[emodendroket]

> it's funny, back when programming computers and managing tech projects was (perceived as) low status work for nerds who didn't fit in anywhere else, i didn't see much if any hullaballoo over the lack of females in these roles. now that all of a sudden everyone including celebrities spends their entire day glued to the internet like a bad crack habit and people are getting rich off ones and zeroes, it's all of a sudden a real big deal and really super duper important. like i said, funny.

I think you're lacking a bit of perspective here. At first, when it was considered routine, rote work, it was mostly women who were programmers (you can find contemporaneous articles saying it's appropriate work for women because programming is basically like preparing a dinner). It was only as companies started to realize the importance and difficulty of the work that women were largely driven out.

[exstudent2]

Women were not "driven out". The job requirements changed. What you're referring to as programming was more what we would call data entry now.

[DanBC]

When she does it it's data entry; when he does it it's programming?

The blatant unrepentant sexism in this thread, not just you but a bunch of other people, is disturbing.

[exstudent2]

No, the male programmers back then were doing data entry too. It mainly has to do with the transition from punch cards to digital storage. A "programmer" was someone who entered a program or data into a computer. The definition of the role changed as computers did.