Women and Technolgy - The Gender Gap in Computer Science
Abstract: This paper reviews the gender gap that exists in computer science. By analyzing the probable causes of the divide, solutions may be developed and possibilities of minimizing the gap increase. Although the general public’s efforts toward shrinking the divide subsist, modern society must change its views of women before the technological world can fully appreciate women’s talents.
A gender gap undeniably exists in the field of computer science. Hundreds of headlines in newspapers, journal articles, and magazines continually demonstrate the divide to society, and studies performed by well-respected universities like Harvard and MIT highlight its continuing effects. More recent studies provide evidence that the number of women in computer science is decreasing, despite the recruiting efforts of the technology field. The underrepresentation of women results from stereotypes of computer scientists, weaknesses within the computing community, and the social construction of women in computer science. In order to boost women's presence in technology, society must have a firm grasp on the problems themselves, and address them with fundamental changes in the way we perceive women in computer science on the cognitive level.
The increasing gender divide in computer science is well documented. As an issue of Technical Training recorded, “intake of [women] computer science students in the UK has dropped from 37 percent a decade ago to 5 percent in 1998.”[5] Other nations, including the United States, have noticed a decline in the number of women in the field. New Scientist found, “[w]omen dominate in several subjects, namely degrees preparing students to be infant sch...
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...un IT, Bill Goodwin.
[9] Newsbytes, January 16, 2001, 337 words, Gender Salary Gap Smaller in Tech Industry – Study, Dick Kelsey
[10] Information Week, August 9, 1999, Women Make Gains in Top Management, Jennifer Mateyaschuk.
[11] http://www.mills.edu/ACAD_INFO/MCS/SPERTUS/Gender/pap/pap.html
Why are There so Few Female Computer Scientists?
Ellen Spertus - 1991
[12] The Times Union, February 7, 2001, 565 words, Albany, N.Y., Council Meeting
Offers Women Advice on Using Technology, Danielle T. Furfaro.
[13] Achieving Gender Equity in Science Classrooms, 1996, NECUSE Colleges and Brown University students and faculty
[14] Encouraging Women in Computer Science, 1996, Eric S. Roberts (Stanford University)
[15] Electronic Engineering Times, February 12, 2001, 1261 words, Engineers Week Aim: to Reach Schoolgirls, Terry Costlow
...roblems of integration. If the science world takes advantage of undiscovered female talent, science as a whole will benefit greatly. For example, the original group of ENIAC programmers consisted of 6 women. In 1946, these women helped to develop the first operating stored-program computer.6 If female talent such as this goes to waste because of social neglect, the science world will never know what possible discoveries that could have been made with the help of women. If Dr. Djerassi is accurate with his examples of discrimination, the science world should take note of these problems and attempt to solve them.
" Beyond Gender Schemas: Improving the Advancement of Women in Academia." NWSA Journal 16.1, (Re) Gender Science Fields (2004): 207-20.
We found literature that supported our survey results. The article, “Inequality quantified: Mind the gender gap,” shows that an established gender gap amongst college majors may have started years ago. In the 1970s, Lynne Kiorpes was one of the few females at Northeastern University who was an Engineering major. Her professor discriminated against her and the other few women in the class by saying that they have no business being in his class, and that he was going to fail them just because they are females. Kiorpes then left the engineering program...
Wherever we go, we look around and often judge people by their personal traits, the way they talk, or maybe even how they dress. What this is called is impression formation. It is the process of how we gather information to have an overall impression of someone’s character. This is done by using their physical traits and the way they behave as our available information to make our judgement. In 1946, Soloman Asch published his own study of impression formation. He was mostly interested in how humans formed their impressions of other human beings. Throughout many of his experiments he demonstrated that when forming an impression it had four key elements. The elements were, organized process, relations of harmony and contradiction, central qualities are discovered, and that the characteristics are perceived differently. At least now we probably know why they say that first impressions matter! In my day to day life, I use impression formation by the way someone looks or their first conversation or interaction with me. With those two
But sex-segregation does not really explain the overall gender wage gap. Women’s average educational attainment now exceeds that of men’s and as a result, women have been entering previously considered to be “masculine” occupational fields at growing rates. Even in the STEM fields, women are no longer underrepresented except for in computer sciences and engineering. However, gender wage gap is present at every level of the career ladder in every field. How and why does this
Maybe America’s educational leaders don’t understand what computer science is, which is why they don’t place enough emphasis on this invaluable skill for now and the future. Less than 7 percent of the state’s high schools offer courses in the important science.
