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>>Incidently, Barbara, do you find yourself having to overcome gender bias still or is that mostly a thing of the past? My fiance is a programmer and she still finds some resistance (resentment?) to the fact. Oddly enough though, while she is penalized for one bias she is rewarded for another. Being asian she finds that more people naturally assume that she is competent and hardworking than not. Go figure. You would think that this stuff would all be pasee by now.
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>I hope Barbara won't be upset at me jumping in here, but from my experience, among 95% of the programmers I've worked with (and the ones whose opinions mattered to me), the only question was whether or not I could code my way out of a paper bag (if you will forgive a tad bit of ego-stroking, I'm happy to report that I could and still can). Managers/laymen, on the other hand (particularly those who the question "Where do I turn this on" frequently stumped), seem to have some problems with a female programmer who knows her stuff.
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>One other interesting 'bias' that I have run across has to do with the 'uniform'. It seems (at least here in the South) that if you show up to do a programming job in the female business suit (hose&heels) people tend to believe that you are less qualified. I think it has something to do with the public's mental picture of what a "programmer/'puter geek" should look like (scruffy, cut-offs, sandals, etc.)

Thanks, Dorris, you've put down most of my answer for me :-)

Sure I run into people who don't think a woman can program, but I also have several woman-owned businesses as clients, and they feel MORE comfortable with me (in two cases I'm their second or third programmer). I also push hard to have prospective clients check my references before they meet me.

Barbara