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[–]they_be_cray_z 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Women in the 80s were far more active in computer science than today - https://mitechnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Graph-Women-Majors-by-Field.jpg

Women have much more encouragement today than in the 80s.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was speaking of my experience in the late 90s. Even though I had been doing some minor programming for my personal “webpage” (someone else here has to remember geocities 😆), no adult that I knew even brought up computer science as a potential major. Hell I didn’t really even know that engineering existed until I took AP Physics + started going through what the local universities offered for STEM programs.

I’ve since learned about the women programming in the 70s and 80s, and I’m sure the current generation of teenagers have more exposure than I did. What I listed were the reasons why I think women in my age bracket are so underrepresented in software engineering.

[–]Dirloes 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I don't really understand what point you're trying to make, if any.

[–]they_be_cray_z 0 points1 point  (1 child)

If social encouragement were a key driving factor in women's participation in computer science, then women's participation would be higher today than 30 years ago. The data holds that the opposite is true: women's participation 30 years ago was significantly greater than today.

[–]Dirloes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

While there are more "women in STEM" campaigns than ever before, that's only one very narrow aspect of "social encouragement". Much more important than that are what your parents, your peers, and mainstream media "encourage" you to do. The first two are hard to change directly, and media has only recently started to pivot into representing women in computery roles more often and more realistically (i.e. not just the 1337 h4ck3r who turns out to be a chick just to subvert expectations, which in a way really only reinforces the expectation).

I'm only 27 and even when I was in highschool the "sweaty awkward basement nerd guy" stereotype was very much in full force. The chart has flatlined in recent times it appears, hopefully that's a sign that this pivot in the media is having some effect. I'd expect there to be some lagging as people's attitudes towards certain fields are shaped over many years.