Women, Mathematics, and Computing

2011 ◽  
pp. 1303-1308
Author(s):  
Paula De Palma
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Peanut Butter ◽  
Testable Hypothesis ◽  
Betty Friedan ◽  
Good Question ◽  
Bachelor's Degrees ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
Women In Information Technology ◽  
Cub Scouts ◽  
Open Question

In 1963, Betty Friedan wrote these gloomy words: The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. ... Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night – she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—“Is this all?” The passage, of course, is from the The Feminine Mystique (Friedan, 1983, p. 15). Though it took another decade for the discontent that Friedan described to solidify into a political movement, even in 1963 women were doing more than making peanut butter sandwiches. They also earned 41% of bachelor’s degrees. By 1995, the number of degrees conferred had nearly tripled. The fraction going to women more than kept pace, at almost 55%. Put another way, women’s share of bachelor’s degrees increased by 25% since Betty Friedan first noticed the isolation of housewives. Consider two more sets of numbers: In 1965, 478 women graduated from medical school. These 478 women accounted for only 6.5% of the new physicians. Law was even less hospitable. Only 404 women, or just 3% of the total, received law degrees in 1965. By 1996, however, almost 39% of medical degrees and 43% of law degrees were going to women (Anderson, 1997). If so many women are studying medicine and law, why are so few studying computer science? That’s a good question, and one that has been getting a lot of attention. A search of an important index of computing literature, the ACM Digital Portal (ACM, 2005a), using the key words “women” and “computer,” produced 2,223 hits. Of the first 200, most are about the underrepresentation of women in information technology. Judging by the volume of research, what we can do to increase the numbers of women studying computer science remains an open question. While most investigators fall on one side or the other of the essentialist/social constructivist divide (Trauth, Quesenberry & Morgan, 2005), this article sidesteps the issue altogether in favor of offering a testable hypothesis: Girls and young women would be drawn to degree programs in computer science in greater numbers if the field were structured with the precision of mathematics. How we arrived at this hypothesis requires a look at the number of women earning degrees in computer science historically and in relation to other apparently similar fields.

Comparing Gender Differences in Computer Science and Management Information Systems Majors

2011 ◽  
pp. 109-115
Author(s):  
Sylvia Beyer
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Management Information Systems ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Management Information ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
It Workforce ◽  
Bachelor's Degrees

Why do so few women major in computer science (CS) or management information systems (MIS)? Are the reasons for women’s underrepresentation in these two disciplines the same? I will address these issues by reporting on my research on female and male undergraduates majoring in CS or MIS. I hypothesize that results from one area of information technology (IT), such as CS, do not necessarily generalize to other areas of IT, such as MIS. Structural barriers exist that keep women from advancement in IT careers (cf. Ahuja, 2002). However, an examination of these is beyond the scope of this article, which focuses on gender differences in IT students. In 2002 only 27.6% of U.S. Bachelor’s degrees in CS and 36.8% in MIS were conferred on women (U.S. Department of Education, 2002), limiting the number of women qualified to enter into the IT workforce. The problem of women’s under representation in IT is not limited to the U.S. Women are underrepresented in CS majors in other Western countries such as Canada (Gadalla, 2001), Germany (Huber, Reiff, Ben, & Schinzel, 2001), Norway (Berg, Gansmo, Hestflatt, Lie, Nordli, & Sorenson, 2002), and Ireland (MacKeogh, 2003). IT cannot afford to underutilize such a valuable and significant part of the workforce. Increasing the representation of women is imperative because “greater diversity among those who create computing technology ensures that those technologies are relevant to and usable by a wider range of people” (Roberts, 2003).

