A friend sent me this article today.. I realize it's a bit out of date now, but I feel a burning need (no, I don't need to see a doctor, thanks) to respond to this.

I must say I pretty much disagree with everything stated in that article. Now of course, the author has her right to feel the way she does.... here's my view of it.

It is true, there are far fewer females in technical fields. It's not a traditionally female profession and girls are more inclined toward more "liberal arts" oriented fields. We all know that, it's not new information by any stretch of the imagination. What bothers me is the suggestion that we need to somehow "fix" that. What is so wrong with a field that's dominated by men? Why isn't anyone demanding that more women should be encouraged to become truck drivers or construction workers?

I really do not understand the need to somehow make the field "more equal" to both men and women, it's artificial and will not benefit anyone.

Said in the article:

Here are some measures which may help foster an analytical mind-set in children -- especially, but not only, girls.
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[see the article for the list, it was too long to post here - k.]
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I fail to see where any of the activities listed are specifically more beneficial to girls over boys. It sounds to me like they would benefit any child, not particularly one destined for a technological career.

Only a very few of my generation happened to be brought up this way (thanks, Dad). It remains to be seen whether the proportion will increase over the next couple of decades.

I'm the proof that nurture does not prevent a girl from interest in science and computers. I was brought up in a classical "girly girl" fashion and my mom wanted me to become a journalist.. not a hacker.

A quick straw-poll of hackers suggests that the reason for wanting more women in the field (hormonal urges aside) is that it is felt that they would bring a different perspective and generate new ideas.

Isn't this a tad of a contradiction? The whole demeanor of the article seems to lead toward the idea that it is the nurture which influences who people become, not nature. In that case, this reasoning is moot.

Do we want to change hackerdom to suit females at all? Or do we want to change female mentality to suit hackerdom? Both involve fairly massive social upheaval, and there is no way to tell whether either of them will be successful in the long run.

Why the constant need for change? Is there something wrong with the community the way it is? Are females not accepted? I've worked as a programmer (and a system administrator before that) for a number of years. While I have encountered sexism in my career, none of it was from the hacker community. In fact, I always felt the hacker community is more accepting toward differences (gender, race, age, etc) in people than our society as a whole.

Women will become more drawn toward this field with time as it becomes more socially acceptable for them to be interested in science and technology. It is not the hacker community that needs changing, it is the way society thinks of a woman's role. Remember, only 50 years ago women were mostly just seen as mothers and wives. Forcing an equilibrium has been proven over and over again to not work.

Forming the female hacker community
In the last year or so, I've seen several attempts to do exactly this, and been involved in at least three. The most active and recognizable of these groups is Linuxchix, a group formed by Deb Richardson as a forum for female Linux users.

.. but isn't this doing exactly a reverse of what this complaint is about? The author complains about the lack of females in the male-dominated hacker community.. so creating a female-dominated community is the fix? I thought we're striving for equality.. not segregation.. Another contradiction.

It was mentioned earlier that the skills at which women typically excel include UI and psychology, language and communications, and group interactions. In conjunction with a solid grounding in technical subjects and hacker culture, female geeks may be able to use these strengths in an as yet largely unconsidered field: that of integrator, leader, and facilitator. Social skills which may be a barrier to hacking may in the end turn out to be what is needed to give direction and support to a project. In particular, the "bazaar"[2] style of development prevalent in the Open Source/Free Software community could greatly benefit from the input of technically-literate females, even if they are not actively producing world-shaking hacks.

This is offensive to me on many levels.. More contradictions in thinking.

To women I say: Use these skills. Don't write them off as "non-hackerly". Don't presume that they're unrelated to technology or hacking. Don't think that they're not needed to bring a project to maturity. And most of all, don't discount their value to the Open Source/Free Software community.

I can agree with this to a certain extent.. with one change: get rid of the "women".. try "people".

The author is seemingly asking for equality and equilibrium, but in the way she expresses it she insults me, as a woman and me, as a computer geek.

Forcing this issue will only anger some and create mediocre programmers out of others... Society will naturally right itself, as it has been doing for the past 50 years.. I resent the implication stated in this article.. and I am a geek chick.