Why is Software/CS mostly men?

Cercacor Laboratories
illMakeIt

Cercacor Laboratories

BIO
I make peanuts right now and get slave whipped im coming for you google
illMakeIt
Yesterday 53 Comments

Any theories

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TOP 53 Comments
  • Uber
    ༼ つ ಥ_ಥ ༽つ

    Go to company page Uber

    ༼ つ ಥ_ಥ ༽つ
    Why are most of the bricklayers, sewage cleaners, farmers, lawyers men?

    Why are most of the nurses, models, kindergarten teachers, women?

    It's all about people's choices on what kind of work they want to do, or they think they can do according to them.
    Yesterday 4
    • New / Eng
      EADGBE 🎸

      New Eng

      EADGBE 🎸
      Programmers used to be mostly women when the job was viewed as less prestigious (society pressures men to chase prestige). The fact that the breakdown can change over time in a single profession counteracts the argument that anything is “inherent” but more driven by social pressures of gender roles.

      Anyone of any gender who does something society doesn’t expect from their gender faces constant pressure / judgement to stop that and conform. Think about a guy who wants to be a dancer or a woman who is into powerlifting. Most people are learning to mind their own business, but so many people programmed into strict gender role thinking will give them unwanted commentary or judgement

      Also societal pressure depends on the culture. Some cultures say hunting is something women do. Others say it’s a manly activity. Those differences would result in a different gender breakdown for the same profession
      Yesterday
    • Square
      insta-fart

      Go to company page Square

      insta-fart
      Back then programming was largely data entry and low-skilled work compared to ECE for example. Men moved from ECE to programming as programming became software engineering.

      We had a lot of female programmers starting from WW2 bc most of the men were doing hard labor or off fighting in war.
      Yesterday
  • Gamers (male heavy) who don’t know what they want to major in in college pick CS cause video games are computer programming related. Half the CS majors I knew were basically this
    Yesterday 4
    • Even a decade ago the money wasn’t nearly as crazy as it is today. So the mixture/type of people majoring in CS has also probably shifted over time
      Yesterday
    • Toast
      🌵 jack

      Go to company page Toast

      🌵 jack
      it wasn't as much money as today, but it was still considered one of the high paying jobs. i knew i wasn't cut out for something like law, sales, banking etc
      Yesterday
  • Qualcomm / Eng
    Pegu

    Go to company page Qualcomm Eng

    Pegu
    I’m not a sociologist but I can offer my perspective as a young female engineer who’s lived in SoCal her entire life.

    I think it’s largely because of parenting & culture. Most of my girlfriends didn’t grow up with women in CS as role models and were encouraged to seek paths where they could utilize their looks, social skills, etc. Especially growing up in SoCal the role models for women are models, actresses, influencers, etc. And women aren’t raised to be breadwinners so they don’t necessarily prioritize choosing high paying careers. I have a younger brother and he was forced into CS while I was encouraged to pursue law or the arts. CS isn’t exactly perceived as cool or glamorous, and it’s not social or fun. In many fields being a hot girl with excellent people skills can be an asset but in CS it doesn’t help at all, perhaps even working to our detriment.

    As a kid, I was actively influenced away from CS and told by mentors & teachers that it was a boys club and my looks/social skills would be totally wasted as an engineer. But my parents are both engineers with EECS PhDs, so I had strong role models in this field and I never seriously considered doing anything else. However, everything my teachers & mentors told me as a kid turned out to be true, so although I am an excellent SWE I will definitely pivot out in the next few years.
    Yesterday 9
    • Amazon
      imtiredd

      Go to company page Amazon

      imtiredd
      Female breadwinner does seem a bit complicated when having kids comes into the picture
      Yesterday
    • as someone who barely had formal education and grew in non-western culture, nobody i knew was in programming, heck at 10 i was the only person who could use a computer... so there was no role model to speak of... however computer allowed one thing... building things. Just how I liked to build things with wood, electronics, and legos... programming allowed me to build things. It's lonely isolated anti-social activity which boys seem to be better at accepting at. My girl cousins almost all gravitated toward more social hobbies
      Yesterday
  • Amazon
    foxy82

    Go to company page Amazon

    foxy82
    And all men have answered on behalf of women! A little history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing?wprov=sfla1 just to expand horizons.
    Yesterday 5
    • Amazon
      imtiredd

      Go to company page Amazon

      imtiredd
      Even if it’s about prestige, society places more pressure on men to become prestigious than women it’s close enough to the same thing. Take the pressure off men or put the same pressure on women.
      Yesterday
    • Square
      insta-fart

      Go to company page Square

      insta-fart
      Aren't nursing, teaching, and law a lot more prestigious than male dominated roles like construction workers, garbagemen, policing, truck driving, brick laying, plumbing, etc?
      Yesterday
  • Amazon / Media
    Baobaab

    Go to company page Amazon Media

    PRE
    Deloitte, McDonald's, Ponderosa Advisors
    BIO
    Just glad to be on the fucking team.
    Baobaab
    Most women are smart enough not to get into the field. It’s highly paid, but for the most part boring ass work. Not to mention being a woman in tech is a royal pain. I asked a female coworker this very same question many years ago. She said, “Why work that hard and lose my hair like the guys when I can do something else and keep my hair?”
    Yesterday 2
    • New / Eng
      EngineerXX

      New Eng

      EngineerXX
      I like your answer and agree with it whole heartedly.

      If I were woman I would never choose SWE as a career. So many industries that pay better and are more respected (like doctors, lawyers or pilots) and don't require stupid leetcoding. Plus my observation is if you are NOT a nerd (i.e don't work 12h per day, plus side project / GitHub project during weekend) you are being "targeted" by nerds in workplace (regardless of gender).

      Also only in USA s/w engineering is relatively lucrative but in Europe salaries are peanuts (1/4 of USA), plus the job itself is (like you said) boring and stressful. On top of that many people lack soft skills and I feel like my soul is being sucked away every day I spend in front of the computer.
      Yesterday
    • New
      dpRI57

      New

      dpRI57
      > Most women are smart enough not to get into the field.

      Yes this is the answer. I spent 5 years to get through a uni CS degree. Spent the last 5 years making $90k a year working remotely working 60+ hours a week but only invoicing my boss for ~30hours a week because I'm too ashamed at how long it actually takes me to do stuff. My IQ was tested in college and was only 105. I feel like such a low IQ allows me to be smart enough to get into IT but too dumb to really do anything with it.
      Yesterday