[theladebug]

I've always wondered the same thing. There were only ever a couple of other women in any of my programming classes, they were vastly overwhelmed by men.

Thanks for the links by the way, I'm going to check these organizations out

[calebjonasson]

Core, on 26 Jan, 2010 - 08:46 AM, said:

Just pointing this one out - according to some sources, Ada Lovelace was the first person to write a "computer" (well, you can't really call that device a computer compared to what we have now, but still) program.

There was a language named after her. There was also a brilliant girl who was in charge of teaching computers to the military. She talked about how to create a simulation through timings and durations with wires. Not sure what the name is but we did talk about her in one of my comp classes.

[macosxnerd101]

smacdav, on 26 Jan, 2010 - 12:19 PM, said:

If you believe you can't do math, that leaves you out of any hard science, computer science, and many other fields in which we find a very low percentage of females. Coincidence? I think not. Luckily trends are changing. Hopefully we'll continue to see increasing numbers of women going into math-related fields.

Agreed there. Just take a look at Danica Mckellar. She's hot and good at math.

[smacdav]

Actually, because she's both hot and good at math, Danica McKellar is showing a generation of girls that they can do both. She's written two or three books aimed at encouraging junior high age girls to get into math.

Of course, those of us of a certain generation can't stop thinking of her as Winnie from "The Wonder Years", but that just adds to her appeal.

[Mila]

markhazlett9, on 25 Jan, 2010 - 09:14 PM, said:

Usually(not saying always) but women don't really enjoy programming...

How very sexist of you.

The number of women in computer science has actually been decreasing. I think in the early/mid-90's the CS major was generally 20% women among graduating seniors, and it's dropped significantly since then.

I personally think it's the image of a computer programmer that's killing the field. When you say "computer programmer" to the average female high school student, they will generally imagine a nerdy guy with huge glasses and acne who sits in a cubicle all day chugging mountain dew. And, honestly, who wants to do that?

When I was in High School, we were visited by a group of Google engineers who were trying to motivate the girls in my class to do major computer science. They were, if nothing else, freaking cool. These were not nerdy middle-aged guys, but rather guys and girls who were "cool" -- young, interesting, who talked about the cool places they worked and the fascinating projects they did. And none of them worked in cubicles.

I personally attend an engineering school, so there's already a 5-1 guy-girl ratio, and so the fact that there's 7 girls in CS in my graduating class (including myself), is not entirely surprising. (That's out of what? 300?)

Mila

[mostyfriedman]

i dont know about universities in America, but at my university most girls join CS rather than any other major, because they enjoy it and they are good at it..We have a lot of pretty smart and talented girls here at CS..also the girls at my university are more hard working than the guys..

[NeoTifa]

Quote

I personally think it's the image of a computer programmer that's killing the field. When you say "computer programmer" to the average female high school student, they will generally imagine a nerdy guy with huge glasses and acne who sits in a cubicle all day chugging mountain dew. And, honestly, who wants to do that?

Ummm, I do?

And I always think of Keanu Reeves as Neo in the Matrix when someone says computer programmer or such.

[BenignDesign]

NeoTifa, on 26 Jan, 2010 - 11:18 AM, said:

Coder girls don't exist. It's just a myth.

/agreed.

In all seriousness though, my freshman year of college there were easily 15-20 women in my CS classes. By graduation, there were 2 of us left. I think a large part of it is the social stigma attached to it.

Even now, as a 30-something woman working in the industry, there are stigmas.... from men who laugh at you and tell you "women can't code" to women who ostracize you because you're not "like them".

I interviewed for a job once where the interviewer looked me point blank in the eye and said, "I can't see you as a programmer. I could definitely see you bopping around in a skirt bringing me coffee, but never as a programmer."

As a woman in this industry, sooner or later, you will face discrimination, sexism and harassment, but giving up means the chauvinists win.

[Shane Hudson]

This came up at the beginning of my IT BTEC course, we have 3 girls on the course and one of them asked why there are so few girls doing IT. My teacher replied saying that there used to be a lot of female programmers and that one of the langages (I do not remember which one, possibly COBOL?) was developed by a woman and that describes (in his words) "why the language is so logical". Haha.

I always thought there had always been few female programmers (and even less female Computer Scientists) but apparently not.

[Jayman]

BenignDesign, on 26 Jan, 2010 - 12:37 PM, said:

I interviewed for a job once where the interviewer looked me point blank in the eye and said, "I can't see you as a programmer. I could definitely see you bopping around in a skirt bringing me coffee, but never as a programmer."

I would have reached across the desk and b**** slapped him for a comment like that. It's obvious he wasn't gonna hire you, so what have you got to lose?!

Just saying.

[poncho4all]

In my opinion girls don't really want to end up locked in their houses, as they have more chance to get a good boyfriend than we do to get a good girlfriend

[BenignDesign]

WTF?

[Nykc]

In my opinion we need more women cage fighters, I mean really!

[skyhawk133]

For High School girls: http://www.microsoft...gigirlzday.aspx

[Gorian]

BenignDesign, on 26 Jan, 2010 - 11:37 AM, said:

... giving up means the male chauvinists win.

fixed. There is a difference between Chauvinists and the term male chauvinists

I would like to see more women in the field. It would be nice to get a different perspective. Might also give us higher quality games in other genres besides action, FPS, and such.... Not that I don't like them....

This post has been edited by Gorian: 26 January 2010 - 05:19 PM