Women (and people of color) are likely
to have fewer financial resources than men (i.e. innovative time on their
hands at the keyboard). For single parents, it is worse yet (females who
do not have a partner
provisioning them); they just dont have the time. Moreover,
who wants to fight online intellectual/deletion battles and noob learning
curves when
there is: laundry to do, cooking and dishes, kids to take somewhere,
diapers,
homework, animals, gardens, transportation, and paying basic bills?
Daycare support in the U.S. has
evaporated and single-parent households have increased.
I've done lots of caregiving, for parents and brother in the last 20
years, and despite all the chores it does result in lots of free time at
home. Which I was motivated to use learning computing, getting on the
internet, etc. The alternative is often reading or watching TV with the
people you're taking care of.
Much of the time I was also working. This was an attractive activity for
me, getting information, playing games, participating in mailing lists,
working on Wikipedia. My nearest neighbor was half a mile a way and I
didn't like them. I was isolated by both geography and caregiving. I have
no idea why more women don't also find it interesting.
Fred