Comments on: Message From The CIO: Send More Women! http://www.theaccidentalsuccessfulcio.com/staffing/message-from-the-cio-send-more-women The Premier Blog For Learning How To Become A Successful CIO Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:01:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Dr. Jim Anderson http://www.theaccidentalsuccessfulcio.com/staffing/message-from-the-cio-send-more-women/comment-page-1#comment-837 Dr. Jim Anderson Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:52:55 +0000 http://www.theaccidentalsuccessfulcio.com/?p=1034#comment-837 Bruce: great use of negative logic! Sp let's tackle your first point -- are men not creative enough? The answer to this question lies not in the gender issue, but rather that pesky word "enough". I'm reasonably confidant that left to their own devices, men can pretty much come up with a solution to any problem. However, that doesn't mean that it will be the best solution. A poor example of this would be if you somehow had a very ugly growth show up on your face, what would you do to look more attractive? A guy would probably grow a beard to hide it. A woman would start to use makeup to cover it up. Which solution is correct -- I don't know, but they are two different ways to solve a problem that guys probably couldn't come up with on their own... Remember, most IT jobs are unattractive to women because of what they require you to do. Break them apart and recombine them and you can probably make both genders more happy... Bruce: great use of negative logic! Sp let’s tackle your first point — are men not creative enough? The answer to this question lies not in the gender issue, but rather that pesky word “enough”. I’m reasonably confidant that left to their own devices, men can pretty much come up with a solution to any problem. However, that doesn’t mean that it will be the best solution. A poor example of this would be if you somehow had a very ugly growth show up on your face, what would you do to look more attractive? A guy would probably grow a beard to hide it. A woman would start to use makeup to cover it up. Which solution is correct — I don’t know, but they are two different ways to solve a problem that guys probably couldn’t come up with on their own…

Remember, most IT jobs are unattractive to women because of what they require you to do. Break them apart and recombine them and you can probably make both genders more happy…

]]> By: Bruce http://www.theaccidentalsuccessfulcio.com/staffing/message-from-the-cio-send-more-women/comment-page-1#comment-834 Bruce Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:18:55 +0000 http://www.theaccidentalsuccessfulcio.com/?p=1034#comment-834 Two questions: Is this really a problem? You state that IT problems require creative problem solving, but equating this with a need for women in IT implies that men are not creative (or creative enough) and/or diverse enough of background to form highly successful teams unless women are included as well. But you don't offer anything to support that assertion. Now, if we go ahead and assume that having more women in IT will produce tangible, positive results-- as you have-- the next question becomes: Is the return worth the effort it will take to increase those numbers? I do agree with the idea of redefining job roles to make them more attractive to women. If done in a sensible way, this is a good approach. On the other hand, since "most IT jobs are not attractive to most women" advertising would seem to be a poor use of resources. "Veil of secrecy"? If you have reasonable job descriptions, how is IT different than other departments? Or at least those that require specialized knowledge (finance or engineering, e.g. might have job descriptions equally challenging to a layman). Two questions: Is this really a problem? You state that IT problems require creative problem solving, but equating this with a need for women in IT implies that men are not creative (or creative enough) and/or diverse enough of background to form highly successful teams unless women are included as well. But you don’t offer anything to support that assertion.

Now, if we go ahead and assume that having more women in IT will produce tangible, positive results– as you have– the next question becomes: Is the return worth the effort it will take to increase those numbers?

I do agree with the idea of redefining job roles to make them more attractive to women. If done in a sensible way, this is a good approach.

On the other hand, since “most IT jobs are not attractive to most women” advertising would seem to be a poor use of resources. “Veil of secrecy”? If you have reasonable job descriptions, how is IT different than other departments? Or at least those that require specialized knowledge (finance or engineering, e.g. might have job descriptions equally challenging to a layman).

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