welty@algol.crd.ge.com (richard welty) (05/10/89)
The New York Times article on women and computing made one passing remark about the number of women programmers in Japan, and gave the impression that women had better opportunities in computing there. I suspect that the author of the article misunderstood Japanese society. You see, i've heard tell of an incident where the japanese executive in charge of a US/Japan joint effort in robotic control publicly and comtemptuously dismissed programming as `women's work', suggesting that programming as a profession is held in fairly low esteem in Japan. just a little food for thought, richard -- richard welty welty@algol.crd.ge.com 518-387-6346, GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York ``Quotes and commas and backquotes, oh my''
duncan@dduck.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) (05/10/89)
In article <6971@ecsvax.UUCP> welty@algol.crd.ge.com (richard welty) writes: >The New York Times article on women and computing made one passing >remark about the number of women programmers in Japan, and gave >the impression that women had better opportunities in computing >there. I suspect that the author of the article misunderstood >Japanese society. > >You see, i've heard tell of an incident where the japanese >executive in charge of a US/Japan joint effort in robotic >control publicly and comtemptuously dismissed programming >as `women's work', suggesting that programming as a profession >is held in fairly low esteem in Japan. While I have not heard any comment on the latter point from people I know who have visited Japanese software organizations, I have heard about the former: the opportunities in software. People mention seeing few, if any, women in the major software firms in Japan -- perhaps NONE in any level of management. But one point needs to be made first is that, according to people from the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers, there is a rather strict hierarchy of business organizations in Japan with the government on top, followed by the major (traditional) big companies, followed by the big company subsidiaries and foreign companies, followed by the next level of subdidiaries, followed by the venture firms. Organizations do NOT do business, directly, with anyone not adjacent to them in the hierarchy. Thus, maybe there are more women at the lower levels of the hierarchy in the venture or lower subsidiaries. But esteem at those levels for ANY industry may be lower than for the same industry at the major corporation level. I have heard this all from several people who have visited, and lived in, Japan and, as such, would take it more seriously than a "passing remark" in the Times or the statement of one hardware person (even if they are Japanese). In the latter case, since it is joint work, it may be at a lower level fo the busi- ness ladder already than the situations I am noting. Hence, if they are doing business with the very lowest levels of the hierarchy, it may be more populated with women there. I think it would be important to hear from more sources about this before mak- ing any decisions about women's opportunities in Japan vs the US. Speaking only for myself, of course, I am... Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan) (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ 08854) (201-699-3910 (w) 201-463-3683 (h))