Hurricane Katrina
witch:
Quote from: Danni on 2005 September 13, 06:02:43
Something interesting I discovered yesterday (my first day of college). On the course I'm on (National Diploma for IT Practicioners - ICT Systems Support) of the 28 students, I was the only female. Even all the tutors are male. In this age of equality, I wonder why more women don't want to do computer networking? Is it just because I'm a geek?
I found similar gender balances all through my IT study, though probably 6-7 of 20 were usually female. We had maybe 3-4 female tutors out of 20. (Rough guesstimates over 10 years. Things did improve slightly balance wise over that time - more female students too, though still concentrated on the helpdesk side rather than the programming, and that's still dominated by high voiced pimply boys. If I ever get around to doing my research for masters, I want to measure the geek factor. Compare students from several top popular study areas, discover the gender balances over several years, survey the hapless students, then see if a geek factor in IT can be measured.
Quote from: Danni on 2005 September 13, 06:02:43
...Also, women are more likely to work part time (due to family commitments and such), therefore tend to be lower paid.
Ah yes, the part-time work, low pay, no perks, unions pretty toothless, no sick or domestic or annual leave - or pitiful variants thereof - yes, more barriers.
Edit: Hey Danni - 27 guys to yourself? - great place to meet men, and many females don't seem to have tumbled to it! Good place to meet intelligent men too. My current partner is the best mate of a guy I did tech with 14 years ago. :P
witch:
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2005 September 13, 06:23:26
Probably because most normal women avoid having anything to do with computers. Relating to computers on that kind of level tends to be mechanistic and mathematical, and not at all social, which tends to run counter to the way female brains are supposedly wired.
So basically, you're a freak.
8) Mmm Yup! I'll own up too.
I think brains, like many other things, operate on a spectrum. I believe you can be somewhere in between two extremes, the supposed female / male dichotomy, I use computers creatively as well as mechanistically.
Judecat:
In Maryland USA, there are more young woman working than young men, and most start theire work experience in Minimum wage jobs. It's not a matter of the boys get higher paying jobs, it's that the boys are refusing to work for miniume wage.
Also wonder if they are including high payed jocks in the statistics. I think if you leave out teen aged McD workers on one end and high payed jocks on the other -- I think the figures would even out a bit more.
laeshanin:
Pay equality is a myth. Women are still, in many situations, in the worst paid jobs, and I will agree with Judecat that it is because it is known that men will not lower themselves to accept that level of pay. So they're left to people who will, usually women who have no qualifications and/or young children that need them at home. They may even be single parents, and trying to get away from that berated welfare system. You have only to look at statistics to realise just how little the gender gap has decreased and that there is a glass ceiling for women. There are still more men at the top of their league than women, and until our primary role of "caregiver" is challenged I do not see that changing in the near future. Who here, as a working single mother, has had to fight to take some time from work for her child if said child was ill? Or if time was needed to go to an important event? Things like this are seen as disruptive to companies (public or otherwise) and show a severe lack of commitment by the parent to their employer. After all, isn't that where your first loyalty should be? This is one of the reasons we are still at the bottom the pile; our ability to reproduce. That and industry and society dislike change, no matter how slow it is.
ZephyrZodiac:
It isn't just single mothers who have to take time of work if their child is sick! In most families, the wife is still expected to do this, mainly because her earnings are lower and therefore the family budget suffers less, but also I think it's still because it's seen as their role! And employers tend to be more understanding if a woman takes time off for a sick child than if a man does!
Interesting arguments about payscales and glass ceilings, though! Which sex on the whole leave school better qualified? In the UK teenage girls still do better at school than boys, and mostly I would suspect, are more willing to start work or go on to college than boys, yet the minute they take time out to have a baby they're penalized! As if it's women's fault that they are the sex that gets pregnant! (In an ideal world, couples would be able to take pregnancy in turns,
but unfortunately it isn't an ideal world!)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page