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General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: Connecteur on September 13, 2020, 04:20:31 pm

Title: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: Connecteur on September 13, 2020, 04:20:31 pm
I know a few You Tube channels that deal with electronics that are run by women, but I was wondering how common they are.
(I'm referring to women who were born as women)
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: KrudyZ on September 13, 2020, 04:52:05 pm
(I'm referring to women who were born as women)
Was that really necessary?
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: NiHaoMike on September 13, 2020, 05:13:32 pm
I'm getting the impression that women are more likely to do woodworking and metalworking as opposed to electronics, or at least I see a lot more of those than electronics.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: Zero999 on September 13, 2020, 05:18:17 pm
Generally speaking, more men are interested in electronics, than women. As far as the transgender question is concerned: I genuinely don't know. The sample size is too small to know one way to another.

Unfortunately this sort of question tends to be met with all sorts of nastiness, so the thread should be locked, as soon as possible.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: jadew on September 13, 2020, 05:25:13 pm
Generally speaking, more men are interested in electronics, than women. As far as the transgender question is concerned: I genuinely don't know. The sample size is too small to know one way to another.

Personally, I'm aware of more transgender women into electronics than of naturally born women.

Anyway, the answer to the topic is without a doubt, yes, but I wouldn't know to tell you why that is.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: Wilksey on September 13, 2020, 06:00:59 pm
I only know of a few women who are interested in electronics, there are more in "engineering" but that covers a broader range, i.e. construction.

There are those who started life as a man who has transitioned (or whatever the correct terminology is) that are into electronics (Sophie Wilson (of Acorn fame) for ex), had they started life as a woman would they still have followed the same path? Who knows?  If not we probably wouldn't have ARM.

However, if you go into an assembly house there are a ton of middle aged women cranking away on assembly / soldering, maybe it's just the designing they are not a fan of?!  :-//

As far as I can see there is no reason for it just a lack of enthusiasm / interest.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: Bud on September 13, 2020, 06:46:47 pm
Anyway, the answer to the topic is without a doubt, yes, but I wouldn't know to tell you why that is.
Because men's and women's brains are wired differently. Guess what, i did not see many men doing knitting.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: Benta on September 13, 2020, 07:40:23 pm
I see what "Connecteur" is doing here: trying to get the same rise out of people that the ridiculous "woman passionate about electronics" thread has.

Sheesh.

Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: cdev on September 13, 2020, 07:43:30 pm
Its everybody who enjoys it's hobby.

 
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: janoc on September 13, 2020, 07:48:02 pm
Because men's and women's brains are wired differently. Guess what, i did not see many men doing knitting.

You would be surprised.

It is much more about society and upbringing of children than "brains being wired differently".

If you bring your kids up with your daughter being shown only "girly" or "appropriate for girls" stuff and your boy only "the boy stuff", no wonder. Ever been to a typical toy store? With aisles clearly delimited by color or boy/girl labels, with "boy side" having Legos, cars, guns (!) and "girl side" only dolls, princess outfits, make up and such? Also the peer pressure at later age when anything science/engineering is considered "nerdy" and "uncool" isn't helping.

A lot of girls are interested in technical pursuits but they tend to be put off - either by parents or later on by peers. I could see it clearly with my nephew a niece - while she is a typical "girly girl", she was pretty keen on things like computers, computer programming in Scratch, building stuff from Legos, helping my dad in the workshop, etc. But her parents aren't interested in that and aren't guiding her to explore it, more the exact opposite. So it is very unlikely she will wind up doing anything e.g. with electronics or engineering later in her life.

But it is "because men's and women's brains are wired differently". Yeah right.  |O
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: jonovid on September 13, 2020, 07:56:59 pm
cancel culture looking for a fight. ? group shaming BS  many bot's r offended   :-DD
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: cdev on September 13, 2020, 08:29:44 pm
Janoc, you should stick your neck out a bit for her and try to impress upon them how they should support her interests. Whatever they are.
Does she have her own raspberry Pi?

She'll be forever greateful to you. She is extremely lucky to have somebody like you in her family. What is it they expect young women are going to be doing for jobs in the near future? We cant all be (whatever it is they expect her to do)

Technical interests are also good for peoples sanity. Its a lot better than a lot of other things kids could be doing, put it to them like that. Technical interests can make huge differences in peoples lives.

Because men's and women's brains are wired differently. Guess what, i did not see many men doing knitting.

You would be surprised.

It is much more about society and upbringing of children than "brains being wired differently".

