August 28, 2011
Posted by William
Gender, programming, and the power of language
An interlude from the recent trend of hardcore Django action:
> When I spoke with a female intern this summer, she recounted how, in 2006, the > GNOME Project, a free and open source software project, received almost 200 Google > Summer of Code applicants. All of them were male. When GNOME advertised an > identical program for women, emphasizing opportunities for learning and mentorship > instead of tough competition, they received more than 100 highly qualified female > applicants for the three spots they were able to fund. What amazed me even more was > when she suggested that our own company slogan — “We Help the World’s Best > Developers Make Better Software” — might alienate prospective female candidates. > That had never occurred to me. But according to our intern, in the world of > computer science, “when you hear the phrase ‘the world’s best developers,’ you see > a guy.”
From When computer programming was ‘women’s work’.
No Comments Yet
You can be the first to comment!
Leave a comment