Motion picture actor Will Rogers once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” So have you wondered why that someone treats you differently than others? Possibly see you a certain way? Or think about you in a particular fashion? All this happens because of the impressions you make and how your peers process it. A first impression is the event where one person encounters another person and forms a mental image of that person. It only takes 1/10 of a second for us to judge a person and create an image about them (Wikipedia). Although you may not know it at first, you are constantly judging others while they in turn watch and make speculations about you.
How first impressions are formed has been a subject of interest by many researchers in the area of psychology.
Women graduates from the 16 Wisconsin Technical College Districts in 2003 made up 12,589 (65%) of 19,358 graduates as compared to 6,745 (35%) men. The percentage of women graduates from the WTCS has increased significantly since the 1980s but has been more than 50% for at least the last 20 years. The percentage of women graduates nationally from American two and four colleges and universities is increasing significantly each year and will eventually exceed or be on a par with men graduates from higher education nationally in “most” academic and professional majors, if they do not already exceed men in 2004.
In 1970 women had earned only 17% of a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering computer science, and natural sciences. In 1995 though, the proportion was still low but it increased to 31%. (Macionis 1998).
Girls are seen as caring, nurturing, quiet, and helpful. They place other’s needs above their own. Girls get ahead by hard work, not by being naturally gifted. Boys are seen as lazy, but girls are seen as not capable. In class, teacher will call on boys more than they call on girls. Boys are seen as better at math and science; while girls are better at reading and art. This bias is still at work even out of the classroom. There are more males employed at computer firms than women. The ratio of male to female workers in STEM fields is 3-1. In college, more women major in the humanities than in the sciences. In education, women are often seen as lesser than; even though 65% of all college degrees are earned by women. Women are still often seen as needing to be more decorative than intellectual, as represented by the Barbie who included the phrase, “Math is hard!” and the shirt that JC Penneys sold that said, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” While there was a backlash on both items, it points out that there is a great deal of work to do on the educational gender bias to be
What are first impressions? According to Merriam-Webster, an impression is an especially marked and often favorable influence or effect on feeling, sense, or mind. In reality, first impressions are much more than an association, especially living in a world when the masses believe two chances is one too many. First impressions generate or consume the professions we obtain, the dates we land, the colleges we earn, and other circumstances in life. However, society does not realize how considerable first impressions are in our lives, typically judging a person when nothing is even known about them.
“You never get a second chance to make a good first impression” (Forbes, 2014), a quote often attributed to Will Rogers, is a clever summary of the importance of making a good first impression. Most of the time we forget the power of making a good first impression and the role it plays in our daily lives. The impression we get the first time we meet a new coworker or acquaintance immediately influences how we treat them. “Just three seconds are sufficient to make a conclusion about fresh acquaintances” (Flora, 2004). Not much can be spoken in three seconds, so our nonverbal cues during a first meeting are exceedingly important.
Call me a bigot if you want but men are better mathematicians than women. Year after year, men score higher on the SAT’s, more men receive prestigious educations from the best technical schools in the nation, and men obtain more degrees, secure more jobs and get promoted more often. “The ETS report on students taking the SAT examinations indicates that males have traditionally scored 40-50 points higher on the mathematics section” (Women) “In 1996, California Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 75% male, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 62% male, Renssalear Polytechnic Institute’s enrollment was 77% male, Rochester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was is 68% male, and Worchester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 79% male” (Baron’s). The future for women who enter the work place as mathematicians is no more encouraging. “Roughly three times as many women are unemployed and six times as many women are in part time positions. The female mathematicians who acquire these full time jobs are less likely than men to be promoted to a position such as full or associate professor” (awm-math.org). Females’ lack of success as mathematicians has nothing to do with their mathematical potential. The reason females do not excel in mathematical fields can be explained by high school course selection, social pressures and support and not by genetic differences.
If the nineteenth century was an era of the Industrial revolution in Europe, I would say that computers and Information Technology have dominated since the twentieth century. The world today is a void without computers, be it healthcare, commerce or any other field, the industry won’t thrive without Information Technology and Computer Science. This ever-growing field of technology has aroused interest in me since my childhood. After my twelfth grade, the inherent ardor I held for Computer Science motivated me to do a bachelors degree in Information Technology. Programming and Math, a paragon of logic and reasoning, have always been my favorite subjects since childhood.