ENT Doc: I agree with most of your points especially the point of having an honest conversation.
“My point was to say that there will naturally be skewed interest in any field, and that because a percentage different from 50 exists doesn’t imply unfairness.” –It also does not imply fairness.
I don’t believe the world will be perfectly balanced.”Most of these coders are self-taught, so I’m not sure what kind of exposure you think would have leveled the playing field. It’s not like society refused to allow girls access to computers the last 3 decades. “- I appreciate your honesty, but there is evidence that exposure does increase interest. ie Girls Who Code. “Society” did not refuse access, but it did not encourage it. Elementary schools in my area are now requiring coding/computer science classes.
I think the bottom line is that men and women are different. Each person will gravitate toward a comfortable environment. That will likely be an environment they have been exposed to in the past or one in which they see those similar to themselves.
I agree that exposure increases interest, but the playing field was fair before in terms of getting interested in coding - it's just that boys decided to geek out on their computers late night more than girls did. Society said nothing of a male/female preference. Any discrimination, if present, on the downstream end should be the aim of correcting differences. Instead, the mandated exposure you speak of is simply trying to create a mandated level playing field dissociated from natural free will, all because Silicon Valley didn't have a perceived appropriate number of women. When will the clammoring stop? When women are at 25%? 30%? Something tells me those who deemed Silicon Valley not diverse enough won't stop until it hits 50%. And that is sad, because it disrespects natural differences between groups, which is OK - that's what makes us interesting and complex. The focus should only ever be on fair conditions, not on "fair" outcomes or a means to achieve them (which mandated coding for all constitutes to the extent the purpose is for diversity rather than having everyone learn a very important language).
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