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

10.28945/4296 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 127-141
Author(s):  
Sarah Genut ◽  
Bnaya Ori ◽  
Yifat Ben-David Kolikant
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
The West ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Future Work

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.

scholarly journals Increasing Interest in Computer Science through Group Work: A Goal Congruity Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Kay Montoya ◽  
Allison Master ◽  
Sapna Cheryan
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Stem Fields ◽  
Social Stereotypes ◽  
Bachelor's Degrees ◽  
Potential Factor ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
Science Classes

Women’s underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is well established; however, there is much variation in women’s among STEM fields. Women received 60% of bachelor’s degrees in biology but only 18% of computer science degrees in 2009. One explanation for this difference may be social stereotypes of the fields. Male-dominated STEM fields are stereotyped as asocial, which may lead women to think that these fields will not give them opportunities to work with and help others. Three studies examined how communal goals, goals related to creating and maintaining interpersonal relationships, relate to interest in STEM fields. Study 1 (N = 120) found that women were more likely than men to endorse communal goals. Additionally, women were more interested in STEM classes they thought would fulfill their communal goals. Participants’ communal goal endorsement was negatively correlated with their interest in male-dominated STEM fields, like computer science. Study 2 (N = 296) examined group work as a potential factor that could affect perceptions of communal fulfillment in science classes. Classes with group work were perceived to be higher in communal goal fulfillment. Male-dominated STEM fields were perceived to have less group work than female-dominated STEM fields. Additionally, preference for group work was positively correlated with communal goals. Study 3 (N = 91) experimentally manipulated the collaboration policy of a computer science class syllabus, testing for changes in communal goal fulfillment and interest. The class with a pro-collaboration policy was perceived as having the most communal goal fulfillment, but these perceptions did not carry over to perceptions of the field of computer science as a whole. These studies suggest that increasing opportunities for communal experiences in computer science may help women to feel that computer science would fulfill their goals, increasing their interest in the field.

scholarly journals Online computer science workshops for educators in higher education during Covid-19: challenges and opportunities of a forced distance learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-104
Author(s):  
Elena Pacetti ◽  
Alessandro Soriani
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Effective Teaching Strategies ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Bachelor's Degrees ◽  
Educational Profession

Abstract This study focuses on a course belonging to the University of Bologna’s bachelor’s degrees ‘Expert in Social and Cultural Education’ and ‘Educator in Childhood Social Services’ called ‘Computer Science Lab–based course’, which aims to develop digital competences necessary for the educational profession. Before COVID-19, this face-to-face compulsory workshop-based course consisted of nine parallel teachings with different programmes and teachers. Due to the impossibility of providing regular lessons, teachers have been forced to revise their working methods by using different distance learning strategies. This paper aims to offer an understanding of the situation by analysing teachers’ and students’ perceptions collected through questionnaires in relation to the following aspects: most used and effective teaching strategies; technical, communicative and relational difficulties encountered by teachers and students; aspects related to distance learning methods and perception of the usefulness of the course for the educational profession.

scholarly journals 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.

scholarly journals Classroom Contexts, Student Mindsets, and (In)Equity in Computer Science: A National Longitudinal Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyong Cho ◽  
Bharathy Premachandra ◽  
René F. Kizilcec ◽  
Neil Anthony Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
School Level ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
National Longitudinal Study ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Over Time

The underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in computer science presents a challenge for training the next generation of scientists. The decision to pursue a professional and academic career in computing can be influenced by early experiences and mindsets in K-12 learning environments. However, we have a limited understanding of how student mindsets influence engagement in a variety of classroom contexts during high school computer science classes--one of the early gateways to computer science. We conducted a national longitudinal study of students in advanced placement computer science courses to understand how student mindsets impact engagement, how their mindsets evolve over time, and how contextual factors at the teacher, classroom, and school level can influence these temporal dynamics. We find that mindsets differentially impact engagement and vary by students’ gender and status of racial underrepresentation. Some mindsets change over time due to course feedback, and these changes affect engagement and performance in different ways. Class characteristics (e.g., class size and female proportion) and school characteristics (e.g., proportion of students who are eligible for free lunch and proportion of racially underrepresented students) moderate the effect of mindsets on student outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for learning theories and equity-focused educational practices.

