[elbrodeur]

Interesting take on things, especially from a woman. Typically, this stance:

"How can we make more women successful? Without fundamental changes in how men and women perceive attractiveness, it will be difficult to change the status quo. ... what about making the next "Carrie Bradshaw" a hardworking tech entrepreneur?"

is taken by men.

I think that the "reason" that there are fewer female entrepreneurs and hackers than men is because of this psuedo-sexist ideology.

Why must it be attractive for a female to be powerful in order for her to succeed? Screw how good you look. Do what you love and you'll be surrounded by people who appreciate you and what you do.

Personally, I believe the disparity lies not in social overtones of popularity, attractiveness and potential as a mate; I believe that the disparity is primarily due to lack of mentorship, education and people telling women, specifically in this case, that they can excel as an entrepreneur if they choose.

My guess, though, is that this disparity is not going to last very long. Gender differences continue to grow smaller in other fields and instances; why not starting companies? Or, at least, it is my very sincere hope that this is the case. Partially because it makes me sad every time 100 guys on HN try and figure out what's wrong with women.

[kiba]

I will just say the politically incorrect things:

Women are in general more interested in having babies than men.

Women are also just different than men in some way, not just physically, but socially.

We should close gender gap where possible, but we shouldn't insist on equal gender balance if women really don't like to go into the same career that men goes into.

[elbrodeur]

What do you mean by "more interested in having babies than men"?

Do you mean that, because women are capable of carrying a child to term that they are more interested in copulating?

Do you mean to say that women want to have and raise children more than men?

I'm not sure I understand your point.

As to "Women are also just different than men in some way, not just physically, but socially", all I can say is this was much more true 50 years ago than it is today, but that doesn't mean that it's not true now. What I (as well as the author of the article) was trying to address is: Why?

"We should close gender gap where possible, but we shouldn't insist on equal gender balance if women really don't like to go into the same career that men goes into."

Who is advocating forcing people to do things?

[kiba]

Who is advocating forcing people to do things?

I felt like that there is an assumption of male sexist bias against women or something. So I feel something like "assumption of female ability in all area, regardless of reality".

I also feel the ideas of "males are sexists and evil and the like".

Then they forget that males are disproportional one of the most violent offenders, but also overachievers.

So I spoke the truth as I see it.

Don't be so offended, I would like a hacker woman to marry and love. I wish there were more of them around and I wish I have the skills to date them. However, I also recognized, that women are women, and there will never be a 50% split gender tech population.

[omarchowdhury]

I think what kiba and Beatrice Pang are saying is that it is biologically ingrained in the psyche of women to want children.

The same way a hot woman is universally attractive to heterosexual men. It's how we are. I guess my second point is a bit irrelevant but I'm adding on to what Beatrice is saying: much of our behaviors follow a certain template to ensure the continuation of the species, there's a special synergy between men and women.

[rbanffy]

> what's wrong with women.

Nothing is wrong. There is no wrong. People are different. I like to say I was born an engineer, that's some neurological condition I can't escape. Is there something wrong with me? Of course not!

[chisophugis]

>Why must it be attractive for a female to be powerful in order for her to succeed?

There is an undeniable biological tendency to want to attract a partner. Hence, any human's behavior will tend (in varying amounts) toward striving to be attractive to a partner. This foments a tendency for men to seek "Success, wealth and power" while fomenting a tendency for women to seek "beauty and femininity" (to use the article's wording).

[rbanffy]

Just to complete you, these are the attributes that enable men to be more supportive and women to produce healthier offspring.