If you bring your kids up with your daughter being shown only "girly" or "appropriate for girls" stuff and your boy only "the boy stuff", no wonder. Ever been to a typical toy store? With aisles clearly delimited by color or boy/girl labels, with "boy side" having Legos, cars, guns (!) and "girl side" only dolls, princess outfits, make up and such? Also the peer pressure at later age when anything science/engineering is considered "nerdy" and "uncool" isn't helping.

A lot of girls are interested in technical pursuits but they tend to be put off - either by parents or later on by peers. I could see it clearly with my nephew a niece - while she is a typical "girly girl", she was pretty keen on things like computers, computer programming in Scratch, building stuff from Legos, helping my dad in the workshop, etc. But her parents aren't interested in that and aren't guiding her to explore it, more the exact opposite. So it is very unlikely she will wind up doing anything e.g. with electronics or engineering later in her life.

But it is "because men's and women's brains are wired differently". Yeah right.  |O

In San francisco, a couple of blocks from where I used to live there was a kitting and ceramics workship going on practically every night of the week in this building I used to walk past. there were guys there knitting. I think a lot of people take it up because its good exercise for the brain.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: John B on September 13, 2020, 09:05:30 pm
A+ clickbait, 50+ page thread incoming.

Seriously though, no need to jump on the OP about the trans thing. On youtube at least, it's rather interesting that the majority of the electronics and tech channels are made by men, and many of the women that have channels are male too. We don't need a pink elephant in the room/emperor's new clothes situation going on here. Keep in mind that this is a sample of youtube channels, not the general population.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: Zero999 on September 13, 2020, 09:20:21 pm
Because men's and women's brains are wired differently. Guess what, i did not see many men doing knitting.

You would be surprised.

It is much more about society and upbringing of children than "brains being wired differently".

If you bring your kids up with your daughter being shown only "girly" or "appropriate for girls" stuff and your boy only "the boy stuff", no wonder. Ever been to a typical toy store? With aisles clearly delimited by color or boy/girl labels, with "boy side" having Legos, cars, guns (!) and "girl side" only dolls, princess outfits, make up and such? Also the peer pressure at later age when anything science/engineering is considered "nerdy" and "uncool" isn't helping.

A lot of girls are interested in technical pursuits but they tend to be put off - either by parents or later on by peers. I could see it clearly with my nephew a niece - while she is a typical "girly girl", she was pretty keen on things like computers, computer programming in Scratch, building stuff from Legos, helping my dad in the workshop, etc. But her parents aren't interested in that and aren't guiding her to explore it, more the exact opposite. So it is very unlikely she will wind up doing anything e.g. with electronics or engineering later in her life.

But it is "because men's and women's brains are wired differently". Yeah right.  |O
There is evidence to support that female brains are different to male ones, but there is no definitive proof to suggest interests such as engineering are innate or societal.

What's definitely true is that raising a boy, as a girl, doesn't make him act like a girl, or believe he's a girl. This was proven with twins Bruce and Brian Reimer, back in the 1960s.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11814300 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11814300)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer)
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: cdev on September 13, 2020, 09:43:25 pm
Its an interesting historical fact that women used to do practically all the computer programming for the early NASA missions. Back then they were thought of as intrinsically better at it. This is historical fact and its easy to verify as many of these women are still remembered at NASA.

As workplaces go, there still are a lot of women scientists at NASA. And lots of them are doing things that push the state of the art, systems that demand a very high level of teamwork, knowledge and reliability. They have lots of female administrators too. And support staff. They  have kickass female system administrators, who know unix inside and out.

They do things like that as well as men do.  Thats what women are capable of in professional atmospheres where people have no time for bullshit.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: eti on September 13, 2020, 09:47:29 pm
I see this question (and thread) as a rocking chair in its potential to waste energy whilst getting nowhere.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: coppice on September 13, 2020, 09:51:47 pm
Its an interesting historical fact that women used to do practically all the computer programming for the early NASA missions. Back then they were thought of as intrinsically better at it. This is historical fact and its easy to verify as many of these women are still remembered at NASA.

As workplaces go, there still are a lot of women scientists at NASA. And lots of them are doing things that push the state of the art, systems that demand a very high level of teamwork, knowledge and reliability. They have lots of female administrators too. And support staff. They  have kickass female system administrators, who know unix inside and out.

