My friend Charles tweeted the title of this blog the other day, so I couldn’t help but check the article out. Despite the current trend and view, did you know that the first computer programmers were women and that programming was once dominantly viewed as women’s work?
Back in the mid 1900s, computer programming was seen as a “natural career choice for savvy young women.” This was because managers viewed programming as clerical work (like filing and typing). Software was seen as less important than hardware, so women were left to do the software while male engineers focused on the hardware. But once it became apparent that programming was valuable and intellectually challenging, the field became highly masculinized. Continue reading »