Why are there so few women in tech? | LSE Research

Why is there so little diversity in #tech and does it matter? Are men inherently better coders? Or are there hidden biases in the tech industry?

We talk to Dr Siân Brooke of the Data Science Institute at LSE, who researches gender inequality in technology, to find out.

Discover the impact of gender on code acceptance and learn why diversity in tech is crucial for innovation and security. Explore the gender gap in technology, the importance of women in STEM, and how diversity in coding can drive technological advancements.



Special thanks to Hertie School, Berlin, where Siân Brooke was filmed by Matt Langthorne.

00:00 - 00:55 Who wants to find out sexism is right?
00:56 - 02:17 What's the problem if women aren't coding?
02:18 - 02:56 Methodology: Does gender matter?
02:57 - 03:56 Code as a language
03:57 - 04:25 What are linters?
04:26 - 06:10 Results: Do men code better?

#Internet #Coding #GenderPolitics

[xxbalt]

when I'm in a being vague competition and my opponent is this video:

(-_ゞ

[fFixf]

From her paper: "While modern C and C++ compilers have lint-like functions, lint-like tools are useful for languages like JavaScript and Python, which are dynamically typed (without needing a compiler). A compiler translates a programming language into machine code or another low-level programming language a computer can understand. Because compilers typically do not enforce strict rules prior to execution, linters can be used as simple debuggers for finding common errors (e.g.,  syntactic discrepancies) as well as hard-to-find errors such as heisenbugs, drawing attention to suspicious code as possible errors (Viafore, 2021). "

The author doesn't seem to understand the distiction between static/dynamic types and compiled/interpreted languages. I dont want to seem nitpicky but this is a PhD and a lecturer of CS.

[amleth_prince_of_denmark]

What is the evidence for the statement that how we judge code good or bad is tied to who we think wrote it?

What are the differences in terms of file length and use of functions between men and women, and how have you defined quality?

[berczigabor]

The irony of (unintentionally) reinforcing a stereotype while trying to debunk it

[JOHNSMITH-verq]

The design of this paper and the manner in which she measured the variables makes the paper unable to actually substantiate the claims she is making. The work is unable to show any causal association between sex and code quality because of unknown selection bias in the sample. Further, adherence to PEP8 is not a valid measure of “code quality”, which simply cannot be evaluated with the chosen design (since it’s a much broader concept intended to capture whether the code did the thing intended, whether it did it efficiently, and beyond that if that was even the right thing to do). Granted, these are difficult things to measure. But the paper did not measure them.

[julius]

5:17 bold claim, I don’t think maintainers try to figure out a PR creator’s gender before rejecting bad code

[ygzpdygzpd]

A woman coder here. Some thoughts. Python is one of the easiest and the most unsophisticated languages to learn (also, one of the slowest), which is why it's used a lot by scientists and such. Not by top notch devs, usually. And, if only 10% of github contributions are from women, there is selection bias. Lastly: what exactly was analyzed? Of course women are going to be neater, better "housekeepers", but there are more interesting metrics than that.. like, who is faster? Whose code is buggier? Who's better at architecture?

Oh, and what percentage of contributors are women preferring to be anonymous?

[sleekism]

I'm all for more women in tech but I don't know if women are.

[atzenkonzentrat]

Great work 👏🏻
love to hear more about your research in the future!

[MiguelSanchez-tuen]

when does LSE plan to make a video piece on how women predominate in higher education? or how they predominate in the symbolic economy?

[julius]

1:56 what is that even supposed to mean?

[Marie-Wally.K]

This is a really well-prepared video. Creating content that breaks down complex, science-based findings in a clear and accessible way is incredibly important. Thank you for the effort to make valuable knowledge more understandable and impactful for a wider audience!

[mdraws]

The comments in this video are hilarious because they're clearly from men who either spent their whole lives in academia or are simply oblivious to the world around them. Anyone who has actually worked a tech job in a tech company sees the gender disparity this video talks about every working day.

[ian]

It doesn't matter that much and will be completely trivial in the future as AI will take over most coding tasks. The topic should be who is better at big-picture thinking and innovation. Coding skills are not the only factor that makes a tech unicorn.

[moviezonehowto]

I do not believe, any of her fact,
She is speaking what ever she thinks .

[xushenka]

Super interesting and valuable insight! Thank you