It would be interesting to get some hard numbers and compare the two situations further, but if I recall correctly the results of a survey from a year or so ago, a large proportion of Wikipedia contributors are also male, despite it requiring relatively little technical knowledge to edit it.

It’s nice to see that Nat Torkington followed up on Julie’s wish for interviews with people who became hackers (the good kind) as children (although I’ve noticed that a number of folks who were interviewed started a bit later in life). I don’t k…

Perhaps it’s simply because young women don’t have their own computers?

Nah, most girls I know have tons of computer time. They just spend it on AIM. Or playing flash games. My geekier friends (anime fans) like free MMOs like Maple Story and Runescape. I guess they just aren’t interested in something you have to pay for, not when you can get all the fun stuff (collecting different outfits and weapons, selling stuff, chatting) in the free ones. Grown women with jobs will probably be more willing to pay money for better graphics and gameplay and all that. Maybe that’s the reason for the gap?

I was particularly interested that women get computers so much later than young men do. I hadn’t realised, but Hanna’s quite right that that would make a huge difference. Possibly relatedly: I was surprised to learn from Nick Yee’s research that while something like 90% of young players of WoW are male, the gender balance is much more even (40/60, I think, sorry, too tired to check right now but it’s linked above) for players in their mid-twenties and older. Perhaps it’s simply because young women don’t have their own computers?