I've been a list member on and off (mostly on) for a good 20 years now. I've seen my fare share of flame wars, and they're never fun. I would never want to add to frivolus attacks or general noise. But I cannot let this thread go without feedback.
Every time this argument appears, I come back to the graph at the top of this story from 2014: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding Women WERE coding, and interested in computers, at the same rate that men were, until the middle of the 1980s, when computers stopped being sold as co-educational tools and entertainment systems, and instead started being marketed as boy's toys. This contributed greatly to the decline of women in our tech workforce. But there's much more going on than just that. We live in a world built to be harder for women than it is for men. Yes, I say built; not necessarily intentionally, but due to inertia and maintaining status quo in a world that has changed. I have watched many women engineers struggle not due to lack of talent, but due to an atmosphere that rewards behavior that makes women question their own capabilities and expertise. Every time we speak down to a woman or a young girl, every time we reward behavior from other men that puts women into the uncomfortable position of defending their very right to do a job that men get to do without question, we build another barrier that helps keeps women out of our field. And every successful woman engineer I meet has horror stories of being in the industry that make me blush with embarrassment. So, I propose that we watch our tone and be concious of what message we're sending to 49.5% of the world's population. This is not political correctness. It's basic human decency and giving everyone an equal opportunity to be a good or a bad engineer on their own merits. If that basic decency is truly in question here, then this is a list I don't need to be a part of, either. Best Wishes to all, -Seth -- Seth Morabito li...@loomcom.com
