“The tech community works fine without females, just like any other mostly male industry. Feminists probably just want women making more money.”

Kuonji · 2014-04-07T05:59:02+00:00

"A culprit, many people in the field say, is a sexist, alpha-male culture that can make women and other people who don’t fit the mold feel unwelcome, demeaned or even endangered."

Oh yes...the dreaded 'many people'.

"When she worked as a senior engineer at a big company, Expedia, she said she was constantly underestimated by male colleagues and suffered because she was not willing to leave her children to work the hours needed to “own the code.”

Sounds about right to me. If you dedicate yourself fully, you gain more respect.

nigglereddit · 2014-04-07T09:31:58+00:00

This article is good, and it's bad.

On the one hand, I sympathize with the idea that it is hard for women to exist in engineering and science because of the ratio and certain cultural elements that may arise.

On the other hand, the article is very clearly biased. It starts from the assumption that everything should be equal, and if it's not, the world is unfair.

But something else is at play in the industry: Among the women who join the field, 56 percent leave by midcareer, a startling attrition rate that is double that for men

Ok, OK, and how much of that is due to having children I wonder. How does one define, "mid-career," and if the premise they're going with is that the work environment is so hostile then why are these women lasting to mid-career in the first place? Shouldn't they have gotten out earlier? There's no further analysis of the statistic. They just throw it out there to push the bias they'd started out with before even beginning the article.

she said she was constantly underestimated by male colleagues and suffered because she was not willing to leave her children to work the hours needed to “own the code.”

You know, not doing as much work as someone else, and feeling like you deserve the same opportunities and standing is called....entitlement.

Another thing that bothers me about the whole line of thinking. I believe that the culture may make it hard to break in, but have you ever seen Mad Men? Women are prevalent in business environments now, but there wasn't sexism and a culture to break down? If it was able to be overcome in Business, and other fields, then why hasn't it been so in the tech industry? Maybe, just maybe, there are other forces at work here than sexism.

Here's the titstare joke. I'll say that I don't understand how this is funny, but I really don't get how this is sexist either. This seems more like the sort of thing that people who are looking for something to get upset about, get upset about. I'm more confused that anything. In the same way that if it were two women talking about "crotchstare" the new app where you take pictures of yourself looking at crotches. I would think, "That's a lame attempt at a joke. Haha, people look at crotches (tits) I guess." I'd be confused, and forget about it.

2014-04-07T08:18:20+00:00

All I got from that was "I'm going to engage with people, pretend to like them, pretend to find their jokes funny, and pretend to be a 'bro' all in the effort to make some money"

Yeah... no wonder you eventually didn't fit in.

biffsocko · 2014-04-07T17:33:48+00:00

i've noticed that a lot of women tend to leave the career to become "business analysists", which is both less technical, and has somewhat more normal hours. Of the three women I've worked with on my level (senior systems engineer), One stayed on to be a great programmer, but at a non-profit that was mostly a 9 to 5 gig; One left to have a child, then returned to working only part-time, and the third ended up quitting because the excessive hours caused her stress, although every one of her male counterparts were putting in the same hours. In her case (#3), she was able to just quit and her husband supported her .. whereas none of the guys had that same luxary because they were supporting their families. #2 eventually came back full-time, but even before she was pregnant, she didn't put in the extra hours that everyone else was.

cishet · 2014-04-07T06:33:06+00:00

Feminists want more women in tech because they are control freaks, and don't like that something works fine without getting their permission.

guywithaccount · 2014-04-07T13:08:37+00:00

Women’s suffrage and individual freedom are incompatible. How’s that for an unpopular truth?

I'm trying to wrap my head around this thought. Any pointers?

edtastic · 2014-04-07T16:48:39+00:00

More over privileged women whining loudly because they can easily get plugged in a place like the NY Times for doing so. People have to wake up to the reality of women playing these victim games to get stuff from men. Trying to attach reason to these victim claims is pointless because it's intentionally emotion driven and vague. That's the only way you can promote such a dishonest narrative without being laughed at.

The objective of the complainers is clear. They want all industry to dedicate themselves to pleasing women as if we were all in some kind of collective marriage arrangement where the women's happiness determines that of all others in the family. The coddling needs to stop. These are not children and they aren't our dates. Their employees paid to do work who have no problem getting the opportunity to work. If they quit because some heterosexual male asked for their phone number then good riddens. If all these spoiled brats need is an excuse to quit then men will get along fine without them. Human sexuality isn't sexism and being female doesn't entitle you to dictate that no sexual expression exists in the culture.

This isn't social justice. It's women who want things from men playing some very old tricks to get it.

SweetieKat · 2014-04-07T07:24:16+00:00

As a feminist, I think the tech community does NOT work fine without ~~females~~ women. Women should be encouraged to enter the tech community if they want to. I'm glad people are speaking up and trying to make opportunities available.

Funcuz · 2014-04-07T13:07:10+00:00

Wait a second...if you read the article it says that one of the women claimed to have received death threats. Death threats ? Bulllllllllllllllshit !

As soon as I read that I knew that this was really just the usual "women are so hard done by" shit. I don't for a second believe that this woman was being threatened with death for "speaking out" like she was some kind of hero.

dynamicperf · 2014-04-07T17:07:53+00:00

Basic math.

a person who works an 8hr day will be valued less than one who works a 16hr day.

Feminists might want to learn some basic math.

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