[euccastro]

> I dislike the implicit message being sent by offering money specifically to women to go into engineering/computer science.

[Disclaimer: I'm attending the current batch of Hacker School and was mad impressed at Etsy's facilities in a recent visit.]

I don't think Etsy is offering women money to attract them into the field, if that's what you mean. As I understand it, the proximate purpose of the money is to enable those women that are otherwise interested in the Hacker School proposition. Supporting oneself in an expensive city like NY for three months is a nontrivial handicap.

The gesture delivers the message that women are appreciated, at least in this particular environment. This may be the right kind of nudge.

In more prosaic terms, because of the newsworthiness of this initiative more women will learn of this opportunity.

It doesn't make sense to me to think of that as a 'bonus'. Who wants to hire anyone that would base their career choice on a $5K bribe?