Apparently you think this is (i) sexist but (ii) within their right to do. That's unusual… even if you believe this, why would you bring it up?
> Do you feel comfortable about traditional "old boys networks", the existence of such were one valid reason that women's groups protested men's only clubs, men's only dining rooms, etc.?
This is so over the top—I don't know what to say. My understanding is it's still mostly men who attend Hacker School.
It's like a group of men saying 'fuck, we turned into an old boys network. let's give out grants to gifted women so they can join us'. And here you—a man—are protesting outside.
> They why do you perpetuate sexism within the industry?
Is sexism against guys a problem in the industry now?
Or do you think this will increase sexism against women too? If so, you should have argued why that's the case (or at least mentioned that that's what you mean).
> I have a similar aged nephew and a niece that would benefit from Hacker School, but you will only enable one of these people to attend.
I'd love to attend but I find it too expensive. I'm not complaining about this grant though. I think it's great! I absolutely hate that there are few women in the IT industry in the Western world.
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addendum
> Either your students need financial aid or they don't.
I think this misses a point. Hacker School is throwing opportunities at people. That's awesome because people need opportunities to succeed in life. However, Hacker School does not have an obligation to give opportunities to everyone—that's just not possible. What they are doing with these grants, however, is identifying a group that has trouble succeeding in the IT industry in the Western world (most female programmers I know are Chinese) and throwing extra opportunities at this group. That's awesome because if this group is underperforming then the most obvious way to fix that is to throw extra opportunities at them!
In fact, there's an argument that the very reason they're underperforming as a group in the first place is because they have trouble identifying opportunities in the first place. E.g. because they're told girls don't have the right kind of brain for IT, because they feel intimidated by the men IT, etcetera. All the more it makes sense to give extra grants for women!