Was I blind?

Yesterday the cover article in the NY Times Magazine was "The Secret History of Women in Coding." It was about the decline in the number of women programmers. There were a lot of them in the early days, but, at some point, the number dropped quite a bit. I began my career in the software programming field in 1961 and can attest to the fact that many women dropped out of the field in the '70s and '80s. I could never figure out why. The work was fascinating and challenging, did not require heavy lifting and paid well. Many of us felt that we were helping to change the world. The best programmers then were women. They moved up in the programming world at the same rate as men. I worked for women managers and, as a manager, hired many women. Several women built their own companies.

The article asserts that they dropped out because of sexual discrimination. I think the bulk of the departures occurred in large companies where they were developing programs to better the company’s business. In my experience, the departure rate was less in small companies and really less in companies that developed basic software, such as operating systems, languages, testing aids, etc.