So it seems somehow appropriate that Big got her next wildlife explorer magazine today 
And I did the footprint quiz that Kris linked to:
“IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.6 PLANETS. ”
Hm. That’s a bit of a problem then. My main problem is the commute I think. Although I went back through it a few times, and found it very difficult to drag it down much (couldn’t get it to the one planet level without giving up work and therefore not needing the car!), would require quite extreme lifestyle changes. 
Right, I’ve swanned around most of the morning (got up to do washing up so children could eat, then went back to bed as my head didn’t feel like it was attached to my body) and I’ve got piles of stuff to do. Quite literally - there used to be sofas in this room, and at the moment there is bottom room for only one 6 year old girl. I will declutter!
Might recap various bits of the week later on, but for now, it’s enough to say it’s been a very long week. I’ve worked longer hours in four days than I supposed to work in five. At least the four rather than five meant slightly less driving. And yesterday the children spent part of the afternoon with Kris, and they seem to have had a fabulous time. I got to unwind and chat with a human being, realised how rarely I get to do that these days. This working lark is hugely overrated you know.
I did a bit of research on the IT industry as well. I had no idea that I am so unusual - actually that’s not true. I’ve followed a number of less travelled paths through my time, it’s kind of a hobby of mine. And I know that as a female programmer I’m in a minority, but I hadn’t realised how small the minority is. But some quotes and links I found:
news.com
“Long hours and a macho culture are driving women out of the IT profession, according to research from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and IT trade body Intellect.
The “Women in IT” industry study was commissioned on the back of figures from the Office of National Statistics showing a 6 percent decline in the number of women employed in the IT industry between 1997 and 2005.”
“Women make up a pathetic 2% of the technical and software development workforce.”
(Although I’m still trying to find out where this statistic came from.)
The bbc
“I’m a programmer by trade and I know probably several hundred, and I have only ever met one woman,” Mr Sear said.
(Where is this guy socialising??)
The register
“The main problem here is lack of role models,” George says. “If you ask a room full of 11-year olds how many of them know a female programmer, chances are no one will put their hand up. Doctors, lawyers, teachers on the other hand, there are now plenty of role models.”
Well, I’m here to say that if anyone of you would like your children to know a female programmer, I’m here, I’m alive, and I think it’s a pretty good career choice.
18 Comments
Hmm, I got:
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 6.6 PLANETS.
1.4 planets here. Must try harder.
Hmm I got 1.0 planets. Although I suspect if DH did it his would be greater as he drives to work.
I was 2.2 The drive to work was against me. and the house size. [though we do our best to limit energy use it is still high] in our favour the lack of shopping we do
2.4. It looks bad but I’d have to live a rather boring life to change it!
It was the commuting that put mine way off as well. When I took that out of the equation, and looked at the last three month, I was at 1. Another reason to tell them to **** off?
Pretty good reason Joyce, you get to save the world and your sanity all in one easy step
And wow, Tech, well done!
“IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE’D BE ON OTHER PLANETS.”
I don’t get it.
2.0 I think it was not being veggie that put it up the most for me.
1.5 which I reckon is about right. Clearly my meat consumption tipped the balance a lot ;-)and although I don’t use my car that often it is fairly thirsty when I do.
2.6 planets for me, but I put that down to the Land Rover.
I changed the fuel consumption figure only by a couple of marks and it dropped to 1.8 planets. Time to buy a bicycle, methinks.
I don’t believe the 2% for a second. A full 1/3 of my graduating class (17 years ago) was female.
Because of the driving I’m at 3.4 planets. Canadian average is about 5.
But at least the Canadians have a lot more land mass on which to play.
But it’s awful cold.
The CNET report is misleading :
“Many of the women said they had to work harder than male colleagues to achieve success and break through the glass ceiling. “
Original press release from Intellect :
“The fact that the IT industry is male-dominated made many women feel that there was a glass ceiling, and that they had to work harder than male colleagues to achieve success. “
Something does not exist because someone “feels” it exists, however strongly they feel it. That would be admitting that it is the women themselves that are creating the glass-ceiling.
That 2% sounds about IME. I was one of only 6 woman in a class of well over 100 when I went to Uni, 2 of us were 18, 3 were mature students, one left after a year and then another gave up shortly after me in the second year and the other was only doing some of our modules as part of a maths degree. I think only one female made it to the end of the 4 year course, one of the mature students died so presuming she would have made it and there was some male dropouts too that would make it around 2% LOL! I was also the only person in my whole school who was looking at doing computers (one on one teaching for my AS level) although reading through Friends Reunited lots more are now doing IT based jobs but still not programming. At the time I was also practically guaranteed a place at several Unis to do Computer Science based solely on the fact I was female. I know there are more now but as a subject being entered into rather than fallen into later I think females are highly under represented!
Further to my note - the original report that the Intellect press release came from notes that *4* women mentioned the glass ceiling. This was only *11%* of the participant group - this is not by any means “most” of the women.
Not wanting to be picky (then again, why not?) the bit you quoted says ‘many’ not ‘most’. Although I’m not convinced that 11% is really many either.