From: utzoo!watmath!watcgl!dmmartindale
Newsgroups: net.singles
Title: re: Interesting Questions
Article-I.D.: watcgl.6
Posted: Thu Nov  4 00:05:32 1982
Received: Thu Nov  4 00:43:33 1982

I'm surprised that no one has yet answered any of B. McLean's questions -
they're certainly more interesting than what your age is.
	I'm somewhat bothered by the question "How many males don't care for
any CS females?".  Somehow it seems to imply that there's something strange
or different about them that could be the basis of not liking any of them.
Women in CS (like women in general) are quite diverse; I don't understand
how a man in CS could fail to find a woman in CS that he liked at least somewhat
given time.
	Of course, the women in CS (or other mathematics- or engineering-based
fields) are not entirely typical of women in the population at large, but
neither are the men.  For example, there are probably rather few women who
fit the 'cute-but-dumb' female image to be found in CS, but I think that there
are probably few men looking for that, at least among the readers of this
group.  (Anyone think I'm wrong?  I haven't taken a poll.)
	On another question, I AM upset about the competition for the few
CS females.  When there are so many fewer women than men, it warps
relationships between people.  The men compete with each other, and are
very aware of it.  Some men become depressed and withdrawn.  Some women become
quite spoiled by all the attention.  The great difference between supply and
demand can create imbalances and sources of pressure within relationships
which do form.  I think that this imbalance of numbers is to the disadvantage
of both sexes In the long run.
	Which leads to a statistical question:  Just how many women are there
in YOUR environment?  At the University of Waterloo, the ratio of men:women
among students is about 2:1 in undergrad CS, and about 5:1 at the master's
level.  Among the staff who do software development or support (i.e. people
doing the same sort of job as I) there are too few women for the ratio to
be significant.  How do these compare with other universities or places of
work?

	Dave Martindale, decvax!watmath!dmmartindale