Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!xanth!mcnc!ecsvax!pyrtech.pyramid.com
From: rch@pyrtech.pyramid.com (Robin Humphrey - SE Denver)
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Re: Women on the Net
Message-ID: <6431@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: 17 Feb 89 16:45:44 GMT
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>>>In article <6394@ecsvax.UUCP> ron@ron.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) writes:
>>
>>>There's an article on the front page of the Times today that reports
>>>the results of a study into why there is such a gender gap in the
>>
>>I read the article too, and most of what you say is an accurate
>>representation of what is in it.
>>...  It also went on to stress the importance of
>>role models.  Most successful women in the computer field have
>>parents, or other mentors who work in the field and
>>introduced them to computing (with encouraagement) at an early
>>age. 
>
>Hrmph!  How about a local survey of successful women in this newsgroup:
>Did you have mentors at an early age?  Were they your parents, or others?
>

I grew up with 3 brothers very close in age and my parents treated us all
equally.  From them I was encourged to take an aptitude test at age 15 and 
the results pointed me towards computer engineering work.  They encouraged 
me to find out if I liked it, so I went to 2 years of technical school
while I was in high school.  My father was a lifetime IBM'er and felt 
women made excellent additions to any field and that I to could succeed at
anything that I wanted if I set my mind to it.  I was *NOT* however encouraged 
by school counselors or teachers :-( .  It wasn't until I hit the real world
that I found women were so scarce and men were often not accepting me.  I
now work in an office of 7 professional men, 1 female receptionist and myself
a systems engineer :-)

- rch