'Gender Blind'

July 19, 2012

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For Marissa Mayer, the former Google executive who was recently named Yahoo!'s new president and CEO, being the only woman in upper-level computer science classes did not faze her. Speaking with the 92nd Street Y in New York City as part of its Campaign for the American Conversation program, Mayer said that she grew up "gender blind," and that she was encouraged early on to pursue science because she was good at it.

"Just asking the question" — of how to get more girls science — "I worry, sometimes, can handicap progress," Mayer told 92Y. She adds that because she never really realized that she was part of a minority group in her field, it didn't affect her success much. "If I had felt more self-conscious along the way, being the only woman, I think it would have actually stifled me a lot more," she said.

Can you seriously imagine

Submitted by molly.hammell on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 13:32.

Can you seriously imagine that someone who was the "only woman in upper-level computer science classes" did not realize they were in the minority? Ignoring the persistence of gender disparities, especially in quantitative fields, is not going to make the problem go away.

I believe that while some,

Submitted by mmoser on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 16:50.

I believe that while some, not all of the observed gender disparity can be traced to bias. Some portion of the disparity is caused by the fact that men and women make different choices. Men and women may measure "success" in different ways on average. In my personal experience Marissa Mayer would be judged by many of my female (and some male) acquaintances at best an incomplete success. She has not yet succeeded in raising a child to adulthood. I took time during my career to stay at home with kids when they were younger. Yes I am a man, but talk about gender disparity when my Ph.D. adviser first learned of my plans to stay at home each AM with the babies! I would state that having children that turned out to be OK human beings is a far bigger success to me than a Ph.D., patents, any of the discoveries and publications I have ever authored or the multi $M products I have developed. By Marrissa Meyers standards of becoming a CEO I may be a failure, but I will let you be the judge.

The word is faze, not

Submitted by sheilamc_1 on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 01:09.

The word is faze, not phase

"For Marissa Mayer, the former Google executive who was recently named Yahoo!'s new president and CEO, being the only woman in upper-level computer science classes did not phase her".

@sheilamc_1 Thanks for

Submitted by tvence on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 13:58.

@sheilamc_1 Thanks for pointing that out. Fixed!

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