Brainwash: The Gender Equality Paradox
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended in HN threads on gender gaps in tech as a well-researched look at how gender differences and professional choices may arise.
What it is
An episode of the Norwegian documentary series Brainwash, in which a comedian interviews academics from different sides about gender differences and gender equality. It looks at why more equal societies can still show unequal career choices.
Recommended by 6 HN commenters across 7 different months, 2014 to 2021.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec sputr · 2015-02 · on “An Open Letter to Jessica Livingston About YC's Female Founders Conference”
I think everyone discussing any gender gap should really watch this Norwegian documentary: Brainwashed: The Gender Equality Paradox [this video] The "social expectations" hypothesis fails to explain why countries with higher living standards have more polarized sectors. The idea that in a perfect world with no "social pressure" we would reach a parity between genders ignores just about all research done on the biological gender differences.
Strong rec T2_t2 · 2015-10 · on “What Really Keeps Women Out of Tech”
> We yearn to be with others like ourselves and to fit in. The idea is that this is what "keeps people out". Surely, the flip side is true, and people are defined / made happy by the same notions. People in the west are so far up Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that we've stopped caring about the basics of life. Specifically, of [LINK] we no longer choose a job that gives us food, shelter or safety (the first two), and instead we choose jobs based on how well it provides us with love/belonging, esteem and self-actualisation. That is why young people choose jobs less and less with money as the sole or even primary determinant. If this is the case, that people are choosing professions that help t
Recommends oblique63 · 2014-04 · on “Who Gets Into Accelerators? Persistent Men With SaaS Apps, Says Study”
> Most people feel that isn't the case though. That the disparity is a social problem that we can change and fix. Recently saw a really interesting well-researched Norwegian documentary that explores this topic and kinda throws that whole view into question: [this video]
Recommends T2_t2 · 2016-11 · on “You can’t fix diversity in tech without fixing the technical interview”
> I am less inclined to believe there is systemic bias against women, and minorities, and instead a culture difference between groups who are well represented in engineering, and groups which are not. And that cultural difference is INDIVIDUAL CHOICE. When people are free to choose whatever they like, because they aren't scared of starving, which is true in Western countries, they overwhelmingly choose gender stereotypical professions. This is most true in the most gender neutral countries, Scandanavia basically, where the gap is the widest in traditional roles such as nursing. As you go down the GDP per capita list, the gender gap shrinks. Indian, Chinese, and Russians are from cultures whe
Recommends the-dude · 2019-11 · on “A.I. Systems Echo Biases They’re Fed, Putting Scientists on Guard”
Brainwash, a Norwegian documentary does a good job : [this video] Among other things, he visits a doctor who has to decide which gender to choose for babies who obviously need some work ( sorry for the wording ).
Recommends woohoojoo · 2020-10 · on “Half of young women will leave their tech job by age 35, study finds”
100% agree. There are major psychological And physiological differences Between men and women. (Reminder: difference is the opposite of equal. Also, genetically distinct individuals are not equal. “Equal” is only useful in quantitative analysis). Learn more here: “Gender Equality Paradox” - a Scandinavian comedian explores this topic by interviewing academics from various sides of the political spectrum. [this video]
Recommends mzan · 2021-11 · on “Stereotypes about girls dissuade many from careers in computer science”
If you view "Brainwash: The Gender Equality Paradox" on YouTube, you will find interesting answers. [this video] In a scientific experiment, from the age of nine months, boys choose masculine toys, while girls choose femmine toys. Boys are more attract from inanimate systems, while girls from social interactions. Obviously culture has an effect, every person is unique, etc., etc. So there cannot be limitation on what a person want and can do. It is only unrealistic pretending that 50% of boys and 50% of girls will have the same interests in work and life, because they are different.
Cites mpweiher · 2015-04 · on “Women preferred 2:1 over men for STEM faculty positions”
There are actually studies on this. It turns out that the more egalitarian and more wealthy a society, the more unequal the outcomes[1]. Talked about in "Brainwash", a Norwegian documentary[2]. [1] [LINK] [2] [this video]