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Update gender and ethnicity

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Bob Mottram 2018-10-15 15:47:17 +01:00
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entries/Gender and Ethnicity.txt
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Gender and Ethnicity
Hackerdom is still predominantly male. However, the percentage of women is
clearly higher than the low-single-digit range typical for technical
professions, and female hackers are generally respected and dealt with as
equals. In the U.S., hackerdom is predominantly Caucasian with strong
minorities of Jews (East Coast) and Orientals (West Coast). The Jewish
contingent has exerted a particularly pervasive cultural influence (see Food
, above, and note that several common jargon terms are obviously mutated
Yiddish). The ethnic distribution of hackers is understood by them to be a
function of which ethnic groups tend to seek and value education. Racial and
ethnic prejudice is notably uncommon and tends to be met with freezing
contempt. When asked, hackers often ascribe their culture's gender- and
color-blindness to a positive effect of text-only network channels, and this
is doubtless a powerful influence. Also, the ties many hackers have to AI
research and SF literature may have helped them to develop an idea of
personhood that is inclusive rather than exclusive after all, if one's
imagination readily grants full human rights to future AI programs, robots,
dolphins, and extraterrestrial aliens, mere color and gender can't seem very
important any more.
Currently (2018) about 25% women in commercial software development.
FOSS projects are more difficult to assess due to the common use of
pseudonyms, but the percentage is probably similar. Before 1970
people writing software code were more like 50% women or above, and
this early change in gender composition has now been well documented.
The ethnicity of hackers varies depending upon where you are and
it tends to follow whatever is normative for the region. So if you're
in Europe or North America it's overwhelmingly Caucasian. In those
areas anyone non-Caucasian tends to be kept out of commercial
software development due to entrenched discrimination.