Girls and Software (opens in new tab)

> There aren't very many girls who want to hack. I imagine this has a lot to do with the fact that girls are given fashion dolls and make-up and told to fantasize about dating and popularity, while boys are given LEGOs and tool sets and told to do something. I imagine it has a lot to do with the sort of women who used to coo "but she could be so pretty if only she didn't waste so much time with computers". I imagine it has a lot to do with how girls are sold on ephemera—popularity, beauty and fitting in—while boys are taught to revel in accomplishment.

Female programmer here. This really sums up my feelings and criticism on modern feminism. You can go on to YouTube and watch the old atheist community of 2010 slowly drift from logical discourse to asinine bickering--split on the subject of feminism, sometimes even a few other topics. Gender equality in tech (and any parts of the wage gap that are exclusively explained by women not being in tech) isn't something you can fix by recruiting randoms in their 20s. You don't fix sexist males by turning their reality upside down in their 40s. You need to fix this in their childhoods. I'm not saying no one past 25 can be saved. I'm saying we are blantently ignoring the most important and sustainable long-term solution: teach children at childhood (by experience, not by "talks") to be hackers, thinkers, and equals.

Astonishingly good article, written with a conciseness that often escapes other writers (esp. myself).

Wow. That's the best thing I've read this year!