peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (11/07/84)
I'd like to add my voice to those supporting the notion of the Association
for Women In Computing. Like many of the previous posters, I wish such a
group were not necessary. Looking abstractly at the field and the
differences between men and women, one would be left with occupational health
issues, such as the effects of job-induced stress on pregnancies, for example,
which could be handled by a special-interest group within an occupational
health group within an organization like the ACM.
But women, as a class, *do* experience particular problems directly related
to their position as women in society. A multitude of examples can be found
in an MIT report published in 1983 titled "Barriers to Access". That report
contains a description of the problems faced by women in an overwhelmingly
male environment; for example, the unwanted close intertwining of technical
and emotional relationships (e.g. after a technical discussion, a woman may
well be asked "Would you like to go on a date tonight?").
That report convinced me that women do have special problems in computing
and that women gathered together in an Association for Women in Computing
would have a good deal to discuss. One would hope that, in not too long,
conditions will change so that such common problems will wither away, but
we're not there yet.
This debate also serves as (yet another, sigh) case study of how netters
are more concerned with their *personal* views of a subject rather than
the actual realities of a situation. Sure, it sounds as if an Association
for Women in Computing creates a false distinction, but an examination of
the world as it is indicates that there is a real distinction that such a
group can address. The "why do men rape?" discussion also seems to reflect
more on the way the posters want the world to be rather than the way it is;
thanks to Ken Hollis for posting some real data on it all.
peter rowley, University of Toronto Department of C.S., Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
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