Women in computing

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Global concerns about current and future roles of women in computing occupations gained more importance with the emerging information age. These concerns motivated public policy debates addressing gender equality as computer applications exerted increasing influence in society. This dialog helped to expand information technology innovations and to reduce the unintended consequences of perceived sexism.

Contents

The gender gap

In the United States, the number of women represented in undergraduate computer science education and the white-collar information technology workforce peaked in the mid-1980s. Particularly in computer science, there has been a dramatic drop in women earning bachelor's degrees. Recent figures from the Computing Research Association Taulbee Survey indicate that the number recently fell below 12%,[1] from nearly 40% in the mid 80s.[2] A similar situation is observed in Canada, where the decline of women in computer science is apparent.

Research has shown that some aspects about computing may discourage women. One of the biggest turn-offs is the "geek factor". High school girls are repelled by the image of Computer Scientists sit in a cubicle writing code for the duration of their workday. The "geek factor" affects both male and female high school students, but it seems to have more of a negative effect on the female students.[3]

Attracting women into computer science

Professor De Palma from Gonzaga University believes that more women can be attracted into the study of computer science by making it more like mathematics.[4] He suggests five ways to improve the attraction of computer science to women:

  1. Teach any girl with an aptitude for symbol manipulation how to program.
  2. When teaching women how to program, keep things as close to pure logic as possible. Minimize reliance on other clumsy software packages, fancy graphical interfaces, and powerful IDEs.
  3. Teach computing without microcomputers. Microcomputers tend to attract tinkering men more than women.
  4. Keep the length of programming assignments as short as possible, at least in the early stages. One aspect of the mathematics discipline is that assignment problems are hard enough to make a person think for a while, but are not hard enough to get them frustrated and lose interest in the problem.
  5. Treat a programming language as the notational system and avoid adopting new languages.

Since the number of female college entrants expressing interest in majoring in computer science has only worsened in the past decade to pre-1980's levels,[5] it is possible that the aforementioned instructional caveats have been ineffective, or were not widely implemented. A research study was initialized by Allan Fisher, then Associate Dean for Undergraduate Computer Science Education at Carnegie Mellon University, and Jane Margolis, a social scientist and expert in gender equity in education, into the nature of this problem. The main issues discovered in interesting and retaining women in computer science were feelings of an experience gap, confidence doubts, interest in curriculum and pedagogy, and peer culture.[6] Proactive and positive exposures to early computer experiences, such as The Alice Project,[7] founded by the late Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University have been found to be considerably more effective in terms of retention and creation of enthusiasm for women who may later consider entering the field.

Universities across North America are changing their computer science programs to make them more appealing to women. Companies like IBM also encourage young women to become interested in engineering, technology and science. IBM offers EX.I.T.E. (EXploring Interests in Technology and Engineering) camps for young women from the ages of 11 to 13.

Additionally, attempts are being made to make the efforts of female computer scientists more visible through events such as the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women conference series which allows women in the field to meet, collaborate and present their work.

In the United Kingdom, the British Computer Society (BCS) and other organisations have groups which promote the cause of women in computing, such as BCSWomen, founded by Sue Black, and the BCS Women's Forum.

In Ontario, Canada, the Gr8 Designs for Gr8 Girls program was founded to develop grade 8 girls' interest in computer science.

Gender theory and women in computing

A 2008 book titled Gender and Information Technology: Moving Beyond Access to Co-Create Global Partnership uses Riane Eisler's cultural transformation theory to offer an interdisciplinary, social systems perspective on issues of access to technology.[8](Eisler is best known for her international best seller The Chalice and the Blade Our History, Our Future). Gender and Information Technology explores how shifting from dominator towards partnership systems—as reflected in four primary social institutions (communication, media, education, and business)--might help us move beyond the simplistic notion of access to co-create a real digital revolution worldwide.[8]

A 2000 book titled Athena Unbound [9] provides a life-course analysis (based on interviews and surveys) of women in the sciences from an early childhood interest, through university, to graduate school and finally into the academic workplace. The thesis of this book is that "women face a special series of gender related barriers to entry and success in scientific careers that persist, despite recent advances".[9]

International perspective

The western countries seem to have a consensus regarding women in computing and exhibit very similar numbers.

A survey, conducted by SWIFT ("Supporting Women in Information Technology") based out of Vancouver, Canada, yields interesting results as well. The survey had 7,411 participants who were asked questions underlying their career choices. Females tend to believe that they lack the skill set needed to be successful in the field of Computing. This provides a strong base for a positive correlation between perceived ability and career choice.[10]

A project based out of Edinburgh, Scotland, "Strategies of Inclusion: Gender and the Information Society" (SIGIS)[11] released its findings based on research conducted in 48 separate case studies all over Europe. The findings focus on recruiting as well as retention techniques for women already studying in the field. These techniques range from the introduction of role models and pre-visiting institutions to advertisement campaigns and allocation quotas which will make the Computing field appear more gender neutral.[12] Educating reforms which will increase the quality of the educating body and technological facilities are also suggested.[12] A brief overview of reasons to close the gender gap in the Computing industry includes[12]:

  1. Justice Argument - women lacking opportunities to influence society through an ever-growing technological medium
  2. Equal Opportunity Argument - missing out on rights and benefits offered by the ICT
  3. Resource Argument - social losses that accrue due to women's talents and experiences not being used
  4. Labour Market Argument - explores the possibility of women's future role as a supplier of educated labour.

