"Why Women Don't Code" is an essay by University of Washington computer science lecturer Stuart Reges, published in Quillette in June, 2018. The essay, addressing gender disparity in computing, became "one of the most read" items posted in Quillette in 2018 after a link to it was tweeted by Jordan Peterson.
In the article, Reges addresses the question of why much larger numbers of men than women pursue computer science degrees and careers in software engineering. He attributes this disparity to differences in interests between the sexes, rather than to either differences in aptitude or discrimination, whether overt or implicit. He discusses the claim that "the gender gap is mostly the fault of men and the patriarchal organizations they have built to serve their interests" and concludes that it is inconsistent with what he has seen in his experience as a computer science professor. He contends that the field has already "harvested the low-hanging fruit by eliminating overt discrimination and revamping policies and procedures that favored men" and that the percentage of women in technology is unlikely to be raised higher than 20% through further diversity initiatives, while emphasizing that this does not mean that women who choose to enter the field should feel unwelcome.
Reactions and analysis A response by professor Barbara Oakley was printed in The Wall Street Journal. A response by professor Mark Guzdial was published on the Communications of the ACM blog. A response to the essay written by professor Anna Karlin was posted in Medium and reprinted by the Computing Research Association. The essay was listed by Politico among other "'dangerous' ideas" that made Quillette "the voice of the intellectual dark web".
In 2021, an Associated Students of the University of Washington senator cited the existence of the essay in putting forward a demand that students be able to convene a jury to remove university teaching staff if the jury finds material they publish discriminatory. The senator said Reges violated conduct codes by citing "research on universal sex differences" in the essay, and expressing the conclusion "that systematic oppression is not the cause of the tech field's boy's club mentality".
The essay was assigned reading in a 2023 University of Notre Dame course "Ethical and Professional Issues",UND and recommended reading for a 2022 UC Davis course "Ethics in an Age of Technology".UC Davis
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(originally published in Medium Aug 15, 2018)
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