Re: 'Geek' image scares women away from tech industry ? The Register

Mary Barnes <mary.ietf.barnes@gmail.com> Mon, 30 April 2012 14:13 UTC

Return-Path: <mary.ietf.barnes@gmail.com>
X-Original-To: ietf@ietfa.amsl.com
Delivered-To: ietf@ietfa.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09DA321F8534 for <ietf@ietfa.amsl.com>; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:52 -0700 (PDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -103.565
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-103.565 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[AWL=0.033, BAYES_00=-2.599, HTML_MESSAGE=0.001, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW=-1, USER_IN_WHITELIST=-100]
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([12.22.58.30]) by localhost (ietfa.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id FZyRVjjPspwf for <ietf@ietfa.amsl.com>; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail-vb0-f44.google.com (mail-vb0-f44.google.com [209.85.212.44]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 39E6D21F852B for <ietf@ietf.org>; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by vbbez10 with SMTP id ez10so2429507vbb.31 for <ietf@ietf.org>; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:50 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=EWnHJ6L3qt/uECGuf8xsfVdF6L1XrswE18YX1r/reTE=; b=ivcBF1gqM7G98cJx4qu8IxZ1ql9qCwwJqnaKfaKeVlHEonY1IT4AiI5Bv0fKkfGSyU YpxG3dcakNCFvdk+qs4+uVkpbXzgoGVHxwpiftS/nlAiTqypwIq6iSMu6BIyArbIPN5q RktoB1PtfAyfxTVz0ZZx+YGFrgw4xIs2yBWeFORsayxAU/tJVy+zJkFXruWVY7/MBKy6 YejHvrFwf0ZQRiBNBpzjBCrxOEiOxp6iaF1CAKtpgKy8Y5p6uZV2eBgep30bqxgSC01H 2l2Cv+EUhAv0xfmybAWF+x3v9nRs7B9h8Q9cKBWwBVM0X0V82CrcNNprEy2DmW/J/GJn 4rqw==
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.52.36.40 with SMTP id n8mr18003606vdj.84.1335795230524; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:50 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.52.68.145 with HTTP; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:50 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.52.68.145 with HTTP; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:50 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:13:50 -0500
Message-ID: <CAHBDyN7SNAyW_Y5bPSq+hNOhw2vzRCSX07idtefE50SWYN1_2A@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: 'Geek' image scares women away from tech industry ? The Register
From: Mary Barnes <mary.ietf.barnes@gmail.com>
To: Riccardo Bernardini <framefritti@gmail.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="20cf3079b7fc35449a04bee61025"
Cc: IETF discussion list <ietf@ietf.org>
X-BeenThere: ietf@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12
Precedence: list
List-Id: IETF-Discussion <ietf.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/options/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf>
List-Post: <mailto:ietf@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:13:52 -0000

Yes, the article is far from complete.  But, your antecdote only goes to
show your own bias towards women in science and engineering in general.  By
the time most females reach high school they have already been conditioned
that girls aren't as good as boys in math and science. There's a far amount
of studies showing this - at least in the US.  As Monique said it is a very
complex issue.  Some of it starts at home and it starts extremely early.
It's far more common for girls to be told they are pretty rather than
smart.  They have found some physiologic reasons that do influence math
abilities - those with "math brains" tend to have higher levels of
testosterone.

That all said, it still doesn't explain why the percentage of women active
in the IETF is less than the percentage of women that are in the field. But
it might have something to do with IETFers sharing your perspective that
women just aren't interested.

Regards,
Mary.
On Apr 30, 2012 4:04 AM, "Riccardo Bernardini" <framefritti@gmail.com>
wrote: