kcwellsch@watrose.UUCP (Kenneth C. Wellsch) (01/11/84)
My name is Ken Wellsch, First I would like to apologize for posting this under "net.women" but I felt it would reach people most qualified and interested in replying to the open question that follows. I have become much more conscious of the still remaining imbalance in the male/female population in not only Engineering, Mathematics, Physics etc, but also my field, Computer Science. I would like to ask interested people, especially women, to whom this topic "net.women" is intended, to give me some idea if the imbalance is still severe and their experiences with it. My fiance'e is almost finished her Masters Degree in Computer Science and we have discussed many of the difficulties she has encountered in her school career. There were many situations in which she was the only female student in the class ( of size approximately 40 people ) and she found it very difficult to feel comfortable in such a setting. I'm curious what attitudes women are meeting today in what was (unfortunately) a male dominated area. I'm quite pleased to find between 1/4 and 1/2 of my graduate class mates are female, but a few years ago this was not true. Not only to satisfy my curiousity, this is one way I'm trying to understand how traditional attitudes discriminate against people, especially when they are not even aware they are doing it. I'm optimistic that the once male dominated fields will not remain so, but for this to occur I think people in such fields must make a conscious effort to include ALL people. Old attitudes may exist, but I trust people are intelligent enough to come to the realization that women are equally capable. I must admit I'm pleased with current trends, and hope they will continue if not increase. Also there are obviously personal reasons for my curiousity. Having lived a very in a very "traditional" setting for my earlier years, I find myself with a conflict. One in which the more realistic and fair modern approach clashes unconsciously with my early traditional attitudes. So I attempt to gain an insight into an area in which I have very little knowledge, so that if and when I choose to argue for equality I have some facts. In so many cases it comes down to the relationship between men and women, and how they perceive each other and themselves. Sometimes I ask myself, if I were the only guy in an all girl class of people I didn't know, could I ask to join a group, or would I wait to be asked or assigned? Ken Wellsch University of Waterloo Ontario