Survey Finds Girls Not Entering IT, Communications Industries

Terry Olaes

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
Joined
Nov 27, 2006
Messages
4,646
Surveys sponsored by the Australian government show that girls are not entering the IT and communications industries due to the careers being “boring.” Experts believe that this perception will limit girls’ abilities to have equal job opportunities in the future since “a big proportion of future job opportunities will be involved in the IT field.”

''Increasingly jobs will require high-order IT skills,'' she says. ''If we have a generation of young women who have been excluded from that knowledge then there is going to be a stark gender divide which will be quite problematic.''
Click to expand...
 
Somehow let them see they need support for thier MS/FB accounts and they will flock to the jobs.
 
Funny how it's their choice to stay away from the nerds and geeks, but to the woman in the article it becomes "have been excluded" - making you think that someone (the patriarchy?) is forcing women to stay away from IT.

All the girls I know in IT make bank thanks to over-aggressive promotions and hiring for females in IT.
 
Mark Larson said:
Funny how it's their choice to stay away from the nerds and geeks, but to the woman in the article it becomes "have been excluded" - making you think that someone (the patriarchy?) is forcing women to stay away from IT.

All the girls I know in IT make bank thanks to over-aggressive promotions and hiring for females in IT.
Click to expand...

All the women I know of in IT make far less than their male counterparts.
 
women grow tired of math and science around puberty. dont ask me why, but i do think it has a little to do with society and the way media portrays what its supposed to be like.
 
lol nerv63 belongs in gen may and has a valid point! good jon newbie, and welcome btw :)
 
I have known a few women in IT, they weren't even lesbians either. My aunt is a programmer on AIX systems.
 
this explains the fucktarded female 20somethings at my work.

yes bitch..that IS an on switch...no bitch I DIDN'T break your shit.

that being said My gf does IT, then again, she's on the [H] and is one of those chicks you can't include in these studies.

that aside, I know a ton of women programmers and software developers as opposed to IT.

What i don't get is what is more interesting than technology. I'm not being a smartass either. What do they consider interesting then? Doctors seem to have a similar ratio to IT pro's, so other than hookers, strippers, baby factories...what do they like to do?
 
krupted said:
women grow tired of math and science around puberty. dont ask me why, but i do think it has a little to do with society and the way media portrays what its supposed to be like.
Click to expand...

I think it has more to do with their chemicals.
 
Manaknight said:
What i don't get is what is more interesting than technology. I'm not being a smartass either. What do they consider interesting then? Doctors seem to have a similar ratio to IT pro's, so other than hookers, strippers, baby factories...what do they like to do?
Click to expand...

Are you claiming the only interesting things are technology and medicine??
:confused:
 
''Increasingly jobs will require high-order IT skills,'' she says. ''If we have a generation of young women who have been excluded from that knowledge then there is going to be a stark gender divide which will be quite problematic.''
Click to expand...

How is it problematic? If women are equal to men, (job-wise) this means that whatever women can do, men can do and vice versa. If there isn't enough women, then other men will fill their roles.

"Girls are great communicators, they love it,'' she says.
Click to expand...

This is debatable since my dad spoke more clearly than my mom using his hand when I got into trouble.

If you force this stuff onto them, they'll just get tired and bored of it....
 
Manaknight said:
this explains the fucktarded female 20somethings at my work.

yes bitch..that IS an on switch...no bitch I DIDN'T break your shit.

that being said My gf does IT, then again, she's on the [H] and is one of those chicks you can't include in these studies.

that aside, I know a ton of women programmers and software developers as opposed to IT.

What i don't get is what is more interesting than technology. I'm not being a smartass either. What do they consider interesting then? Doctors seem to have a similar ratio to IT pro's, so other than hookers, strippers, baby factories...what do they like to do?
Click to expand...

This is one area in life where the percentage of accuracy when it comes to stereotypes is overwhelmingly high.
 
Manaknight said:
that being said My gf does IT, then again, she's on the [H] and is one of those chicks you can't include in these studies.
Click to expand...

The Average Woman != The Educated Woman

I am pretty sure the women not going into IT because its boring might be going into Med or Law. You can't assume just because they aren't going into IT that are becoming hookers, after all more women are going to college.
 
