The following is from the ARRL website...I brought over the first
paragraphs as a starting point. The remainder may be read in it's
entirety at www.arrl.org.

My question: Is this even an issue?

Less than .01% of all quilters are male...Is quilting about to
burn out?

Is there some great conspiracy to prevent women from testing? Are
there armed guards at the doors to bar their entrance? If so, I've
never seen them.

73

Steve, K4YZ

QUOTE:
A Study of Amateur Radio Gender Demographics

By Ken Harker, WM5R
March 15, 2005

One of the under-represented demographics in the Amateur Radio world is
women. Everyone knows that there are many fewer female hams than there
are male hams, both among those licensed and those active on the air.
As a competitor at some of the major Amateur Radio Direction Finding
(ARDF) meets, I've noticed that the womens' entry categories have
had only about a fifth as many entrants as the mens' categories. As
an HF phone contester, I've observed that a very small percentage of
my QSOs are made with women operators (as low as 2%!). So how many
women Amateur Radio operators are there?

UNQUOTE

K4YZ wrote:
The following is from the ARRL website...I brought over the first
paragraphs as a starting point. The remainder may be read in it's
entirety at www.arrl.org.

My question: Is this even an issue?

Less than .01% of all quilters are male...Is quilting about to
burn out?

Is there some great conspiracy to prevent women from testing? Are
there armed guards at the doors to bar their entrance? If so, I've
never seen them.


It seems to be the same with many technical careers or hobbies. There
is a lot of effort to recruit women to the engineering ranks. But not
that many appear to be attracted to it.

Perhaps we need to have tight control over this sort of thing. A
carreer / hobby lottery, so to speak. When you are in 6th grade, you
draw at random two things, a career slip and a hobby slip. And that is
what ya train for and do from then on. Strict control will have to be
exercised in order to enforce gender equity!

I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty goofy to me.

That there are less women in the ARS is true enough. But that is
interesting from a "why is that?" standpoint. It probably isn't so
interesting from a "how do we change Ham radio to attract more women?"
aspect.

Dee or Kim might be able to shed some light on that, in form of "Why I
am interested in Amateur radio" or perhaps some insight on why a lot of
women aren't.

- Mike KB3EIA -


QUOTE:
A Study of Amateur Radio Gender Demographics

By Ken Harker, WM5R
March 15, 2005

One of the under-represented demographics in the Amateur Radio world is
women. Everyone knows that there are many fewer female hams than there
are male hams, both among those licensed and those active on the air.
As a competitor at some of the major Amateur Radio Direction Finding
(ARDF) meets, I've noticed that the womens' entry categories have
had only about a fifth as many entrants as the mens' categories. As
an HF phone contester, I've observed that a very small percentage of
my QSOs are made with women operators (as low as 2%!). So how many
women Amateur Radio operators are there?

UNQUOTE

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...

[snip]


That there are less women in the ARS is true enough. But that is
interesting from a "why is that?" standpoint. It probably isn't so
interesting from a "how do we change Ham radio to attract more women?"
aspect.

Dee or Kim might be able to shed some light on that, in form of "Why I am
interested in Amateur radio" or perhaps some insight on why a lot of women
aren't.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Well Mike, I got interested in Amateur Radio because my former husband
dragged me to a class saying "Let's do this TOGETHER." After I was
involved, I found that I enjoyed it for its own sake. So that's when I
decided to continue to study and upgrade and go all the way to Extra.
Although he and I parted a few years ago, I still am active in ham radio.

As you may or may not know, I am an engineer. However, I really can't say
why this and other technical fields don't attract more women. One of my
daughter's also went into engineering and the other one couldn't care less
for technical fields.

I'll give this some more thought though but right now must run my daughter
around.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Michael Coslo wrote:

It seems to be the same with many technical careers or hobbies.
There
is a lot of effort to recruit women to the engineering ranks. But not

that many appear to be attracted to it.

Ditto meteorology. The American Meteorological Society had lots of
verbiage in the BAMS and a questionaire "what should we do to
attract..."

Time frame was 80's as I recall. I had hoped we had gotten past all
that by now. We've got women doctors, truck drivers, and weight
lifters. And even a movie about women boxers. It's time to drop the
"first woman to... whatever" stuff.

Perhaps we need to have tight control over this sort of thing. A
carreer / hobby lottery, so to speak. When you are in 6th grade, you
draw at random two things, a career slip and a hobby slip. And that
is
what ya train for and do from then on. Strict control will have to be

exercised in order to enforce gender equity!

The Gulag for the dissenters.

I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty goofy to me.

That there are less women in the ARS is true enough.

And?

But that is
interesting from a "why is that?" standpoint.

It's hard to tune them in on SSB.

It probably isn't so
interesting from a "how do we change Ham radio to attract more
women?"
aspect.

Reminds me of Larry Roll/K3LT and his "Welfare mothers of color"
remarks.

Dee or Kim might be able to shed some light on that, in form of "Why
I
am interested in Amateur radio" or perhaps some insight on why a lot
of
women aren't.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Whoa! I thought we weren't allowed to take anything Kim says
seriously? And Dee will merely spout the ARRL party line.

"bb" wrote in message
oups.com...

Michael Coslo wrote:

It seems to be the same with many technical careers or hobbies.
There
is a lot of effort to recruit women to the engineering ranks. But not

that many appear to be attracted to it.

Ditto meteorology. The American Meteorological Society had lots of
verbiage in the BAMS and a questionaire "what should we do to
attract..."

Time frame was 80's as I recall. I had hoped we had gotten past all
that by now. We've got women doctors, truck drivers, and weight
lifters. And even a movie about women boxers. It's time to drop the
"first woman to... whatever" stuff.

Perhaps we need to have tight control over this sort of thing. A
carreer / hobby lottery, so to speak. When you are in 6th grade, you
draw at random two things, a career slip and a hobby slip. And that
is
what ya train for and do from then on. Strict control will have to be

exercised in order to enforce gender equity!

The Gulag for the dissenters.

I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty goofy to me.

That there are less women in the ARS is true enough.

And?

But that is
interesting from a "why is that?" standpoint.

It's hard to tune them in on SSB.

It probably isn't so
interesting from a "how do we change Ham radio to attract more
women?"
aspect.

Reminds me of Larry Roll/K3LT and his "Welfare mothers of color"
remarks.

Dee or Kim might be able to shed some light on that, in form of "Why
I
am interested in Amateur radio" or perhaps some insight on why a lot
of
women aren't.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Whoa! I thought we weren't allowed to take anything Kim says
seriously? And Dee will merely spout the ARRL party line.


I do hope you meant to add a smiley to that.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

bb wrote:
Michael Coslo wrote:


It seems to be the same with many technical careers or hobbies.

There

is a lot of effort to recruit women to the engineering ranks. But not


that many appear to be attracted to it.


Ditto meteorology. The American Meteorological Society had lots of
verbiage in the BAMS and a questionaire "what should we do to
attract..."

Time frame was 80's as I recall. I had hoped we had gotten past all
that by now. We've got women doctors, truck drivers, and weight
lifters. And even a movie about women boxers. It's time to drop the
"first woman to... whatever" stuff.


Perhaps we need to have tight control over this sort of thing. A
carreer / hobby lottery, so to speak. When you are in 6th grade, you
draw at random two things, a career slip and a hobby slip. And that

is

what ya train for and do from then on. Strict control will have to be


exercised in order to enforce gender equity!


The Gulag for the dissenters.


I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty goofy to me.

That there are less women in the ARS is true enough.


And?

Right!



But that is

interesting from a "why is that?" standpoint.


It's hard to tune them in on SSB.

You are correct! perhaps *there* is the discrimination! hehe



It probably isn't so

interesting from a "how do we change Ham radio to attract more
women?" aspect.


Reminds me of Larry Roll/K3LT and his "Welfare mothers of color"
remarks.

That one was sorely troublesome.


Dee or Kim might be able to shed some light on that, in form of "Why
I am interested in Amateur radio" or perhaps some insight on why a lot
of women aren't.

- Mike KB3EIA -


Whoa! I thought we weren't allowed to take anything Kim says
seriously? And Dee will merely spout the ARRL party line.

I have no problems with either.

And I wonder what the ARRL party lin is on "wimmin in radio"?


- Mike KB3EIA -

K4YZ wrote:

The following is from the ARRL website...I brought over the first
paragraphs as a starting point. The remainder may be read in it's
entirety at www.arrl.org.

My question: Is this even an issue?

Kind of. There is a wide gender gap between men and women in the
engineering fields.


But working in the field, they account for 9 percent of all U.S. engineers

There is a quote that shows up at several sites:

"Women still face gender-specific obstacles when studying and preparing
for careers in engineering and other sciences. There is solid evidence
that mentoring can help address this disparity" said Muller"

http://tinyurl.com/5lm92

Despite the prevalence of the quote, I'm not sure what the disparities are.



Or they can force 'em to go to "tech camp"

http://tinyurl.com/5m82m



Interestingly enough, there are High schools that place emphasis on
science and math. The enrollment in these schools is roughly equal,
gender wise. But the female students tend to gravitate to liberal arts,
medicine and law.

see
http://tinyurl.com/3umlf


Finally, I'm not sure what to think. I've discussed the issue with a
woman engineer I work with. Interestingly enough, she says she KNEW she
wanted to be an engineer from the time she was a kid. No forcing to go
to camps. She thinks the recruitment efforts are not going to work,
because one does not pick engineering like one may pick a major from a
school catalog.

