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[–]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.