So. I work with one female in our IT department. She wants to leave IT entirely too and pursue a career in the medical field because she hates IT, not that's boring, she just hates it. And it's boring. Point: We are not machines and our IT department has no windows and does get kinda boring(Power Browsing to the rescue). It's about finding what makes you happy and then trying to get paid to do it everyday.

So. What career can I switch into to utilize my ability to analyze and nit pick every fucking thing finding what's wrong with it?
 
Lol. So every IT job is interesting and exciting and must have a 50 -50 ratio. Otherwise it is an critically unhealthy problem which will creep competition bias towards males in the work place in the future. OMG OMG OMG, the international economy is going to collapse in 10 years..again... if this isn't corrected now.

So a BIG what if females decided that IT is just not the right field for them and decided to pursue their own interests. Freaking ultra-feminist.

Don't see no yappin when you have more females than males in other industries.
 
All the girls would be hitted on thats for sure. Its like one girl in a server full of hormone enraged males lol.
 
Conker said:
All the girls would be hitted on thats for sure. Its like one girl in a server full of hormone enraged males lol.
Click to expand...

That's scared off at least two girls I know of when I used to work IT.
 
That's because fat, asian IT guys would be hitting on them and telling them about tentacle sex. And then snort laughing.
 
This study was done in Australia about technology... Yes, the same Australia who's government blocks more websites than China and censors more video games than anywhere else in the world.

Why would anybody expect them to understand how things work?
 
Manaknight said:
this explains the fucktarded female 20somethings at my work.

yes bitch..that IS an on switch...no bitch I DIDN'T break your shit.

that being said My gf does IT, then again, she's on the [H] and is one of those chicks you can't include in these studies.

that aside, I know a ton of women programmers and software developers as opposed to IT.

What i don't get is what is more interesting than technology. I'm not being a smartass either. What do they consider interesting then? Doctors seem to have a similar ratio to IT pro's, so other than hookers, strippers, baby factories...what do they like to do?
Click to expand...

They loove to have and adventure and lots of free time to go shopping/socializing. The prejudice that Tech people aren't good at socializing is the main thing that keeps them away. Ohh well, watcha you gonna do such is the cost of free will.
 
Conker said:
All the girls would be hitted on thats for sure. Its like one girl in a server full of hormone enraged males lol.
Click to expand...

Tekara said:
That's scared off at least two girls I know of when I used to work IT.
Click to expand...

You're wrong. Hot women just need to go outside the door to get hit. And they do as much as they can to get it. Is more about how they get hit on than the fact they're getting hit. Any woman dreams of being swept off her feet. They are just going to find the place where that's more likely to happen and believe me, the probability of it being a server room, is really really small.
 
The Australian government loves to 'educate' people on what they should and shouldn't like. How 'bout letting them do what they find attractive instead of doing silly campaigns. A few places I worked at the majority of the few females present were mostly lesbians. You simply can't expect people at large to change their interest in a particular field because of your own misguided beliefs.
 
My Experience in Texas...

I took a CCNA 1 class at the local college over the summer. At the start of the class there was three women in a room out of 24 students. There was a significant drop out after sub netting was introduced and only about 50% of the class finished course. Two of those women didn't show up for the final nor skills test.
CCNA 2 started a while back... not single woman in the class.
 
Oh christ, maybe they *are* smarter than us. Wonder what the percentages are like in medicine; after a little over a decade, I find myself questioning how much future there is in IT. I'm starting to think health care is where it's at.

A little tougher to offshore, though I know they're already doing it re: reading films, CAT scans, and the like.
 
Manaknight said:
What do they consider interesting then? Doctors seem to have a similar ratio to IT pro's, so other than hookers, strippers, baby factories...what do they like to do?
Click to expand...

Well, let's be honest, here.

An IT career is boring. It's not fun work, it can be tremendously difficult, and - hey! - you get to talk to IDIOTS all day! Sometimes, if you are particularly unlucky, you have to deal with truly STAGGERING IDIOTS who decide your fate, promotions, or pay. Social standards tell men, though - "Suck it up, boys, you've got a job to do!". And we do, because we have to. I mean, all guys HAVE to work. Period. It's completely socially unacceptable for an adult male NOT to.

