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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

This is the main problem. It’s hard. We could fix it if we were despotic and put people into tracks like the USSR who turned out lots of talented women in STEM, but were not and Film, TV and YT, etc highlight the easy life of glamour and fame, etc. So you end up with a million wanna be starlets and fewer women in STEM than statistics would have.

Let “Hollywood” glamorize STEM, propagandize it and you’ll get a better pool of talent. Instead the proposition is to scrape the bottom of the barrel harder.

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Why exactly is it a problem if people are CHOOSING to do something on their own accord? Other than the political gestapo having to swallow their pride, I don't see freedom of career choice as a negative.

Some people want to sell their solution, so obviously they are looking for a problem.

There is a lot of opportunity in the diversity industry, even though things like diversity training do not seem to have any effect, not even shielding companies from lawsuits.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-we-work/201203/d...

Because it’s somewhat artificial given Hollywood’s propaganda that glamorizes triviality, laziness and starlet glamour, etc.

> if we were despotic and put people into tracks like the USSR who turned out lots of talented women in STEM

It sound like BS. Have you learned it in school?

Their does seem to be an inverse correlation between what we consider free and rich societies and despotic poor societies and their equality in STEM fields.

You need not look far, even very conservative countries such as Belarus have stronger representation in IT than a much more liberal society such as Sweden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-equality_paradox

One reason why in less free countries, women and girls choose STEM in a higher proportion is that choosing STEM fields was a better economical decision compared to other jobs, rather than being forced into it for ideological reasons by their states.

There is no doubt many Soviet women chose to become engineers.

I doubt that the choice was involuntary.

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