Throughout my 20 something year career as a software developer, women have always been in the minority. However, my first year at Uni was in Health Science. In my Human Biology lectures there were 500 students only 7 of which were male!
Gender imbalance within work disciplines is as much a reflection of our societal norms, as our individual talents and personal interests. Would I like it to be different? Absolutely. The problem for IT is that we are at the more extreme end of the spectrum. An unhealthy extreme in my opinion. On Feb 21, 7:00 am, Dianne Marsh <[email protected]> wrote: > A hearty welcome to Jessie and Tina. > > And Jessie ... I hope that other people aren't worried about "having > something to contribute" at the Roundup. It's always surprising but it > always turns out that people have something to offer when they don't > even realize it. I have a few people working for me who are only a year > or so out of school, and I learn from them ALL of the time. I went to a > "Social Networking" open spaces event in Ann Arbor a year or so ago, in > spite of the fact that I knew VERY little about the topic. When I > realized that not only did I have an opinion on stuff (i.e., that I was > LEARNING) but that I was also CONTRIBUTING, that was a big eye opener > for me. While I had been going to open spaces events for a while before > then, this was the first time that I really figured out that > conversations just go that way ... and people end up contributing. I > was SO glad that I went to the event (earlier that day, I had almost > talked myself out of going in spite of the fact that I only had to drive > half an hour to attend). Since then, I will go to ANY open spaces > conferences because I will ALWAYS learn something. There's never > pressure to contribute, but you might surprise yourself. > > Hope to see you at JPR 2010. > > Dianne (who needs to get back to work) > > Jessie wrote: > > numFemaleListeners++; > > I've been listening for about a year and a half or so I think... > > > To answer your question Dianne, I didn't look into going this year in > > part for scheduling issues. > > The other reason, however lame this may be, is that I only graduated > > and started working as an > > engineer a year ago, and I'm not sure if I'm really...I don't know, > > have enough experience to be able > > to contribute to the conference? I guess I'm not too sure if I'd fit > > in there? > > > On the general issue of women in computing, it can be somewhat > > depressing to see articles about > > percentages of women in computing and CS enrollment numbers in general > > etc. However, I still see > > a lot of positive things as well. I recently went to the She's Geeky > > unconference (http://shesgeeky.org/) > > in Mountain View attended by many types of women in technology > > (including the Secretary of State of California). > > I also attended the Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Computing > > (http://www.gracehopper.org/) for the last > > two years. It's an international conference, and having 1,200+ women > > all gathered to discuss technology, research, > > etc. is pretty inspiring. > > > I think the focus should really be on inspiring kids to become > > interested in computing. Even the > > latest issue of Communications of the ACM has an article on inspiring > > women in computing as their cover story. > > Having been involved in some outreach efforts, I've seen how many > > young women stay away from computing because of some > > stereotypes that still exist such as they'll never get a date if they > > choose that, or all the jobs are going overseas > > or it's simply too hard. That just...makes me sad and I don't really > > understand it. For me, I wanted to be an engineer ever > > since my dad would bring home his Mac SE from work for me to play > > with...haha :) But I've had my share of being made > > fun of or doubted and some people just don't want to deal with that, > > and they shouldn't have to. I guess my point might be > > that availability of computing education and hopeful changes of some > > stereotypes should encourage more women to > > consider a career in technology. > > > Um...anyway, maybe I can join next year? :) > > > Jessie --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
