Here is an article that does a far better job of explaining the situation
than I did:
http://www.todaysengineer.org/2011/May/women-in-engineering.asp
The largest reason women leave engineering is due to the work environment
and perceived lack of support from colleagues.
Although, the one bonus of the lack of women in IETF is that we never have
to wait in line for the restroom with one exception - the little broom
closets in the Paris venue.
Mary.
On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Mary Barnes
<mary(_dot_)ietf(_dot_)barnes(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>wrote:
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.
On Apr 30, 2012 4:04 AM, "Riccardo Bernardini"
<framefritti(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>
wrote: