Anatomy of an Enduring Gender Gap: The Evolution of Women’s Participation in Computer Science

Aim/Purpose: Our research goal was to examine the factors that motivate women to enroll in Computer Science (CS) courses in order to better understand the small number of women in the field of CS. Background: This work is in line with the growing interest in better understanding the problem of the underrepresentation of women in the field of CS. Methodology: We focused on a college that differs in its high numbers of female CS students. The student population there consists mostly of religious Jews; some of them are Haredi, who, because of their unique lifestyle, are expected to be the breadwinners in their family. Following group interviews with 18 students, a questionnaire was administered to all the female students and 449 of them responded. We analyzed it statistically. We compared the responses of the Haredi and non-Haredi students. Contribution: The main contribution of this work lies in the idea that studying the factors underlying women’s presence in a CS program in unique communities and cultures, where women are equally represented in the field, might shed light on the nature of this phenomenon, especially whether it is universal or confined to the surrounding culture. Findings: There were significant differences between the Haredi and non-Haredi women regarding the importance they attributed to different factors. Haredi women resemble, regarding some social and economic variables, women in developing countries, but differ in others. The non-Haredi women are more akin to Western women, yet they did not completely overlap. Both groups value their family and career as the most important factors in their lives. These factors unify women in the West and in developing countries, though with different outcomes. In the West, it deters women from studying CS, whereas in Israel and in Malaysia, other factors can overcome this barrier. Both groups attributed low importance to the masculine image of CS, found important in the West. Hence, our findings support the hypothesis that women’s participation in the field of CS is culturally dependent. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important to learn about the culture within which women operate in order to attract more women to CS. Recommendations for Researchers: Future work is required to examine other loci where women are underrepre-sented in CS, as well as how the insights obtained in this study can be utilized to decrease women’s underrepresentation in other loci. Impact on Society: Women's underrepresentation in CS is an important topic for both economic and social justice reasons. It raises questions regarding fairness and equality. In the CS field the gender pay gaps are smaller than in other professional areas. Thus, resolving the underrepresentation of women in CS will serve as a means to decrease the social gender gap in other areas.

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Factors Influencing Women’s Decision to Study Computer Science: Is It Context Dependent?

10.28945/4281 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Computer Science ◽

Gender Gap ◽

The West ◽

Women's Participation ◽

The Social ◽

Research Goal ◽

Underrepresentation Of Women ◽

Group Interviews ◽

Future Work

[This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the 2019 issue of the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, Volume 16] Aim/Purpose: Our research goal was to examine the factors that motivate women to enroll in Computer Science (CS) courses in order to better understand the small number of women in the field of CS. Background: This work is in line with the growing interest in better understanding the problem of the underrepresentation of women in the field of CS. Methodology: We focused on a college that differs in its high numbers of female CS students. The student population there consists mostly of religious Jews; some of them are Haredi, who, because of their unique lifestyle, are expected to be the breadwinners in their family. Following group interviews with 18 students, a questionnaire was administered to all the female students and 449 of them responded. We analyzed it statistically. We compared the responses of the Haredi and non-Haredi students. Contribution: The main contribution of this work lies in the idea that studying the factors underlying women’s presence in a CS program in unique communities and cultures, where women are equally represented in the field, might shed light on the nature of this phenomenon, especially whether it is universal or confined to the surrounding culture. Findings: There were significant differences between the Haredi and non-Haredi women regarding the importance they attributed to different factors. Haredi women resemble, regarding some social and economic variables, women in developing countries, but differ in others. The non-Haredi women are more akin to Western women, yet they did not completely overlap. Both groups value their family and career as the most important factors in their lives. These factors unify women in the West and in developing countries, though with different outcomes. In the West, it deters women from studying CS, whereas in Israel and in Malaysia, other factors can overcome this barrier. Both groups attributed low importance to the masculine image of CS, found important in the West. Hence, our findings support the hypothesis that women’s participation in the field of CS is culturally dependent. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important to learn about the culture within which women operate in order to attract more women to CS. Recommendations for Researchers: Future work is required to examine other loci where women are underrepre-sented in CS, as well as how the insights obtained in this study can be utilized to decrease women’s underrepresentation in other loci. Impact on Society: Women's underrepresentation in CS is an important topic for both economic and social justice reasons. It raises questions regarding fairness and equality. In the CS field the gender pay gaps are smaller than in other professional areas. Thus, resolving the underrepresentation of women in CS will serve as a means to decrease the social gender gap in other areas.

