时差N小时:计算机和女人Computer and women

When you hear the term, "computer geek," whatimage immediately pops into mind?

当你听到 “电脑狂人”这个词,你马上想到的是什么?

Is the geek in your mind's eye a woman? Probablynot.

在你眼里会马上浮现女性的影像吗?可能不会。

There's a reason the stereotype of the computergeek is almost always depicted as male.

这是因为刻板的电脑狂人几乎是男人的代名词。

Around the world, significantly more men thanwomen work in computer science.

在世界各地,在计算机科学领域的男性明显比女性多。

Sociologists understand that the underrepresentation of women in the sciences andmathematics isn't simply a matter of women stinking at these subjects or lacking interest inthem.

社会科学家理解在科学和数学领域女性的稀缺不是简单的女性讨厌这些学科或缺乏兴趣。

If women believe they aren't talentedin science and math or that these subjects don't hold interest for them, this is in part a result ofthe widely circulated belief that these subjects come more naturally to men.

如果女性认为他们在理科方面没有天赋,或者对这些科目不感兴趣,这部分是由于广为流传的相信这些科目天生适合男性。

Women are thought to be better suited to fields such as education and healthcare.

女性则被认为更适合教育和医疗等领域。

Women who dare choose a career in the sciences or in math are likely to experience prejudicefrom their male colleagues, as well as from the community at large.

敢选择投身于科学或数学职业的女性有可能体验到来自于她们男同事以及从社区的偏见。

Sociologists found it curious though that the degree to which women are underrepresented incomputer science varies largely from one industrialized country to another.

然而社会学家惊奇地发现,在何种程度上计算机科学的女性稀缺很大程度上从一个工业化国家到另一个是截然不同的。

Women are much better represented in computer science in South Korea, Ireland, and Turkeythan in the Czech Republic, Germany, or Belgium, for example.

韩国,爱尔兰,土耳其的女性在计算机和数学领域比捷克,德国,或者比利时等国家有着更为优异的表现。

Why the difference?

区别究竟在哪里?

What South Korea, Ireland, Turkey, and the United States all have in common is thatgovernmental education requirements insist that girls and boys alike complete a significantnumber of science and mathematics courses in order to graduate from high school.

韩国,爱尔兰,土耳其和美国所有的共同点是,政府教育坚持要求女孩和男孩为了高中毕业都必须完成大量的科学和数学课程。

As a result of such requirements, girls are able to judge from experience whether their interestsand talents lie in science and math rather than letting gender stereotypes decide for them.

由于这种需求,女孩能从经验来判断自己是否在科学和数学具有天资或者感兴趣,而不是让她们根据性别来判断。