Malasian Computer Scientists Are Female
Hi Friends,
On the topic requests topic (Coming Attractions), Phoebe Lostroh suggested looking into why women computer scientists are so successful in Malasia. I found some information about it on a blog posting by Female Computer Scientist (click here to visit her blog). It's an interesting story. I'm going to quote from FCS's post about some of the reasons:
"For example, in Malaysia women comprise 50-60% of jobs in the tech sector. This is entirely due to culture - turns out, men who work indoors are seen as less masculine than those that work outdoors, and women who work outdoors are seen as lower class [1]. It's funny, we actually have sexism working in reverse - leading to an increase in women working in technology."
The reference she quotes is: [1] Mellstrom, U. Masculinity, Power and Technology: A Malaysian Ethnography. Ashgate, 2003.
So what should we conclude?
A We'll never get away from sexism; women in Malasia have only succeeded in CS because of sexism!
B The success/failure of women in CS is not due to ability at all, but due to culture. If we change the culture in those computer labs, we can recruit more women to the field.
C Malasian women may be smarter in math than American women, since they are so successful in this career.
Dear SciFemXX,
I like this idea, maybe bioinformatics? But what scares me is that apparently Systems Biology, which would seem to be a growth stock interdisciplinary field, is not very women-friendly from what I've heard. If that's the field developed, it would hurt rather than help changes to increase gender diversity.
cheers,
Laura
Maybe the solution is to create some sort of interdisciplinary program that could be stacked with women to begin with, something with bio and chem. It might answer the objections of the administrators who think CS has faded, too, if you 'create' a new field. I remember when neither chem nor bio wanted biochem; now it seems they both do, but I'd rather have it stay to itself where the women:men ratio is much better than in chem per se.
Dear CS Princess,
That's a horrible story, but something similar happened to me years ago. Geek guys don't seem to visualize anyone dissimilar to themselves as readers of their posts, although you'd think they'd notice female names on the listservs, etc. I challenged the guy and he apologized. Wierdly enough, many years later when I Googled myself, I found the response of a flamer who thought I was really out of line in criticizing the posting. Not my post or the original object. Very strange how the internet saves history. I came out sounding like a right b**** just for pointing out that his posting was not appropriate.
cheers,
Laura
B of course. But how to do it? We've tried everything. Laura, you may have something. But now, our field is no longer shrinking so we need to reverse both trends! The geek squads rule, though. I even once had a drawing of an unmentionable part of a female that came in my listerv delivery on DNA sequencing. When will they ever learn?
I wonder if the administration saw that the interest in the field was shrinking per se and therefore they spent less energy trying to make sure the faculty recruited women to join them, etc? I reviewed a couple of departments of bio and biochem where bioinformatics was suffering because CS had a big drop in enrollments and lost faculty positions. The result was that everyone in CS became focused on core CS and no one wanted to collaborate with biologists any more. But then, admins should develop a more integrated vision of their universities and, as some people whose politics I don't bond with said recently, they should man up (I probably mean WOMAN UP, aka have some ovaries) and support more women faculty!
It's the guys. A. They love being sexist nerds and challenge/question/harass any women who try to make it in their domain. Who needs it?
Hi Laura,
B sounds good, but we've been saying these things for the past 15 years while CS women become fewer and fewer each year. Why? Why is fixing this field's sexism so much more resistant than say Chemistry?
Well, I'd support b myself. That's what the original posting argued for. If making CS a cultural fit worked in Malasia, how can we make CS a cultural fit for American women? That idea of a sweep of porno posters is right on target! But I'm sure there's more, things we could do in teaching CS, ways that more women could be invited to speak at CS conferences, etc.
cheers,
Laura
Ahah! C. Not really. I guess B is where I end up after laughing at C. We need weekly sweeps of computer labs to remove the naked women posters, among other things.
In my optimistic mood, I would pick B. But I really think it's A. Sad story. I wish it was something I thought worth transferring to the USA!
