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From: mason@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Mason)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Is Computing Gender Specific?
Message-ID: <2171@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Sep-83 11:39:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.2171
Posted: Fri Sep  2 11:39:34 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Sep-83 11:52:57 EDT
References: <527@houxm.UUCP>
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 25

I don't think computing is gender specific!  On the other hand I teach at
an undergrad University, and the ration is probably 5:1 (which is better
than any other program in the Technology/Engineering faculty..a lot)

The only possibly gender specific aspect seems to me to be related to the
standard spacial conceptualization that males are SUPPOSED to be better at.
(Or at least that's what I was told in high school..if it's a lie I'd
appreciate some mail)
Spacial conceptualization SEEMs do be an attribute of the better programmers
I know.

The females in my classes (4th year O/S) seem to work harder but have less
insight (but then not many of the males have insight either) and generally
rank about 60-70 percentile in my classes.  In my working experience, the
female and male co-workers I've had seem to be either quite good or not
very good; very few in the middle, and the distribution about the same
between the sexes.

I was visiting friends of my father ~55 years old and they have a boy ~13
and a girl ~10.  He is good at video games and is starting to program,
she seems interested, but when I suggested she should learn to program,
she said she didn't want too.  I suspect it's all socialization.
 -- Gandalf's flunky Hobbit --   Dave Mason, U. Toronto CSRG,
        {cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!mason
     or {decvax,linus,lsuc,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!mason   (UUCP)