Re: Why the Widening Gender Gap in Computer Science?
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 10:09 AM, Helen Faulkner <helen@debian.org> wrote:
> (Hmm, have gotten very off-topic here. Sorry to those who are bored with the
> direction this thread is taking.)
definitely! it's interesting but a very big tangent :)
> To get back on topic, does anyone think that CS-related careers are harder or
> easier, compared to other careers, to take a break from and actually get back
> into it? As in: is it a career that fits well or badly with the types of
> disruption that parenthood often presents, for men or for women? Maybe this is
> part of the reason why women are being turned off CS - the field changes so fast
> that you lose 6 months you might be in trouble...
I think that there's definitely a perception that it is really hard to
get back into. Perhaps some really technical women feel that if they
take a break for a year they will either find it hard to get back
into, or they'll lose their technical edge and end up in project
management or some related, but not purely technical, field.
On the flipside, it's also an industry where you can watch and observe
and keep up to speed on what's going on - reading technical blogs,
staying involved in open source communities and watching what's
happening can help. It still takes time that new mothers don't have,
but at least you can do it from home in any fleeting moments you might
have...
p
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