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Re: How To Recruit Women to Tech and IT Classes



Margaret Mazzolini wrote:

I do have to comment, though, that I have just received today's
phys-l digest containing 20 postings debating the need to attract
women into tech areas & specifically physics, and whether the
prevailing culture in physics discourages women participants, and all
the postings were by men! That has to rate as one of life's
surreal experiences.

What is surreal about it? The fact that there are men who believe
that women have not gotten a fair shake in the area of science, or
the fact that the women subscribers to this list have chosen not to
rise to the bait?

I have had many private conversations with women on this topic and
find that they all have either agreed with my position or would go
even further. I know of no woman physicist who would agree with the
opinions that Jim has expressed here. There may be some but they
certainly are not on my radar.

Unless you think that phys-l serves no useful purpose in the physics
community, then the fact that you have almost no women posting ever -
and certainly I'm the only one I've seen so far who is silly enough
to stick my head up out of the trench on this thread - has to say
something about the culture of physics?

It may say something about the culture of physics but from my
"outsider's" (i.e., male) point of view, I have always felt that this
list is at worst female-neutral, and certainly, it has always seemed
to me that virtually every poster to the list has been treated with
courtesy by the other members, whether they be male or female. That
the discourse has been vigorous should not discourage women to
participate. I am a member of another list that has a significant
number of women posters and the discourse is, if anything, even more
vigorous than on this list. The women who join the discussions, and
there are a goodly number of them, are able to give as good as they
get in the arguments.

Maybe, as Jim has said, the women on the list have better things to
do than get into these endless arguments. Maybe they're just tired of
rehashing this particular topic again. I'm sure they've all heard
everything that has been said here and worse, from both sides of the
street, many times over.

Have you any suggestions about how we can get our female list-members
to come out of the woodwork?

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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