Not invited for a job interview, because I'm female

[nismaratwork]

While I would probably tend to agree that men and women have different strengths/weaknesses, ultimately that is deeper analysis than is really needed. All that really matters is the fact that the sexes choose different professions.

Good point, much as women on average make better pilots, that doesn't mean we need to jettison our current air force. What needs to be done is what Monique has said; women need to gain higher positions so that they can uplift other women... and that takes time and constant effort; It doesn't take microscopic tolerances however.

 

[mheslep]

I wonder if actually having laws prohibiting such loathsome and brain dead discrimination in private industry is the most effective corrective.

I know that's a reach in today's modern world, but consider Monique's case: she may have had several reasons for not identifying the offending employer in this instance, but I speculate a major one was because doing so might have entangled her in a discrimination legal action, even if she did not personally bring charges - thus tagging her as a legal troublemaker to other potential employers. But if the legal discrimination laws and sanctions vanished, Monique's post here might have been very different, naming names: "Hey everyone, with my shiny new doctorate in hand I just applied for position X at the Neanderthal Research Institute, and sure enough they are what they do", possibly followed by some replys, "yes I had the same experience", and she moves on. Other employers know no legal problem can follow her, have nothing to fear. Instead they know she's forthright, and I warrant that a rather large and well deserved stink is then put on the Neanderthals, along with everyone working there.

 

[story645]

Females get a ridiculous number of benefits if they study the sciences.

I'm with monique here 'cause I actually went and researched this back when I was applying for grad school. All the fellowships are really difficult to get and severely limited in scope, and therefore not that shiny. Basically if someone can can win one of the opportunities offered to girls, it's 'cause her stats are awesome enough to win almost anything.

This is why many people view them as less competent - they usually are.

It's mostly a numbers thing. Most of my my undergrad CS and EE classes had 3-5 girls to 25-30 guys. Of those girls, about half were incompetent, but guess what? so were about half those guys. (Hell more, because studies find that girls are more likely to leave fields they're bad at than guys are).
So here's how it works: If there are only 3 girls and half of 'em are lousy, you tend to think of all of them as incompetent 'cause they don't wash out in a crowd of girls. The lousy guys tend to blend in more.
Or more simply:
How it Works

All that really matters is the fact that the sexes choose different professions.

Most of the studies on this find that it's very cultural, 'cause countries like Russia and India are always posted as examples where there's basically gender parity in many of the STEM fields.