The situation in Asian countries differs greatly. Research suggests that Malaysia has a much more equal split that varies around the half-way mark.[13] It is suggested that this may be due to the fact that Malaysian women view careers in IT as a means of employment rather than a status symbol. A job in the Computing industry also implies a safe work environment. Strong belief by the previous generation that IT will be a flourishing sector with many job opportunities caused parents to entice their children to partake in a Computing career, no matter the gender.[13]

In India, the case is just the opposite to that in the western countries. There is a great demand for computer science, but not enough reputed colleges that offer quality education (this is changing, however). Since the IT industry has been responsible for large-scale employment, there is a higher rate of women taking up education and careers in engineering, especially computer engineering. Computer engineering is a relatively clean field in the sense that it does not involve careers in factories. Most careers are in programming, which can be easily done from home too. Computer science graduates from prestigious universities are also highly respected. Parents also significantly affect choices as they overwhelmingly promote a career in computer engineering. Even then, competition is extremely tough, and the few women who do get into top colleges are highly respected.

Timeline of women in computing

Organizations for women in computing

See also

References

  1. ^ CRA Taulbee Survey 2008-9
  2. ^ Tracy Camp: "Women in Computer Science: Reversing the Trend", 2001
  3. ^ Cornelia Dean (2007-04-17). "Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Women to the Fold". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/17comp.html?_r=2&8dpc=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin. 
  4. ^ De Palma, Paul "Viewpoint: Why women avoid computer science", Communications of the ACM, Volume 44 , Issue 6, June 2001.
  5. ^ "Interest in Computer Science is Volatile". http://www.iq.harvard.edu/blog/sss/archives/2008/11/interest_in_com.shtml. 
  6. ^ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~lblum/PAPERS/women_in_computer_science.pdf
  7. ^ "The Alice Project". http://www.researchchannel.org/prog/displayevent.aspx?rID=7663&fID=2198. 
  8. ^ a b Kirk, Mary. (2008). Gender and Information Technology: Moving Beyond Access to Co-Create Global Partnership. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. ISBN 978-1-59904-786-7
  9. ^ a b Etzkowitz, Henry; Kemelgor, Carol; Uzzi, Brian, ATHENA UNBOUND - The advancement of women in science and technology, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-511-03833-X (ISBN 978-0-511-03833-4), 2000.
  10. ^ Vania Chan, Katie Stafford, Maria Klawe and Grace Chen (2000). "Gender Differences in Vancouver Secondary Students’ Interests Related to Information Technology Careers". Department of Computer Science,University of British Columbia, Canada. http://www.cs.ubc.ca/labs/swift/survey_stats/career_choice_survey/SurveyPaper.doc. 
  11. ^ Prof Robin Williams. "Strategies of Inclusion: Gender and the Information Society". University of Edinburgh, Scotland. http://www.rcss.ed.ac.uk/sigis/. 
  12. ^ a b c Prof Robin Williams. "Getting More Women in Computer Science and Engineering". University of Edinburgh, Scotland. http://www.rcss.ed.ac.uk/sigis/public/documents/SIGIS_D08_05_computing.pdf. 
  13. ^ a b Prof.Vivian Anette Lagesen. "A Cyberfeminist Utopia?: Perceptions of Gender and Computer Science among Malaysian Women Computer Science Students and Faculty". Sage Publications. http://sth.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/1/5. 
  14. ^ J. Fuegi and J. Francis, "Lovelace & Babbage and the creation of the 1843 'notes'." Annals of the History of Computing 25 #4 (Oct-Dec 2003): 18-26. Digital Object Identifier
  15. ^ Women in Computing - Computing History Museum
  16. ^ "UW-Madison Computer Science Ph.D.s Awarded, May 1965 - August 1970". http://www.cs.wisc.edu/includes/textfiles/phds.65-70.txt. Retrieved 2010-11-08.  PhDs granted at UW-Madison Computer Sciences Department.
  17. ^ Artificial Animals for Computer Animation: Biomechanics, Locomotion, Perception, and Behavior by Xiaoyuan Tu.

Further reading

Thomas J. Misa, ed. Gender Codes: Why Women Are Leaving Computing (Wiley/IEEE Computer Society Press, 2010). ISBN 978-0-470-59719-4

External links

Women in Information Technology