They do things like that as well as men do.  Thats what women are capable of in professional atmospheres where people have no time for bullshit.
You have only talked about what women are capable of doing. What it more interesting is what they chose to do. I used to work in a large software house. It was split about 50:50 between the business software division and the technical software division. People were largely able to chose which division they were in. A little more than half the business division were women. I think there were 2 women in the technical division. Lots of the men wanted to get out of the business division, as they found the work dull and tedious. The women were eager to stay out of the technical division for similar stated reasons.

Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: magic on September 13, 2020, 10:07:36 pm
They do things like that as well as men do.  Thats what women are capable of in professional atmospheres where people have no time for bullshit.
NASA is a sad joke compared to what it used to be.
And I think we could use some sources for the "early missions" (which?) being "entirely" programed by women.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: cdev on September 13, 2020, 10:37:46 pm
https://www.history.com/news/human-computers-women-at-nasa (https://www.history.com/news/human-computers-women-at-nasa)

https://www.history.com/news/coding-used-to-be-a-womans-job-so-it-was-paid-less-and-undervalued?li_source=LI&li_medium=m2m-rcw-history (https://www.history.com/news/coding-used-to-be-a-womans-job-so-it-was-paid-less-and-undervalued?li_source=LI&li_medium=m2m-rcw-history)
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: wraper on September 13, 2020, 10:42:04 pm
However, if you go into an assembly house there are a ton of middle aged women cranking away on assembly / soldering, maybe it's just the designing they are not a fan of?!  :-//
That's just a shitty job where they were taught to do a single operation with little understanding of what they are actually doing.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: wraper on September 13, 2020, 10:45:48 pm
If you bring your kids up with your daughter being shown only "girly" or "appropriate for girls" stuff and your boy only "the boy stuff", no wonder. Ever been to a typical toy store? With aisles clearly delimited by color or boy/girl labels, with "boy side" having Legos, cars, guns (!) and "girl side" only dolls, princess outfits, make up and such? Also the peer pressure at later age when anything science/engineering is considered "nerdy" and "uncool" isn't helping.
When given a very free opportunity of what to do, like in Norway. Division of interests between men and women becomes even more prominent. Women simply like to be social but men tend to be absorbed with things. Becomes especially obvious when task requires somewhat extreme mentality like engineering.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: SpecialK on September 13, 2020, 10:46:58 pm
It's not a yes/no question.  It's a continuum.  It's generally a man's hobby but what does that imply?

I think that it's more nuture than nature.  Given the same exposure and opportunities women would probably take up electronics at a similar rate.  I don't think that there's any admission requirements that would keep females out of these programs, but I think there is probably social pressures that keep them away.  It's a damn shame.

I should really be trying to give my daughters some electronics experience.  Ages 14 and 16.  They haven't shown any interest, so it would probably be pushing a boulder up a hill.

I wonder if the perceived danger of electricity keeps women away.  They tend to have better judgement as far as risk is concerned.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: wraper on September 13, 2020, 10:50:37 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFBk1iLMPds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFBk1iLMPds)
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: cdev on September 13, 2020, 11:12:22 pm

This is from The Diplomat 
https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/chinas-forced-labor-problem/


Forced Electronics Internships

Other industries also rely on a cheap and pliable workforce amounting to forced labor by the exploitation of a large numbers of student interns from vocational schools. While company-based learning is supposed to be a crucial component of vocational educations, students are forced to accept internships in manufacturing industries — irrespective of the relevance of the industry for the students’ education — under the threat of failing to graduate if they decline.

Whereas such company-school partnerships have been practiced for many years, international attention was raised only in 2012, when forced internships were linked to global electronics supply chains.

“Vocational school students are sent to electronics factories, such as Foxconn and Quanta, to work as ordinary production line workers in the name of compulsory internship. Many, we met, were studying subjects irrelevant to electronics and told about threats by schools that they will not graduate from schools, if they refuse the internships,” says Michael Ma, project manager for Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), a Hong Kong based nonprofit behind several investigations.

New cases continue to be documented in electronics factories supplying brands like Apple, Sony, Dell, HP, and Acer. The practice seems unchanged by schools and electronics manufacturers, while brands dodge the issue.


However, if you go into an assembly house there are a ton of middle aged women cranking away on assembly / soldering, maybe it's just the designing they are not a fan of?!  :-//
That's just a shitty job where they were taught to do a single operation with little understanding of what they are actually doing.
Title: Re: Is electronics a man's hobby?
Post by: EEVblog on September 13, 2020, 11:18:14 pm
No good is going to come from this thread. Locked.