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Gender and the Culture of Computing in Applied IT Education

Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-815-4.ch074 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 474-481 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Susan C. Herring ◽

Christine Ogan ◽

Manju Ahuja ◽

Jean C. Robinson

Keyword(s):

Computer Science ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Information Science ◽

Drop Out ◽

Human Needs ◽

Interdisciplinary Field ◽

It Education ◽

Socially Isolated ◽

Hacker Culture ◽

Mode Of Being

The “shrinking pipeline” of women who ascend through the ranks in computer science education programs and careers is by now a familiar problem. Women drop out at rates faster than men at all levels of educational and professional advancement, resulting in a gender gap especially pronounced at the highest levels of the computing workforce, and that has not narrowed appreciably at any level in more than 20 years (Camp, 1997; ITAA, 2005; Vegso, 2005). Efforts to move more women into the pipeline at lower levels have met with limited success (cf. the Carnegie Mellon experience as reported by Margolis & Fisher, 2002); girls and women still express less interest than boys and men in studying computer science and pursuing information technology (IT) careers (Bentson, 2000; Vegso, 2005). A reason often cited in the literature is the masculine culture of many computer science programs and IT workplaces, which is perceived by many women as alien and unwelcoming (Bentson, 2000; Spertus, 1991; Turkle, 1988). Even when institutions make efforts to treat women and men equally or accord women special consideration in admissions and hiring decisions, attitudes discouraging women from entering computing persist, both within the institutions and in society at large. Sometimes these attitudes are expressed overtly: Underground “hacker” culture is notoriously antagonistic to women (Gilboa, 1996), and even mainstream computer aficionados respond with resistance and sexist jokes to proposals to recruit more girls and women to study computer science (Slashdot.org, 2005). Moreover, there is a widespread perception that computer experts are socially-isolated “geeks” or “nerds” obsessed with technology, a mode of being that women, who tend to be more socially oriented, find unappealing (Margolis & Fisher, 2002; Turkle, 1988). Fortunately, the situation for computer science does not tell the whole story. In the latter part of the 20th century, the expansion of computing and the Internet fueled the rise of applied IT fields in which technical skills, rather than being developed for their own sake, are increasingly put to use in the service of human needs. Applied fields, such as information science, information systems and instructional technology, have gained strength, and a new interdisciplinary field, informatics, has emerged. At the same time, interest in computer science itself is declining, especially among women (ITAA, 2005; Vegso, 2005). In this article, we explore the possibility that applied IT fields may provide more women-friendly cultures while still focused on technology. The larger question underlying this exploration is: Does applied IT education have the potential to bridge the “gender computing gap”?

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Girls, Games, and Intrepid Exploration on the Computer

Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-815-4.ch113 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 727-732 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jill Denner ◽

Steve Bean

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Computer Science ◽

Learning Environments ◽

After School ◽

School Program ◽

Middle School Girls ◽

Women's Participation ◽

After School Program ◽

School Girls ◽

Problem Solvers

One way to increase women’s participation in technology is to create more female independent problem solvers on the computer, or what Sherry Turkle (cited in Margolis & Fisher, 2002) calls “intrepid explorers.” Studies of students who persist in computer science have shown the importance of being “intrepid”—having the desire to explore without fear of breaking the computer, and the confidence to solve problems and deal with setbacks (Margolis & Fisher, 2002). An intrepid explorer is creative and fearless about trying new things on the computer. However, how do people become intrepid explorers? How can learning environments support them? This article addresses these questions by describing ways to support girls to explore intrepidly on computers. These strategies are grounded in previous research as well as our own research on an after school program for middle school girls.

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Gender Inclusion in the Information Society

Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-815-4.ch098 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 636-642 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Wendy Faulkner ◽

Merete Lie

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Computer Science ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Information Society ◽

European Study ◽

Information And Communications Technologies ◽

Science And Engineering ◽

New Information ◽

Communications Technologies ◽

Gender Inclusion

Strategies of Inclusion Gender and the Information Society (SIGIS) was a European study exploring initiatives to include more women in the information society.1 This article summarises its main conclusions. The work started from the premise that overall more women than men are excluded from the information society, both as users and as designers of new information and communications technologies (ICTs). Our literature review (Sørensen & Stewart, 2002) confirmed that there is still a gender gap in terms of ownership of some ICT products and, to a lesser extent, in terms of access and use. Gender cuts across other dynamics in the digital divide—income, occupation and age being generally more significant than gender—with other factors (e.g., ethnic minorities, lone parent families) also intervening. Although the trend with respect to the use of ICT products is one of a closing gender gap, it is clear that diffusion alone is not sufficient to close the gap all together; inclusion efforts are still warranted in this area. By contrast, the literature review revealed a persistent and sizeable gender gap within computer specialisms and professions designing ICTs. The proportion of women entering computer science and engineering courses in most countries is static or in decline, in spite of sustained inclusion efforts. So, the overall picture across Europe is a contradictory one: optimistic with respect to what we call women and ICT (users), and pessimistic with respect to women in ICT (professionals).

