[lordCarbonFiber]

I feel you are taking a very juvenile view here. One of the foundational axioms in the push for greater diversity in tech (and one I firmly support) is the idea that there is great value in a community of differing experiences and thoughts. If you accept that it's only logical to take female candidates over male candidates until the difference in their ability is judged to be greater than the advantages of adding that new viewpoint to the team.

Unless you're hiring at random, a whole host of other value judgements are made per candidate on top of any kind of objective technical merit. If these judgements slant toward inclusionary I think the positive feedback in increasing diversity is worth a lot more than the negatives you mention (imposter syndrome is felt across the entire industry and ignoring the added value of diversity to placate the egos of misogynists has it's own delicious irony).

This is coming from a white male who is acutely aware he only has his job because he looks the part; imposter syndrome never stops being a bitch.

[CatDevURandom]

> very juvenile view here

What an absurd characterization. I get that you don't agree with this person, but what -- if anything -- did this person say that was juvenile?

[lordCarbonFiber]

>Positive discrimination is not positive, because discrimination is never positive, no matter which group it favours.

This is the particular statement I take offense to (and should have just quoted in the parent, such is life). Black and white generalities with no argument or data to back it in my experience are the exclusive domain of adolescents and television pundents. Neither of which I would expect to be upvoted here.

[cbeach]

You claim we need women to encourage different "experiences" and "thoughts." And by saying that you imply that different men don't have different experiences and thoughts. When it comes to coding, there's a huge diversity of thought. And that has no relationship to gender as far as I can see.