programming and IT in general is considered difficult, unhealthy, extremely boring and not necessarily well paid job (very little above the national average salary). On several occasions I met parents explicitly discouraging their kids from a career in programming.
• rayiner 12y ago
  If money were the only or even primary issue, the underrepresentation of women in the trades would get a lot more coverage. The trades are a key source of well-paying jobs, and women are dramatically underrepresented there.
  • Crito 12y ago
    Perhaps the difference is that tech is perceived by the general public as well paying, but the trades are perceived by the general public as crappy jobs for people who don't get accepted by college. Mike Rowe (who has agendas of his own I am sure), has commented on this discrimination/vilification of the trades many times in the past. Parents and teachers will frequently discourage teens from pursuing careers in the trades because they believe the only way to be successful is to go to college. If the trades are incorrectly perceived as low-paying, that could help explain why calls for more women in the trades seem to be underrepresented.
    • rayiner 12y ago
      That's certainly true. Part of the issue is that the media is largely from the middle/upper middle class, and so doesn't really know that trades are good work if you can get it. Still, it's pretty frustrating to hear people talk about the gender disparity in the trades as if they're talking about ditch digging--i.e. as a benefit rather than hindrance to women. Teaching and nursing both require education, so the options available to women without education are measurably worse.