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Comment by cmdrfred | Hacker News Reader

I really think the key problem is interest. My girlfriend got her degree in human resources for example while I didn't graduate high school and got a job in IT. Most of the people in her class were women by a decent majority. They could of went for computer science degrees, they prefered human resources, Maybe its sort of a non-problem.

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This is an important point. While the industry isn't always super welcoming to women, that isn't the whole problem. Lots of women just have other interests. We'll probably see gender parity in IT when we see gender parity in nursing.

I would rephrase that further to say: are diverse interests between the genders a problem?

I have never heard anyone complain that we have too few male teachers, nurses, or airline attendants.

Even better than I put it, I agree overt sexism is a problem in some companies but I doubt it is really a huge issue in CS courses in academia and that is sort of where this problem begins.

I've never heard anyone suggest that teachers, nurses or airline attendants are highly-paid elites...

> I have never heard anyone complain that we have too few male teachers, nurses, [...]

You haven't looked. Programmes exist to increase the number of male teachers and male nurses.

interesting. i'm guessing from your spelling of "programmes" that you are not in the US - where are these programs you speak of? i'd be very interested in reading about them.

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