Without commenting on whether its effective or not, the theory being ascribed to in the headline is clear. It has been suggested that one of the reasons why there is a strong gender imbalance in computing is the lack of role models for young women considering entering the field. Those who see this as a real problem and wish to solve it then go ahead and trumpet successful women in programming so that such role models are more prevalent.

Is this kind of thing effective? Does it make any meaningful difference to actual young women considering the field? Is the premise flawed anyway? I honestly have no idea, it's not something I've ever looked at in any depth to know if such questions are even answerable with anything other than one's own prejudice - maybe they are and it all is? If so, studies with data would be interesting and worth my time to read.

I'm a bit surprised that people around here are driven to comment in this headline and need this pointed out. Disagree with the theory all you like to whatever end you feel is a good one, by all means. Being aggressively ignorant seems to be rarely productive for anything useful.

Beyond this, clicks are where you get paid and we're talking about this and posting it here which seems worth mentioning in passing...