The ENIAC women would simply “set-up” the machine to perform these pre-determined plans: that this work would be turn out to di›cult and to require radically i

The ENIAC women would simply “set-up” the machine to perform these pre-determined plans: that this work would be turn out to di›cult and to require radically innovative thinking was completely unanticipated. Underestimation of a task seems to be key in allowing women to succeed. Not only does it fool the gatekeepers, it also fools the women themselves. Put a mop bucket full of water in a typical woman's hand, and she'll lug it around as if it's nothing [EDIT: assuming she's into that kind of thing.] Hand her a dumbbell the same weight, and she'll wilt and clutch at it with her other hand. Take her backpacking in the mountains, and she'll prove herself ten times as strong as she would allow herself to be under a squat bar. Same thing in computing -- female office workers who can do wizardly things with spreadsheets and accounting systems often don't see themselves as having any aptitude for computing or programming. They see the IT help grunt who fixes their email login as being naturally much more gifted than them at "computer stuff." If they knew that what they were doing was basically computer programming, far fewer of them would develop any skill at it.