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Re: [LUG] Why are there so few women in our LUG - does this indicate there are few female Linux users ?

 

On 23/01/2008, Aaron Trevena <aaron.trevena@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 18/01/2008, Rob Beard <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > I find it interesting that this discussion has come up.  We're getting
> > a trainee broadcast engineer where I work, I was pleasantly surprised
> > to find out that the applicant who was offered the job was a young (I
> > think) lady from up north.  IIRC we only have one other female
> > broadcast engineer in the entire company but two girls on the Helpdesk.
>
> That seems to be the norm. Parents and others (media, teachers, peers)
> encourage children to learn and behave different from a very early age
> - my daughter is a year old and already getting some different toys
> etc from what a boy of the same age would get.
>
> Luckily her dad is a graduate and we plan to ensure she is confident
> about and likes maths, science, etc.

Her mum is also a graduate, but in Law, and not as confident with
science and maths (despite being perfectly good at them), and for some
reason (that I read on the internet somewhere) it's down to the dad's
background more than the mum's.

> > Could it be worth some of the women in IT (or professions that have
> > typically been male dominated - plumbing, building etc) going to
> > secondary schools and giving talks and maybe encouraging more women
> > into these male dominated professions?
>
> http://www.cc4g.net/public/index.html
>
> Computer Clubs for girls - it's government funded, something to do
> with the Learning / Skills Council quango or whatever - I'm assuming
> there are related projects, but AFAICT there is nothing between that
> and the technology/engineering for girls groups aimed at university
> students (by which time female students are already a single digit
> percentage).

I still think we don't know how much of girls and boys leaning towards
different subjects, etc at an early age are down to nature vs nuture,
but it does start very early.

A.

-- 
http://www.aarontrevena.co.uk
LAMP System Integration, Development and Hosting

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