Women in Computing: Nurture vs. Nature

It is no one’s place to say what a woman can and can’t do. What concerns me is that people like Senator Wyden push women to be in places that they may not want to be. I know that he has good intentions in providing equal opportunities for women in the field of hard sciences, but statistics are a dangerous way to measure success: people are not statistics. There is a growing trend to fight against conventionalism, to see men and women exactly the same, and to say (as I feel Senator Wyden is saying) that they should be the same. They are not the same. Thus we shouldn’t worry when statistics show that women aren’t doing everything that men are doing and vice versa. Should we be worried if we find that there aren’t as many stay-at-home dads as there are stay-at-home moms? No. It is generally in women’s nature to be more nurturing than men. Is it not possible that it is more in men’s nature than in women's to be drawn to the hard sciences?

In the same breath, I say that though different, men and women should have equal opportunity. Whether it be in upbringing or peer influence in adulthood, a woman should not be “trained” to arrive at a certain destination in life. Her free agency is as precious as that of anyone else. I agree with Senator Wyden’s insight that a female perspective adds beneficial diversity to any field. My point is that while we should be cautious of conventionalism as limiting opportunities for women, we should not overlook that convention is often created because it coincides with the general nature of the individuals concerned.