Python is an Equal Opportunity Programming Language
Stephen Hansen
me+python at ixokai.io
Sat May 7 04:02:16 EDT 2016
On Fri, May 6, 2016, at 11:43 PM, Gregory Ewing wrote:
> Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> > Who is setting and enforcing this quota, and given that only about 1 in 20
> > Python programmers is a woman, do you think men are seriously missing out
> > on any opportunities?
>
> Suppose there are 100 people wanting to ask questions, and
> there is only time to answer 10 questions. If the 1 in 20
> ratio holds, then 5 of those people are women and the other
> 95 are men.
>
> Alternating between men and women means that all of the
> women get their questions answered, and only 5/95 of the
> men. So in this example, if you're a woman you have a 100%
> chance of getting answered, and if you're a man you only
> have a 5.26% chance.
>
> Whether you think this is a good strategy or not,
> beliavsky is right that it's not "equal".
This is a pedantically and nonsensical definition of "equal", that
ignores the many, many reasons why there are 1 in 20 women in that
conference. Its looking at the end effect and ignoring everything that
leads up to it, and deciding its instead special rights -- this is the
great argument against minorities getting a voice, that their requests
for equal *opportunity* are instead *special rights* that diminish the
established majority's entrenched power.
Those women are dealing with suppression, discrimination and dismissal
on multiple levels that leave them in a disenfranchised position.
Recognizing those faults and taking corrective action is fundamentally
an act in the name of equality.
Correcting for inequalities can not, itself, be a purely "equal" task
done in pure blindness of the contextual reality of what is going on in
the world.
--
Stephen Hansen
m e @ i x o k a i . i o
More information about the Python-list
mailing list