[TriLUG] The biggest deterrent for women in tech

[John Vaughters]

It is a biological fact that men and women have different brain anatomy. This alone suggests differences. Now add in well known and established facts, like women are better at language and men are better at spacial understanding. 

The examples of differences on a worldwide basis cannot be ignored. I think if you consider the evolutionary aspects of the gender role, it is rather clear how natural selection has molded these differences. 

But most importantly, if we have near similar brains it totally kills the women are smarter argument :-) 

Seriously though I keep going back to we both have strengths and whether social or physical if we respect the differences as strengths we both win.

John Vaughters

bak <bak at picklefactory.org> wrote:

>
>On May 1, 2013, at 5:38 PM, Danielle <Danielle at whitrel.com> wrote:
>
>> On 2013-05-01 15:42, Linda Gardea wrote:
>>> Interesting read on toys & gender from ny times editorial.  Seems that
>>> gender typing serves capitalism quite well.
>>> 
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/gender-based-toy-marketing-returns.html
>> 
>> I particularly like this quote, "That’s ridiculous, of course: it’s impossible to neatly disentangle the biological from the social, given that children are born into a culture laden with gender messages."
>> 
>> This is a point I find to be often missed or, at least, misunderstood, in these conversations - it begins early and is heavily comprised by issues that are easily dismissed as minor but which are as single flakes of snow in an avalanche.
>
>I found Fine's _Delusions of Gender_ and Jordan-Young's _Brain Storm_ to be very effective at getting to the root of the neuroscience behind "men and women have different brains". Fascinating reads.
>
>There isn't much, if any, evidence to support strong claims made by folks talking about "traditionally this way" and "naturally different".
>
>--bak
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