Participation of Women in Information Technology

2011 ◽  
pp. 976-982
Author(s):  
Tiffany Barnes ◽  
Sarah Berenson ◽  
Mladen Vouk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Women In It ◽  
It Workers ◽  
Women In Information Technology

Our nation’s continued global competitiveness is widely believed to depend upon the United States maintaining its leadership in the development and management of new information technologies (Freeman & Aspray, 1999; Malcom, Babco, Teich, Jesse, Campbell, & Bell, 2005; Sargent, 2004). Rapidly changing technologies have pervaded every sector of American society, infusing nearly everyone’s work and personal lives. Over the long term, we may face a shortage of highly educated IT workers who are needed to maintain and increase the economic productivity of the United States. Interestingly, according to Freeman and Aspray, if women were represented in the IT workforce in equal proportion to men (assuming the percentage of men in IT vis-à-vis other professions remained constant), this impending shortage and its potentially economically devastating consequences could be prevented. We identify the pipeline of potential female IT workers as beginning in the middle grades, with the girls who take college-prep algebra by the eighth grade and elect college-bound courses in math, science, and computer science through high school. These girls are then prepared to complete a bachelor of science degree in computer science, computer engineering, or electrical engineering and become creative future IT workers. In this article, we examine some of the factors that, as suggested by the literature, influence the low participation of women in IT. We also discuss the open research issues in understanding and modeling the (educational) persistence of young women in IT-related disciplines, and we outline some results from Girls on Track, an intervention program for middle-school girls. We end with some suggestions for making IT more appealing to this currently underrepresented population.

Introducing Young Females to Information Technology

2011 ◽  
pp. 826-831
Author(s):  
Michaele D. Laws ◽  
Kellie Price
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Young Females ◽  
University Women ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Positive Computing ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
And Gender

The difficulties in recruiting females into information technology and computer science (CS) have been well documented. Engineering disciplines have faced the same problem for many years. Some of the main underlying issues include unsupportive classroom environments (Hall & Sandler, 1982), gender-related perceptions of performance, a lack of role models, and inadequate peer communities (Zappert & Stansbury, 1984). Other contributing factors are the amount of positive computing experience gained prior to enrollment at the university level (Robers, Kassianidou, & Irani, 2002) and self-confidence. Research provides significant evidence to indicate that, even though females perform at the same levels as their male counterparts, they have less confidence in their abilities (Arnold, 1993; Fisher, Margolis, & Miller, 1997; Sax, 1994; Strenta, Elliot, Matier, Scott, & Adair, 1994). This lack of confidence keeps many females out of the technical classes. Finally, those females that do enter IT or CS courses may come to the discipline with multiple interests and, consequently, feel out of place at times among their more single-minded male counterparts (Widnell, 1988). While it is predicted that 8 of the 10 fastest growing occupations from 2000 to 2010 will be in the IT or CS fields, it is expected that women will not be equally represented within these occupations (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos267.htm; Camp, 1997). The underrepresentation of women in computer science was given priority in the June 2002 special issue of SIGCSE Bulletin dedicated to women and computing, bringing focus to previous and current research regarding this dilemma. One particular factor highlighted in this bulletin is that changing this male-dominant field requires the crucial step of targeting young females in an effort to dispel stereotypical ideations and gender bias associated with computer science, thus attracting more women to the profession (American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, 1999). Girls in Science and Technology (GIST) is a free science and technology camp at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) making efforts to change these trends. The primary goal of the girls-only GIST camp is to introduce females to the fields of information technology, computer science, and math by providing discipline-related activities, enhancing teamwork competency, connecting females with women mentors working in the field, and creating a challenging yet fun atmosphere free from male competition. The hope is that this exposure will instill technical confidence and aptitude in the young females that will last through their college careers, giving them a positive outlook on information technology.

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