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by InclinedPlane 3771 days ago
Not long ago there was a report that came out on the quality of work of women software engineers. Turns out it was significantly higher than for the average male software enginee. This is actually not a good thing, and many people came to the wrong conclusions about it. My reading is that women aren't being hired in software unless they can prove themselves to a higher standard than men. I suspect the same is true for lots of other groups (like blacks and hispanics).

There remains pernicious and not widely appreciated systemic bias in this industry, and until it's even acknowledged we're not going to have much luck in tackling it.
2 comments
MollyR 3771 days ago
That report was highly suspect and HN had a large difference of opinion.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11102712

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11074587

I would really recommend this article http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/02/12/before-you-get-too-exci...

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chroma 3771 days ago
That report was simply not true. If anything, it showed there was no bias based on sex. In addition to MollyR's links, see Slate Star Codex's Before You Get Too Excited About that GitHub Study.[1]

1. http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/02/12/before-you-get-too-exci...

Edit: If my comment seems unnecessary, it's because MollyR edited-in a link to the Slate Star Codex post before I finished mine. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's read SSC's rebuttal.

link