[tomp]

> high school teachers and college professors who told them, straight to their faces, that programming was "for men" and they don't belong. There are still plenty of male employers who pass over perfectly qualified candidates just because they're women; plenty of male classmates who harass women with "get back in the kitchen" jokes.

And what is this kind of announcements/programs doing to change that?

[icebraining]

I believe the idea is counterbalancing negative with positive discrimination until the culture starts to change (which is more likely to happen if there are more women in the profession).

[ceol]

Like icebraining said, the biggest way to influence the industry is to get more women into it. The more women, the weaker the current we must row against.

Change is much more likely to happen if there is a substantial population of women participating in the industry.