Maths, women and programming (Re: [Techtalk] Theory vs. practice)

[Glenda R. Snodgrass]

> I suspect boys who are interested in technical things as children often
> will get suggestions like "why don't you become a computer programmer?"
> and boys who play Lego will hear "why don't you become an engineer?"
> whereas a girl with similar interests may not hear disapproval, but
> won't have the helpful people pointing her in that direction. She'll
> have to discover it all by herself, and might chose to be a doctor or
> lawyer instead, because, hey, she'd be good at that too and had never
> even considered the other careers.

So true.  My mother always thought I should be a lawyer - said I could
argue with a brick wall. <BG>

> even if it isn't exactly the same requirements to be in all fields,
> girls with the different abilities suited to each of them are never
> being pointed in the right direction, and are often pointed in the wrong
> one.

Very true!  I was thinking of the one narrow case I always have on my
mind, but you are seeing the broader view.

-- 
Glenda R. Snodgrass

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