Every few years researchers rediscover the fact that most software developers and other IT personnel are men. They always act surprised. How on earth, they muse, did this happen? What is to be done about it?
I've reviewed representative works from the past few decades of literature and I've come to a conclusion, which is this: No one knows how it happened, nor what is to be done.
It is not that we are lacking theories to account for the gender disparity in our field. There are plenty of theories. But they all have something in common. In their rush to be politically correct, the researchers are uniformly careful not to suggest that there is a difference in the way men and women think.
Once you notice this peculiarity in the researchers' articles, it's impossible not to see it. Authors tie themselves up in knots trying to avoid saying that an innate difference between the genders accounts for the different rates at which they succeed in IT departments. On the contrary, pundits are likely to say that there is absolutely no difference in innate ability – neither quantitative nor qualitative – whether or not this premise has been confirmed as part of their research.
All of this is, of course, absolutely contrary to our daily experience.
We know better, don't we? Can't we agree that men, in general, excel at a highly focused linear thinking style, while women, in general, are better at making their way through complex webs of facts and incomplete data? And can't we agree, for the sake of harmony, that both styles of thinking are of value in our field?
In fact, as development projects become more complex, they are likely to yield more readily to the nonlinear thinking processes we commonly associate with the feminine mind. Test-driven development, agile programming, cloud computing, geographically diverse development teams...these new facets of the software-development business present just the sorts of challenges that women are good at solving.
But don't take my word for it. Here are a few resources to justify (or at least explain) my political incorrectness.
What do you think? Do the women you have worked with bring something unique to the job? Drop me a line and share your experiences.
Web recommendation: I didn't intend for these pointers to focus solely on blogs and personal Web sites. But that's how whimsy has ruled me of late. Today I send you to the site of Eric D. Brown of Dallas, Texas. Brown doesn't have the impressive CV of some of the industry luminaries whose sites I have cited in recent posts, but I like his way with words and his views on technology. It's good stuff. J.D. says check it out.
J.D. Hildebrand has written hundreds of articles for dozens of publications and online communities dedicated to software development. He recently relocated to a small town outside Belgrade – stop by if your travels take you through Serbia.