What 'bad press' are women in IT getting? Unless you are referring to Patricia Dunn at HP (although not for much longer as chair, thank goodness) who deserved every ounce of criticism and her sex never came into it.

Seriously, while I agree that there should be more women in IT (and there is certainly an upward growth curve) I can't see how the media is being a negative influence here.

I don't agree with you, are even or more qualified women get turned down for an job in IT then? I never heard of something like that.

And games are violent because there is an ask to violent games, not just because the programmers like them.

No, not the media as such, but the general public in particular. When was the last time you heard of a woman programmer? When was the last time that a woman got praise for writing a good programme? When was the last time that woman got the parise they deserved in the IT business? Women seem to always get the raw end of the stick when it comes to IT. If you look around the Internet, you may see women in IT roles, but they are not as well thought of as their male counterparts. Its still too male oriented, thats what I meant! And there is also too still to much stereotyping about "geeks!" (males who sit in their bedroom all day on thier computers and never leaving their rooms.) And, to go back to the "violent games" quote. How many girls/women have you spoke to who like killing innocent people and children, beating people up, blowing up buildings, stealing cars etc? There is too much violence in the world today as it is, and I think that women would drastically tone down the violent nature of video games, and not only that but also prduce far better results at programming than any man could cause they are definitely more logical and more forward thinking!

I thought the head manager/programmer of Firefox was female. And I don't really see people get famous in programming. Many may use PHP but not know the names of the people that programmed it, which is offcourse different from people that are listening to music, those mostly know the names of the singer.

I know some people that are female and liek to play violent games. You shouldn't be so stereotyping, there are women who love (virtual) killing an there are man that love playing the sims

Certainly many of the geek girls I know enjoy beat em ups and shoot em ups and especially first person shooters and online clan gaming as much as the boys, if not more. They can be really vicious these geek girls you know

I think the reason there are less women in the IT field is that when it comes to higher education they don't want to be the only girl on a course. Same with engineering courses.

My group at uni had 3 girls and 25 guys. Well, 2 girls and one I think was a girl.

>So, why are they getting such bad press?
That's news to me. All the press I've seen or participated in has been good. Do you have links to this "bad press"?

>Women programmers are much too few and far between.
Are you saying this because there's a legitimate and measurable deficiency because of the lack of women? Or are you just trying to be some sort of feminist snob?

>And the reason for nearly all computer games being so violent? Because they are programmed by men!
Absolute BS. This comment actually made me laugh out loud, which is hard to do. Programmers write what they're told to write. Most of us don't have the option of picking and choosing, and we certainly don't have a strong influence on market trends. Many games are violent because consumers like violent games and game companies pay their programmers to write games that comsumers want.

>Just a note, I wonder what the ratio of men to women on this site alone is?
Predominantly male, just like everywhere else. This shouldn't come as a surprise at all.

>Anyway, sorry to sound off like this (and maybe a little sexist?)
You sound ignorant and annoyingly opinionated without facts to back up your statements, but not sexist.

>When was the last time you heard of a woman programmer?
I work closely with one on a daily basis. :rolleyes:

>When was the last time that a woman got praise for writing a good programme?
In my experience, when female programmers have been present, they've been acknowledged as appropriate for their skill, just like the men.

>If you look around the Internet, you may see women in IT roles, but
>they are not as well thought of as their male counterparts.
Please, tell the men at my company that. They might stop asking me for help all of the time and I can actually do my own work.

>I think that women would drastically tone down the violent nature of video games
Games lacking violence are generally boring.

>also prduce far better results at programming than any man could cause
>they are definitely more logical and more forward thinking!
Results are determined by experience, not any predetermined way of thinking. Yes, some people find it easier to pick up programming, but down the road the initial differences are negated by experience. Two programmers with the same experience should produce approximately the same quality regardless of gender.

Thanx for all the replys on this topic regarding women in computers! Did'nt reliase it would get such a response!! OK, perhaps I do not have many facts to back up my arguments, I was just going by past personal experience. so, it looks as if I was wrong and that women are breaking into the predominantely male world of IT, which is a good thing! I don't think of myself as a feminist snob (particulary as I am male,) just looking for equal oppertunities for all! You have shown me that women are now taking just as much a role as men in IT and that my ideas are draconian and old fashioned! This is good!! Teaching me the error of my ways! I can sleep tonight knowing that I was wrong in my way of thinking! Women and men are equal here and everywhere else!! Thank you!! I have seen the light!! Goodnight!!

Either that was excessive sarcasm, or you really need to switch to decaf. :rolleyes: