Apparently today is Ada Lovelace Day — an attempt to raise the profile of women in technology. The lack of ladies enjoying our hobby was naturally a popular topic amongst young male geeks, who would relish at any opportunity to meet even the odd girl. Some may consider that to be immediately sexist, but let's look at the facts: the majority of single men would like to meet single ladies. The majority of single women would like to meet single men. There is nothing unnatural, degrading or chauvinistic about that. It doesn't mean there aren't other possibilities and combinations out there. That is just the average way things are right now. That need will obviously be more acute if these men or women are mainly involved in activities which lead them to only meet people of the same sex. So yes, girls in tech has always been a matter of much discussion.

People say attitudes are changing, but I'm not convinced. For instance, I have yet to meet any female democoders. I'm sure they are out there, but it's hardly what one could call an overwhelming feminist movement. Even women who are employed as coders will be much less inclined to join in at a weekend hacking marathon, seemingly taking the approach that coding is a job, not a lifestyle. I'm sure to be strung up for saying this, but I don't think this is purely cultural. People say women wouldn't be welcome, or that guys wouldn't accept them, but ask the average geek guy what he thinks and the answer will be a resonating "Yes!". Once again: male geeks would love nothing more than to meet female geeks. I find it very hard to swallow the exclusion theory, but I am willing to be proven wrong.

I remember watching a BBC documentary about toddlers and even at very early ages there were differences. The question is: why is this a problem? After all, there are not a lot of articles about how so few men are involved in knitting or embroidery. Why is that we, as a society, seem to value traditional male activities more? Is a hacker lifestyle the only way?

The real crime takes place when we allow any perceived generalisations, whether cultural or not, to get in the way of the individual. By that I mean that if a girl is interested in technology then this interest should be fully allowed to flourish, and to be respected. Possibly even more so than normally, as it is breaking the mould — something the Alt Party has always stood for. So while there may or may not be patterns in the interests of men and women, women should be encouraged to find out about technology if they are so inclined, they must absolutely not be offered less pay for the same job, and their achievements should be remembered as equal to their male counterparts. If that attitude then eventually leads to an even split of men and women in technology, so be it (and we'll have proved the biological theory wrong). I will make an educated guess that the next Alt Party will be dealing with some of these topics, but more on that later...

Luckily there are examples of intelligent women doing exactly that: demolishing the norm and accomplishing extraordinary things. Ada Lovelace herself is an important role model, being one of the few people to understand the possibilities offered by Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, and indeed recognised as the world's first programmer. Another one I would like to mention as one of the unsung heroes, if not a programmer as such, is the late Delia Derbyshire. She was one of the earliest to experiment with electronic music and sound and, indeed, was behind one of the most timeless pieces of electronic music: the original theme tune to Doctor Who, as well as many of the early soundscapes used in the show.

Finally I'd like to share a picture of our lovely cat at home. She has yet to make any big technological breakthroughs herself, but her purring on my lap sure helps with the stress in coding. Oh, and her name is Ada.