Gender Gap in the Computing Field

The social issue is discrimination. Although society has tried to defend that man and woman should be treated fairly, the opposite is what really happens. More women are being deprived of opportunities they deserve.

I don’t have any grave personal experiences which prove that there is really gender gap in computing. But I recall a close friend who felt depressed of the obvious bias treatment to her. She was employed as a computer instructor in one prestigious state university in the north last 2003. Her department head favors one of her co-teachers, a male instructor. For the head, no one can do better than his pet, not even she. Worse is, he even tells her frankly ‘you cannot do that. Just leave that. Let Mr. F… do that.’ Under that head’s term, she often thought of resigning for one primary reason: she started questioning her own capability. In other words, she started losing her confidence.

The problem is not ‘women being lesser qualified’. It is, in fact, the ‘old character’ of the society which tends to put man in higher pedestal than women. The solution, therefore, is ‘removing that old character’ and replacing it with a new one, which encourages equal treatment. But of course that is not easy and automatic. Change should start within the society. It starts with each person.

In the Philippines, society has encouraged equal treatment towards men and women.  In general, companies have been opening opportunities of work in IT to both men and women, which is great.

Because, progress depends not on gender, but on the capability of one.