On 05/01/2012 02:52 AM, Mary Barnes wrote:
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.
Don't feel too bad, Mary: there were queues for the men' facilities, too :-(
Mary.
On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Mary Barnes
<mary(_dot_)ietf(_dot_)barnes(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com <mailto: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
<mailto:framefritti(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>> wrote: