US Girls go geek again
By Techgirl

We don’t have this problem in India.  We Indian women are happy to work in any field because we are convinced that we can do a good job.  And the economic security of a well paying IT job, which empowers us, over rides many factors of personal choice.

Fog Creek Software, where computer programmers and not MBA managers, run the show has published stats on how American women are studying computer science in greater numbers

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In 1987, 42% of the software developers in America were women. And 34% of the systems analysts in America were women. Women had started to flock to computer science in the mid-1960s, during the early days of computing, when men were already dominating other technical professions but had yet to dominate the world of computing. For about two decades, the percentages of women who earned Computer Science degrees rose steadily, peaking at 37% in 1984.

In fact, for a hot second back in the mid-sixties, computer programming was actually portrayed as women’s work by the mass media. Check out “The Computer Girls” from the April 1967 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. It appeared between pieces called “The Bachelor Girls of Japan” and “A Dog Speaks: Why a Girl Should Own a Pooch.”

And then the women left. In droves.
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The Fog Creek blog post has details of how American women are returning in larger numbers to study computer science.  At some levels, Indian IT and BPO companies are better working places for women than their sisterhood in America.

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog techgirltalk.blogspot.com.  Techgirl has been ejected from Twitter for satirizing an Indian Minister.  Her satire blog has links to her Times of India interview detailing her being kicked out of Twitter, and then being invited back.