I think when a human does something it's usually not because they reasoned that it was the best thing to do, but because they asked themselves the question (subconsciously, more often than not) "is this the sort of thing I would do?"
The answer their brain comes up with to that question is going to play the most important role, even if reason would dictate a different response. This is at the root of the countless biases and heuristics that psychologists go on about (confirmation bias, anchoring heuristic, etc.) How this relates to young women trying decide on a career is obvious.
To share my personal anecdote (I'm male): I graduated college having taken some programming classes but no real drive to be a programmer, nor anything else in particular. A Twitch streamer I watched sometimes called Guardsman Bob occasionally did programming on his stream between video games, and through watching that I grew more and more to realize that that was something that people like me did. Few years later and I am a full-time web developer.
I wouldn't call him a role model (I'm agreeing with you, in other words). But he was integral because watching him affected how I conceived of what a person like me (male, young, video gamer, shut-in) would be doing. Male is only one part of it, but it's undeniably a big part of it. Thus, I agree with those who say we should ensure there are more visible examples of female or minority X programmers-- it will change the lives of people who are like that and make them more likely to follow the path. But I wouldn't say we need more role models, just need to affect the way they think about programming and whether they think it's "the sort of thing I would do."
The answer their brain comes up with to that question is going to play the most important role, even if reason would dictate a different response. This is at the root of the countless biases and heuristics that psychologists go on about (confirmation bias, anchoring heuristic, etc.) How this relates to young women trying decide on a career is obvious.
To share my personal anecdote (I'm male): I graduated college having taken some programming classes but no real drive to be a programmer, nor anything else in particular. A Twitch streamer I watched sometimes called Guardsman Bob occasionally did programming on his stream between video games, and through watching that I grew more and more to realize that that was something that people like me did. Few years later and I am a full-time web developer.
I wouldn't call him a role model (I'm agreeing with you, in other words). But he was integral because watching him affected how I conceived of what a person like me (male, young, video gamer, shut-in) would be doing. Male is only one part of it, but it's undeniably a big part of it. Thus, I agree with those who say we should ensure there are more visible examples of female or minority X programmers-- it will change the lives of people who are like that and make them more likely to follow the path. But I wouldn't say we need more role models, just need to affect the way they think about programming and whether they think it's "the sort of thing I would do."