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Overcoming the Gender Gap: The Possibilities of Alignment between the Responsibility to Protect and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Global Responsibility to Protect ◽

10.1163/1875984x-00801002 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 3-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sarah Hewitt

Keyword(s):

Gender Gap ◽

Early Warning Systems ◽

Responsibility To Protect ◽

Warning Systems ◽

Peace Processes ◽

Post Conflict ◽

Women's Participation ◽

Peace And Security ◽

And Gender ◽

The Relationship

This article examines the relationship between the Women, Peace and Security (wps) agenda and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). R2P remains ‘gender-blind’, inadequately addressing gender issues encompassed within the wps agenda. Currently, women are limited by gendered structural inequalities and marginalisation in conflict, where the wps agenda has failed to be incorporated in R2P and broader conflict mechanisms. I argue that the wps agenda and R2P are mutually beneficial and complementary in their protection mandates to enable lasting peace. I identify three common intersecting commitments of these two normative frameworks to provide a more holistic, gender-sensitive approach to conflict. These are prevention and early warning systems, protection and gender-sensitive peacekeeping, and women’s participation in peace processes. I conclude that identifying common areas of engagement could potentially effect positive changes for women and men on the ground in conflict prevention and protection, and post-conflict reconstruction.

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A Tale of Two Majors: Explaining the Gender Gap in STEM Employment among Computer Science and Engineering Degree Holders

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci6030069 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 69 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Sharon Sassler ◽

Katherine Michelmore ◽

Kristin Smith

Keyword(s):

Computer Science ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Science And Engineering ◽

Engineering Degree

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Women's participation in high value agricultural commodity chains in Kenya: Strategies for closing the gender gap

Journal of Rural Studies ◽

10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.01.005 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 ◽

pp. 228-239 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Judith Beatrice Auma Oduol ◽

Dagmar Mithöfer ◽

Frank Place ◽

Eddah Nang'ole ◽

John Olwande ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gender Gap ◽

Commodity Chains ◽

Agricultural Commodity ◽

Women's Participation

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Do Men and Women Have Different Policy Preferences in Africa? Determinants and Implications of Gender Gaps in Policy Prioritization

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123416000053 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 611-636 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Jessica Gottlieb ◽

Guy Grossman ◽

Amanda Lea Robinson

Keyword(s):

Gender Gap ◽

Social Vulnerability ◽

Policy Preferences ◽

Infrastructure Investment ◽

Economic Empowerment ◽

Formal Representation ◽

Gender Gaps ◽

Men And Women ◽

Women's Participation ◽

Social Empowerment

Policies designed to increase women’s representation in Africa are often motivated by the assumption that men and women have different policy preferences. This article finds that gender differences in policy priorities are actually quite small on average, but vary significantly across policy domains and countries. The study leverages this variation to show that the economic and social empowerment of women influences the size of gender gaps in the prioritization of two important domains. In particular, women’s participation in the labor force – an indicator of economic empowerment – narrows the gender gap in the prioritization of infrastructure investment and access to clean water, while social vulnerability widens the gap on prioritizing infrastructure investment. Finally, the article shows that the places where women and men have the most divergent policy preferences – and thus where formal representation is most important – are precisely the places where women are currently the most poorly represented and least active in formal politics.

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KUOTA PEREMPUAN DI DPRD JAWA TENGAH PADA PEMILU 2014 DAN PEMILU 2019

Perspektif Hukum ◽

10.30649/phj.v19i1.195 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 124

Author(s):

Hamidah Abdurrachman ◽

Ratna Riyanti ◽

Rahmad Agung Nugraha

Keyword(s):

Gender Gap ◽

House Of Representatives ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Female Representation ◽

Election Result ◽

Central Java ◽

Women's Participation ◽

Female Politicians ◽

Election System ◽

Practical Level

Gender equality in Indonesian legislature has not yet reached its expected state. Despite numerous agreements, conventions, and affirmative actions that were taken so far to promote the agenda, the fact of the matter is that female politicians are still quite rare in Indonesian legislatures, compared to their male counterparts. Among some of the deciding factors that hinder women’s participation in politics, gender gap and transactional relationship in the election system are deemed to be the main ones. This article wants to address this problem by analysing the regulation of Indonesian general election and the way it affects female representation in regional Indonesian legislatures. Using a normative approach, this article will discuss secondary data through qualitative analysis. We have examined the number of female politicians in five regional House of Representatives in Central Java based on the election result of 2014 and 2019. Our findings showed that women's participation in those legislatures has not yet reached the 30% quota expected by the regulation. Based on this finding, we propose two necessary steps to attain the 30% quota goal. The need of a political warrant in practical level for female politicians beyond political party legitimacy and number-ordering of their candidacies.

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