where are all the women in computer science? The growing gender gap in a growing field
My name is Katelyn Greer and I am a sophomore Computer Science major with a minor in Criminal Justice at Georgia Southern University. This topic became apparent to me as I realized I was one of the only girls in my programming classes. In fact, out of 433 Computer Science majors at my school, only 13% are female. With the demographics widening, I am looking to discover why and how to encourage more girls to step foot in this male dominated field.
The numbers prove it
Society has us fooled. Computers have become one of the main drivers in our life, which can lead us to believe more people are working in the field. While yes, it is true that the number of Computer Science majors have increased, the percentage of those that are girls have drastically decreased.
Girls just wanna have fun
When told to think of toys for girls, some of the most typical answers are:
- Barbies
- Tea sets
- Stuffed animals
- Dress up
But why can't the answers be:
- Tool sets
- Computers
- Video games
- Building blocks
It is a social norm for girls to play with the "feminine" toys, which is distancing them from the activities that lead to future female engineers and computer scientists.
Companies like GoldieBlox are working to change this by reinventing girls' toys to change the stereotype.
The discouraging factor
As one of the few girls in Computer Science at my school, I know first handed how intimidating it can be. Being in a class full of boys who most had prior experience at coding and programming is hard. If it weren't for my strong will to be successful in Computer Science, the discouraging factor would have already gotten the best of me.
Harvey Mudd College has been working on this by splitting their classes into two sections, black and gold. Black is for the students with prior experience, and gold is for those with none. This helps in creating a more supportive atmosphere to keep people going.
Another thing some schools are doing to encourage girls in Computer Science is by having organizations for female Computer Science majors. If this were a strategy everywhere, it would keep more girls in the program.
references
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/we-need-more-women-in-tech-the-data-prove-it/280964/
http://www.newsweek.com/how-can-we-encourage-more-women-study-computer-science-341652
http://ilabs.washington.edu/i-labs-news/do-female-teachers-help-girls-overcome-stem-stereotypes