If computer programmers behave badly toward women, it may be because they don't know many of them.
"Everybody has a hard time talking to people that aren't like them," said Ashe Dryden, an independent software developer who works with companies on diversity issues. "When we're looking at companies that are largely white, straight men, and asking them to introduce more diversity into their workforce, it can seem a little intimidating and many of them don't know where to start."
Dryden and two other women in the information technology industry spoke with host Kerri Miller about a problem they had all experienced: bad behavior from a workforce that is largely male, working in a business where most of the hiring depends on peers referring peers.
The result, Dryden said, is that "many companies are 80 or 90 or more percent men."
Ashe Dryden is a programmer, diversity advocate and consultant, prolific writer,