Would we really choose the same career, same position, same field we did if it WASN'T for the money? (Rhetorical question: unique cases aside, this field wouldn't pay so well as it does if it DID have everyone wanting to jump into it)

So, can you really blame someone that doesn't have to go into it - society hardly frowns on a "housewife" at all (indeed, in some countries it's very strongly encouraged) - from not wanting to? I mean, hell, *I* wouldn't be in support/consulting if I didn't have to be. Would MUCH rather be a boardgame designer, writer, or artist...but that doesn't pay peanuts compared to what I'm making now, and, as a male, given the choice of "What I want to do, too bad about that family budget thing" or "Work hard doing something that isn't my first choice to support the family"....well....I only really have the one choice.
 
TheMead said:
My Experience in Texas...

I took a CCNA 1 class at the local college over the summer. At the start of the class there was three women in a room out of 24 students. There was a significant drop out after sub netting was introduced and only about 50% of the class finished course. Two of those women didn't show up for the final nor skills test.
CCNA 2 started a while back... not single woman in the class.
Click to expand...

That is what I've experienced also, only that there was one female out of 17, if I remember correctly. Under 50% in the end finishing is quite usual.
 
dderidex said:
Well, let's be honest, here.

An IT career is boring. It's not fun work, it can be tremendously difficult, and - hey! - you get to talk to IDIOTS all day! Sometimes, if you are particularly unlucky, you have to deal with truly STAGGERING IDIOTS who decide your fate, promotions, or pay. Social standards tell men, though - "Suck it up, boys, you've got a job to do!". And we do, because we have to. I mean, all guys HAVE to work. Period. It's completely socially unacceptable for an adult male NOT to.
Click to expand...

Toooo true :D
 
dderidex said:
Well, let's be honest, here.

An IT career is boring. It's not fun work, it can be tremendously difficult, and - hey! - you get to talk to IDIOTS all day! Sometimes, if you are particularly unlucky, you have to deal with truly STAGGERING IDIOTS who decide your fate, promotions, or pay. Social standards tell men, though - "Suck it up, boys, you've got a job to do!". And we do, because we have to. I mean, all guys HAVE to work. Period. It's completely socially unacceptable for an adult male NOT to.

Would we really choose the same career, same position, same field we did if it WASN'T for the money? (Rhetorical question: unique cases aside, this field wouldn't pay so well as it does if it DID have everyone wanting to jump into it)

So, can you really blame someone that doesn't have to go into it - society hardly frowns on a "housewife" at all (indeed, in some countries it's very strongly encouraged) - from not wanting to? I mean, hell, *I* wouldn't be in support/consulting if I didn't have to be. Would MUCH rather be a boardgame designer, writer, or artist...but that doesn't pay peanuts compared to what I'm making now, and, as a male, given the choice of "What I want to do, too bad about that family budget thing" or "Work hard doing something that isn't my first choice to support the family"....well....I only really have the one choice.
Click to expand...

you speak truth. I was full of piss and vinegar earlier... but i think you hit on an angle that i didn't think of.

I love technology...but even I want out of IT. My degree is multimedia & game design and instead I head an IT department...why haven't i just picked up and left? my resume is fine...but I am making a good bit of money and don't like the idea of that going away.

the only difference here is it's out of the sheer desire to have money, as i have no family and no intentions of one.
 
MrLonghair said:
Study finds males in IT, Comms industries not entering girls.
Click to expand...

I had to laugh hard at that one.

I am happy to see that there are surverys looking at root causes for the lack of females in certain industries. Often times, surveys only look at the distribution of people and money, not trying to understand why there is a skewed distribution.
 
Honestly yeah IT is pretty boring. I think it's just for those of us who are lazy and don't wanna do manual labor or never got over the commodore 64. I mean seriously. Say "Cisco 4404 Wireless LAN Controller". Are you asleep yet? No, try reading the Data sheet on it..zzzzzzzzzzzz.
 
My girlfriend has 6 years of college, a bachelor's degree in Graphics Design, management experience, and is a brilliant woman. We have a daughter and live together, so we're a couple.

Despite this, she's relying upon me, the college dropout with no experience other than call center work, to be the one to get the good job. Not for trying on her part; but the graphics design industry is just flooded with people like her.

Sometimes she says she regrets going into graphics art and wish she'd done something useful and in-demand like a science or engineering... she's not that into IT, she agrees that it is "boring". She'd love to be an engineer and design things (she really wants to have a job with a creative outlet), but at this point, the pressure is on me to get my certs and land a job that will let us buy a house to raise our child in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top