My own anecdotes. Yes, it starts early.
When I was 3 I announced that I was going to be a physicist when I grew up. WHY? 1 - a physicist has a chair that is on WHEELS, and spins ROUND and ROUND 2 - a physicist has a blackboard with COLORED CHALK 3 (and MOST important) a physicist has a CANDY machine in the hall outside his office. Well, I didn't become a physicist, but those features certainly put technology in a good light from an early age.!! Second, while the statistics may say something else, I find MORE WOMEN, in MORE RESPECTED positions, at IETF than in my work environment. Janet ietf-boun...@ietf.org wrote on 04/30/2012 10:13:50 AM: > Mary Barnes <mary.ietf.bar...@gmail.com> > Sent by: ietf-boun...@ietf.org > > 04/30/2012 10:13 AM > > To > > Riccardo Bernardini <framefri...@gmail.com> > > cc > > IETF discussion list <ietf@ietf.org> > > Subject > > Re: 'Geek' image scares women away from tech industry ? The Register > > 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. >
