> “You only got that internship because you’re a woman,” P. said. I was floored. [...]
> “Good one,” I said. After all, we were talking about my Microsoft internship. Microsoft has a program for women and underrepresented minorities, but I wasn’t in it. I was a regular old SDE intern.
Yes - but what if you had been in one of those programs? That is the problem with explicitly preferring some group over another, not based on their skill level, when the people you select want to only be selected for their skill and nothing else.
I'm not saying that sexism in the industry isn't a problem, but the solution is more difficult than "just hire more women"
> I'm not saying that sexism in the industry isn't a problem, but the solution is more difficult than "just hire more women"
This is true, but one of the biggest steps you can take toward fixing the various forms of explicit and implicit sexism in the industry is to hire more women. It's not sufficient, but it is necessary. Moreover, the existence of such programs can be beneficial in the short term, as well. They really only skew significantly problematic if they are willing to compromise on standards in order to meet the goal of hiring more from underrepresented groups but we have no reason to think they are.
That is, think of it another way: the programs exist to provide more opportunities than would otherwise exist but getting in doesn't imply you only got in because you were of a given demographic. You're still being selected for your skill above all else.
you're right - it is more difficult than that. which is why i am little surprised that you said "that is the problem...". it is a problem. there are also other problems and other advantages. as you said - it's complicated (and i'd hate for you to be misunderstood as claiming to draw some simple conclusion from it).
> “Good one,” I said. After all, we were talking about my Microsoft internship. Microsoft has a program for women and underrepresented minorities, but I wasn’t in it. I was a regular old SDE intern.
Yes - but what if you had been in one of those programs? That is the problem with explicitly preferring some group over another, not based on their skill level, when the people you select want to only be selected for their skill and nothing else.
I'm not saying that sexism in the industry isn't a problem, but the solution is more difficult than "just hire more women"