Oh, and she says she hates being called a "Woman Engineer". "Engineer"
by itself will do just fine thank you!

A sample of one, of course, but perhaps a little telling.

Maybe people who are interested in engineering get tin to it for that
reason, and people who are not into engineering do other things.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Michael Coslo wrote:

K4YZ wrote:

The following is from the ARRL website...I brought over the first
paragraphs as a starting point. The remainder may be read in it's
entirety at www.arrl.org.

My question: Is this even an issue?

Kind of. There is a wide gender gap between men and women in the
engineering fields.

But working in the field, they account for 9 percent of all U.S. engineers

There is a quote that shows up at several sites:

"Women still face gender-specific obstacles when studying and preparing
for careers in engineering and other sciences. There is solid evidence
that mentoring can help address this disparity" said Muller"

There's any easy way out of all this stuff, Mike: Fire the president of
Harvard. Lawrence Summers made some gender-specific comments on women
in math and the sciences which, while true, may cost him his job. The
PC police were all over him like African flies on a dung pile in the
wake of his statements.

I met Summers during his visit as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury to
the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki. He showed less ego than any high level
visitor I ever encountered. He was quickly known as "Call Me Larry"
Summers since anyone addressing him as Mr. Summers or Secretary Summers
was quickly told to "call me Larry".

There are differences in the way that men and women think. There are
things which mostly interest women and there are things which mostly
interest men. There are things which a lot of men and not very many
women are good at. There are things which a lot of women and not very
men are good at. If you don't like my statement, fire Larry Summers.

There aren't many women in amateur radio. There have never been many
women in amateur radio. While the numbers have been and are likely to
remain small, some of the females have been very, very good operators.
Mae Burke W3CUL a CW whiz and traffic handling demon and DXers Martha
Henson and Iris Colvin W6QL, come to mind.

Now we need Len Anderson to chime in with something about how amateur
radio is predominately "white".

Dave K8MN

Dave Heil wrote in
:

Michael Coslo wrote:

K4YZ wrote:

The following is from the ARRL website...I brought over the
first
paragraphs as a starting point. The remainder may be read in it's
entirety at www.arrl.org.

My question: Is this even an issue?

Kind of. There is a wide gender gap between men and women in
the
engineering fields.

But working in the field, they account for 9 percent of all
U.S. engineers

There is a quote that shows up at several sites:

"Women still face gender-specific obstacles when studying and
preparing for careers in engineering and other sciences. There is
solid evidence that mentoring can help address this disparity" said
Muller"

There's any easy way out of all this stuff, Mike: Fire the president
of Harvard. Lawrence Summers made some gender-specific comments on
women in math and the sciences which, while true, may cost him his job.
The PC police were all over him like African flies on a dung pile in
the wake of his statements.

I met Summers during his visit as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury to
the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki. He showed less ego than any high level
visitor I ever encountered. He was quickly known as "Call Me Larry"
Summers since anyone addressing him as Mr. Summers or Secretary Summers
was quickly told to "call me Larry".

There are differences in the way that men and women think. There are
things which mostly interest women and there are things which mostly
interest men. There are things which a lot of men and not very many
women are good at. There are things which a lot of women and not very
men are good at. If you don't like my statement, fire Larry Summers.

There aren't many women in amateur radio. There have never been many
women in amateur radio. While the numbers have been and are likely to
remain small, some of the females have been very, very good operators.
Mae Burke W3CUL a CW whiz and traffic handling demon and DXers Martha
Henson and Iris Colvin W6QL, come to mind.

Now we need Len Anderson to chime in with something about how amateur
radio is predominately "white".

Dave K8MN


I'm not Len, but it is. There are very few black hams in the US, although
they have their own organisation, called OMIK. Apparently OMIK's original
purpose was for black mobile operators to pass info about where they could
stay, eat, buy gas, etc under the 'Jim Crow' laws.

Whilst it's hard to tell someone's race on air, it also seems that in the
Washington DC area the African Americans mostly seem to be self-segregated
on the 145.110 repeater. Of course, that machine does belong to a club in
the middle of the city, and not many white people live there.

Now you've really opened up a can of worms, Dave.

Alun, N3KIP

Now we need Len Anderson to chime in with something about how
amateur
radio is predominately "white".

Dave K8MN


I'm not Len, but it is.

True enough, Alun, just check out the ham photos in
the last half-century's ham publications.

No "profiling" qualifications needed...


Whilst it's hard to tell someone's race on air, it also seems that

On "CW" noboby can tell their gender.

That maybe explains why WOMEN's tees are so "cool!" :-)


Now you've really opened up a can of worms, Dave.

Big badass dave LIKES worms, Alun. :-)