tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685560256628587439.post6900082943611851938..comments2023-07-10T07:12:16.641-04:00Comments on The Female Perspective of Computer Science: Affirmative Action?Gail Carmichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14173555781667297996noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685560256628587439.post-6246840477534919432008-05-28T12:15:00.000-04:002008-05-28T12:15:00.000-04:00You know Chris, the situation you bring up really ...You know Chris, the situation you bring up really is a tough one. There is yet again a subtle difference between coming up with programs just for women to help them be unafraid of giving it a shot, and hiring women into jobs to meet quotas.<BR/><BR/>I would probably have to say that I don't totally disagree with the former (which is what your program seems to be); heck, I won a girls-only scholarship from Google and ran an all-girls mini-course! But is it essentially the same thing as the latter? Or is it a mechanism to get those women who might like software and computing interested, and nothing more?<BR/><BR/>I suppose we must be careful when treading around this line in the sand...Gail Carmichaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14173555781667297996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685560256628587439.post-42807731490151864252008-05-27T22:41:00.000-04:002008-05-27T22:41:00.000-04:00Hi Gail,We thought hard about this when deciding w...Hi Gail,<BR/><BR/>We thought hard about this when deciding whether to run the GNOME Women's Summer Outreach program. Our conclusion was that it was beneficial to offer internships limited to women, because the uptake for GNOME's regular Summer of Code internships (181 male applicants, no female) had been so poor. It seemed clear that we needed a bootstrapping process to create role models in that community, and that "if women want to apply, they will" wasn't working out.<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure whether any of this generalizes to standard employment, though. The proportion of women working as programmers commercially is much higher than the proportion who volunteer in free software projects.<BR/><BR/>- Chris.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685560256628587439.post-17588061491521590502008-05-22T14:38:00.000-04:002008-05-22T14:38:00.000-04:00So true! Maybe it's not subtle, or maybe people ju...So true! Maybe it's not subtle, or maybe people just don't think about it much?Gail Carmichaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14173555781667297996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685560256628587439.post-9350825231898223722008-05-22T14:18:00.000-04:002008-05-22T14:18:00.000-04:00I don't think the difference should be subtle, and...I don't think the difference should be subtle, and kudos for pointing it out ;).Christian Muisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13252588709861854104noreply@blogger.com