On Thu, 06 Jan 2000 17:11:36 -0500
Caitlyn Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> J B wrote:
>
> > Currently, if a woman wants to be in any field, and is of the proper
> > mindset, there is nothing that will keep her out...not sexism,
>
> Really???? You mean if a guy is sexist, doesn't take women seriously, and
> doesn't hire them for top positions, women can get in anyway? Hmmm... when did
> this happen?
Yes. See the history of SF. See the history of SFWA. There have *always*
been women involved in writing SF, no matter how sexist the publishers
and other authors were. However, until a dedicated effort began to not
punish female authors for being female began, the numbers remained low.
As opportunity increased, the number of females increased, and gradually
a backlash sprang up.
What IT is looking at is probably the result of a backlash. I know a
heck of a lot more 40 something female IT/CS types than I do
20something. The 40something ones are far more likely to have started
out in IT/CS.
As for the notion that if some women can handle discrimination and still
suceed, all women should...
Imagine yourself as a shy and easily startled and scared kid of 13 or 14.
The easy and not very scary path involves taking lots of English and
History classes throughout high school, and if you only take 2 years of
science and 3 of math, it leaves more room for Art, Music, and foreign
language electives. The scary path (with loud, intimidating teachers,
lots of homework, and lots of noisy and sometimes nasty fellow students)
involves taking 5 years of math, 4-6 years of science, and the same
level of English and History classes. Plus 4 years of German if you can
fit it in. The easy path was the one most girls at my highschool took.
Generally, out of a class of 150, only 2-3 girls would take all 5 years
of math, and 4 or more years of science classes. The number of boys who
did the same thing usually was around 15-20. Computer science classes
were a luxury... you didn't get science credit for them, and they could
totally destroy your class schedule if the time slots didn't work right.
By the time a girl got through that gauntlet, she was usually strong
enough and stubborn enough emotionally to make it through a college
level science or engineering program. Usually, the science picked was
biology (prep for med school). Or they would go for engineering... much
more glamourous than CS.
Emily, who took Latin II in a class of three, and was the only girl.
Chem II was in a class of about 18. There were 2 other girls.
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