Women in IT don't need special treatment
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 28th May 2012 19:25 UTC
In the News This topic comes up quite a lot on technology websites, but I generally try to steer clear from it as much as possible, since I'm not the one to talk about it (you know, with me being a man and all that), however, I feel it might be a good idea to just get my opinion out there and be done with it. The topic of women in IT is a hot-button issue, so let me just go out guns blazing: assuming women need special treatment, help, protection, and affirmative action is just as insulting and degrading as outright claiming women have no place in IT - maybe even more so.
E-mail Print r 12   · Read More · 114 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/k2d
Permalink for comment 519980
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[3]: Hmh.
by Neolander on Wed 30th May 2012 06:20 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Hmh."
Neolander
Member since:
2010-03-08

It's not really up to the father: a woman is the one who has to carry the child for 9 months with all the negative side-effects that entails and which affect job-performance,

Sure, men can do nothing about this part, that's why I said that we have it easier in the beginning and should try harder later to compensate.

a woman is the one who has to breast-feed the child since most men cannot do that, and if the parent is responsible she won't put the child in daycare for atleast the first 3 years.

These are more matter of debates. Breast-feeding first : it's a choice, not an obligation. Some mothers do it, and some don't. I've recently heard something about its health benefits for the baby being overestimated (it would only have temporary effects, no long-term effects).

And then there is this three years number. I don't have statistics in mind, but this sounds like an oddly large number. I'm pretty sure no one does it for so long here, but I could ask all these young parents around me at work in order to get a better idea. It may be a bit of culture-specific thing (like the "Raubenmutter" stigma in Germany).

Concerning daycare... Here, an option that is often explored is getting help from the grand-parents, if one of them is retired at the time children are born. They are considered more trustworthy than strangers, so maybe one starts to get help from them earlier. But again I don't know how long after birth parents do it, I'd have to ask

And then, as Alfman mentions, there's the issue of money... A couple would really have to be fairly wealthy in order to afford losing half its income for an extended period of time, at the very time where there's an extra mouth to feed. Here, employers are supposed to keep the job contract running and continue paying a salary for about 4 months, but after that you're on your own...

Again, I can have a look around, but I'd be surprised if three years of parental leave is customary around here. That would make most French mothers irresponsible in your view, which is maybe a bit excessive.

Edited 2012-05-30 06:29 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 1