Thread: Why is there always shortage of women

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elkvis View Post
    everyone believes that the people are friendlier in some other part of the world. I'm sure people in England feel that there's a place where people are friendlier - Canada maybe?
    Of course people think that because in many countries people are douchebags generally so people think there are other countries with more friendly people.

    People who live in a nice friendly country dont think there is a more friendly place because they are satisfied already.

  2. #32
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    but the fact also remains that people are, as a general rule, never satisfied with what they have.

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elkvis View Post
    but the fact also remains that people are, as a general rule, never satisfied with what they have.
    Always want more... Thats why its a good practice not to have too much of anything

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    That's not necessarily a bad thing though. If you're never happy with what you've got, and always want more, then you're constantly striving to improve yourself and your life, right? If only it worked that way

    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon
    I would like to move (at least temporarily) to the UK. I believe people are much friendlier there.
    More friendly than where? I'm from England - I didn't know people considered it to be a friendly place. I guess it is in parts. I like it, but friendly...?

    Fraid I can't help with the original query :P I've come across very few other women in engineering disciplines and geeky pastimes. I've yet to figure out why -- there are various explanations but I'm not convinced that any of them explain the epic gender divide.

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by smokeyangel View Post
    I've come across very few other women in engineering disciplines and geeky pastimes. I've yet to figure out why -- there are various explanations but I'm not convinced that any of them explain the epic gender divide.
    I've come across a grand total of zero girls/women with geeky pastimes in my short life and tend to believe that the explanation is peer pressure.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by manasij7479 View Post
    I've come across a grand total of zero girls/women with geeky pastimes in my short life and tend to believe that the explanation is peer pressure.
    There's also societal pressure, which I'm sure plays a larger role. Those type of women are certainly out there, but "lost in the noise" of the more typical female.

  7. #37
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    I certainly know some very capable female engineers and scientists who work in "male dominated" professions, including the "geeky" ones. That includes software engineers, electrical engineers, mathematicians, physicists, ....

    In fact, I've employed several of them, engaged others contractually, and been managed by some. One mathematician delighted in telling me all sorts of things about the golden ratio. In her words, it was one of her obsessions and she wished she could discuss it with more of her friends.

    Some of those women work to actively encourage other women to work in the geeky jobs. While societal pressure or peer pressure are factors, the main reason more women don't indulge in geeky interests is because they often have other interests.

    There is nothing wrong with that. The world would be a boring place if everyone had only geeky interests. And one of the things I enjoy about women is that they think differently than I do.
    Right 98% of the time, and don't care about the other 3%.

    If I seem grumpy or unhelpful in reply to you, or tell you you need to demonstrate more effort before you can expect help, it is likely you deserve it. Suck it up, Buttercup, and read this, this, and this before posting again.

  8. #38
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    I am with grumpy on the women techs - I have worked with quite a few in various tech roles and now the company i work for aggresively recruits good graduates from maths or programming, and the last few have been girls - it makes me think that there must be a higher proportion by far going into these courses at university than there were in the past - I can remember reading about a big target for games makers was cracking the female buyer - getting them to engage, cos they previously just didnt - well now that is so old hat - Its bin done and dusted, all the console platforms and handhelds - i cant get my two away from it, so maybe this change in the amount of women enjoying programming products leads to them wanting to pursue careers in the industry.
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  9. #39
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    There are no doubt many competent female engineers, but it seems to me like, at least in electrical engineering, companys' hiring standard for female employees seem to be quite a bit lower than for males.

    Don't get me wrong, there are many very good female engineers and very bad male engineers, but usually what I find at work is, usually the least competent members of the team are females. Some so bad that I have no doubt they wouldn't be hired if they were male. This is at some pretty big tech companies that I will not name.

    It seems like some managers just want to get some girls on the team that they are willing to relax standards for them. The ratio of new male:female electrical engineers is around 5:1, so statistically speaking, if they want to have a ratio of less than that in the team, they have to relax standards for females, and they are doing exactly that.

    I believe they also get $$ from organizations like WIE (women in engineering) by hiring female engineers, but I'm not sure about that.

    I think it's wrong because that's like saying women are inherently incompetent that they need an unfair advantage to compete with men, when in reality, they are just as competent, so now we have discrimination against men.

    So far I haven't had any trouble searching for jobs, but I imagine if I do, I'd be pretty angry about this. Right now I'm just annoyed.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyberfish View Post
    It seems like some managers just want to get some girls on the team that they are willing to relax standards for them.
    What you're describing is not actually a gender phenomenon. It is a phenomenon of incompetent management.

    Incompetent managers (and competent but careless managers) are just as capable of hiring a bad female engineer as they are at hiring a bad male engineer. I have seen recruitment standards "relaxed" in order to find a recruit suitable in many ways. If the cited excuse is "we need a better gender mix and we don't have enough women" the workplace is more likely to end up with a bad female engineer. If the cited excuse is "we need a better racial mix and we don't have enough <race> people", then the workplace is more likely to end up with an incompetent <race> engineer". If the cited excuse is "we need stronger educational backgrounds", an incompetent person with a higher degree might be recruited instead of a competent new graduate.

    The list of reasons goes on. The effects are the same: incompetent recruits.

    Statistically, I would suggest the proportion of incompetent female engineers is actually lower than incompetent male engineers, simply because a woman who becomes an engineer is particularly motivated to be a good engineer, otherwise she would not have persisted in the training and job. The fact that there are fewer female engineers, however, makes the incompetent female engineers more memorable.
    Last edited by grumpy; 08-23-2012 at 04:57 AM.
    Right 98% of the time, and don't care about the other 3%.

    If I seem grumpy or unhelpful in reply to you, or tell you you need to demonstrate more effort before you can expect help, it is likely you deserve it. Suck it up, Buttercup, and read this, this, and this before posting again.

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