[game_edu] Implications of students going into a male-dominatedindustry?

[Anthony Hart-Jones]

   Encouragement is good, bribery (excessive bursaries and other 
financial inducements) would just be sexism by another name.  Denying 
funds to men which you offer to women is still gender-bias of the worst 
kind, no matter that you might put a word like 'positive' before 
'discrimination'.

   The change, as you say, as Maria Droujkova points out in her reply, 
must be social and not industrial.  I studied engineering in a campus 
that included computer science and it is true that the bursaries and 
bribes I saw helped to encourage women into the degrees, but it didn't 
help them into industry.  In many cases (such as my sister's) it just 
encouraged them to take a degree they were ill-prepared for simply for 
the money and then drop out before even completing the first year.
   Some might argue that even 10% of the induced sign-ups completing the 
degree is a positive step, but it still sends the message that women 
should define themselves by what another person will pay them the most 
money to do.  That is a step backwards...

  - Anthony

On 20/09/11 18:16, Gillian Smith wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:12 AM, Nathan Runge<contact at nathanrunge.com>  wrote:

>> It is our responsibility to ensure equal accessibility, but not our right to

>> attempt to enforce quotas or ideal ratios. In this same manner, any

>> education must remain focused on student outcomes and industry-relevant

>> practice, rather than compromising to entice more females into classes.

> Why do you feel that encouraging women to enroll in a game design or

> game programming course necessitates a compromise? What is being

> compromised?

>

> I am honestly baffled as to what you could mean here and would like

> clarification.

>

> -Gillian

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