This shouldn't still need saying in 2026 but all else being equal women are just as capable of doing anything - coding, understanding maths, running a company, training consistently as an athlete, doing science - as men are and you can't deny that and call yourself a feminist. But you also can't call yourself a feminist if you deny that everything else is not equal and the way society is currently structured women face more barriers to doing these things than men do.

@afewbugs my former neighbor did computer coding on punch cards**, back when it was considered women's work. I dunno who might need to hear this, but it used to be women's work, before men decided oh, wait, no, this gives women too much power and influence to actually make decisions autonomously, and then it became "men's work." This is within living memory! And yet some people deny that women even have the capacity for it. Ridiculous.

**update, she has corrected me, paper tape

@secretsloth @afewbugs my mum dealt with Hollerith punched cards in her job in the early 1960's. After she had me she hasn't gone near anything computer-related since. I think she believed them somehow 😫
@cazmockett @afewbugs I wonder if I could find out what kind my neighbor used, I will ask my family that's still in touch with her and see if they can find out! She lit up when I asked her about it but honestly it was so different from modern programming that I couldn't follow too closely (I know the basic theory, but the reality goes right over my head). Honestly, it sounds like it must have been a thrilling job! Right on the forefront of the changing world. Amazing.
@cazmockett @afewbugs oh! My family is having Easter with her, so I spoke with her 😅 she says she didn't use cards, same era but it was actually paper tape, and then later they switched to magnetic tape, spliced together. They still use the same machines to splice movie tapes. She used a recycled computer system that had belonged to the air force. That's what she learned on. I'm amazed. Tape sounds even more fragile! :o